Have you seen Fond of Snape’s 365 days series? That woman really gets whimsy!

This post is part of an on-going series inspired by reader’s comments to this initial post. To read all the posts on Standing in Your Own Power, click here.
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My favorite form of exercise is swimming, which I do several times a week. Conventional wisdom says I should follow a training program. You know the drill — so many laps of this kind of stroke, so many of that. Instead, I tend to just lollygag along with a nice even-paced breaststroke. Why? So I can concentrate. On what you say? On fan fiction.

As an NF (as in Meyers Briggs ENFJ) I get super-involved with stories. There is an almost constant narrative going on in my head. I wonder what the deal is with that older woman with 4 babies in one stroller? What would have happened if I had done drama in college? Where did the bus driver immigrate from? This is especially true for me with TV characters. I finished Big Love season 3 weeks ago, and I’m still wondering “How is Margene’s small business going?” When I watch a story I get very, VERY involved.

But I’m also a high ranking “J” in Meyers Briggs, which means I am quite serious most of the time. I wonder a lot about the merits of my decisions. I worry almost obsessively over the question, “What’s next?” All that worry and wondering can be powerful. It lets me live with intention and encourages me to cast my Mondo Beyondo dreams out into the Universe. But it can also become a burden, weighing me down and making me curmudgeonly.

I used to use my pool time to make plans for the day, writing and re-writing long tuex duex lists in my head and hoping I’d remember them until I could get my hands on a pen. Then one day I found my mind wandering to some TV show or another, creating a new plot line for a favorite character.

“Nonsense,” said my Gremlins. “What a waste of time.” (Gremlins are very good at listening to Conventional Wisdom.)

“Voila!” said The Muse. “Embrace whimsy.”

And so now as I swim, I write stories in my head. Right now I’m enjoying a sub-plot for the character of Walter Bishop on The Fringe. He delights me. In my whimsical version he is the benevolent ringmaster of a traveling circus. I think it may all be in his mind — a sort of coping mechanism during his stay in the mental institution. It’s ever so entertaining and makes 45 minutes of lap time just fly by!

Now, if you are still with me you may be wondering, “What has this got to do with standing in your own power?” In response I ask you to remember that whimsy is the antidote to blind obedience. Practicing Whimsy helps you thumb your nose at what “they” say. It tunes into your internal voice of play and wonder, and turns down the overly-ambitious workaholic voice that our consumerist, Protestant-work-ethic culture has hammered into our heads. It frees you.

Go ahead, give it at try. What whimsical impulse lies at the tip of your tongue? Here are some fun ones I can think of:

-Buy a basket of strawberries (yes, even out of season.)
-Use Crayolas.
-Ask a stranger to let you pet their puppy.
-That thing you loved doing as a kid — rollerskating, making models, lining up the dominoes. Do it again.
-Spin in circles until you collapse on the grass. Watch the clouds spin.
-Wear ponytails, braids, striped socks.

What will you do today to re-introduce yourself to whimsy? Tell us in the comments below and be an inspiration to our oh-so-serious selves. To read more about Whimsy, click here and here.

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My current method of corresponding with The Muse — letters to Vincent.

This is an on-going series inspired by reader’s comments to this initial post. To read all the posts on Standing in Your Own Power, click here.

To me, the Muse is that internal voice that guides and inspires me. She is not an external guest who comes to visit, but an internal source of wisdom dwelling within. Because the language of the Trinity is meaningful to me and because the world of creativity and art are so intrinsic to whom I am – I have come to think of The Muse and The Spirit synonymously.  She turns my head, shows me where to go, and as we travel she holds my hand (or gives me a shove!)  

Standing in your own power requires that you stop listening to external sources of authority, and learn to tune into your internal voice of authority – your instinct, your intuition, your Muse. Corresponding with The Muse turns down the volume on the external static, and turns up the dial on your intuitive voice.

Embracing Whimsy is one of the main ways I have come to correspond with The Muse. To me the language of whimsy is The Muse’s native tongue—my native tongue, long forgotten.  I have been well-trained by the Institutions (external authority). Their voice is familiar to me. It is the language I have spoke then longest. Their instructions about “how it is done” ring loud in my ears. I tend to blindly obey the institutional voice.

Whimsy is the antidote to blind obedience.  Whimsy is my native tongue, though I barely remember a time when I spoke it so easily. Now, whenever I have the impulse to do something “they” would think is ridiculous, I recognize it as Whimsy, the voice of the Muse, and I try to leap. This helps me stretch my “listening-to-my-intuition” muscles, and lets me practices saying “yes” to intuition. Here are some things that I’ve done which seem Whimsical to me (and therefore inspired by The Muse):

-I moved to Denmark just to do something different.
-I have regularly have breakfast with Vincent Van Gogh (his books and art) and write him letters.
-I joined a Danish gospel choir, though I can’t understand a thing the director is saying.
-I bought a vintage scrapbook of Danish theatre performances with hand drawn illustrations.

None of these things makes much sense. Certainly “they” would not suggest such a course of action. Yet each of them has shaped my life in a significant way. Each of them is transforming me, helping me become. The Muse and her voice of Whimsy led me here. Without her I would not have found my way.

What does the Muse sound like in your heart, in your ear? How might you correspond with her? Literally– though writing her letters (and penning her answers back)? Verbally–through talking aloud in an empty room, through singing in the shower? Physically — through the sign language of yoga, or running, or swimming? Where can you hear the voice of your inspiration? How can you camp out there and practice your native tongue?

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Need a community around you to support you on your quest to Stand in Your Own Power? Flock can help. Join our trailblazing group of women as we dedicate ourselves to “finding a spirituality that fits.” Click here to learn more.