Carnival season just ended in St. Thomas. What a great time of year. The focus is on having fun, enjoying the many carnival events, special foods and parades. Its no wonder that people are passionate about carnvial. It’s made up of magic, play, dress up, thinking big, showing off and strutting your stuff with abandon. And I do mean with abandon!
If we had Carnival year-round there’d be no time for planning, rest or sleeping it off and the overall operation of the island would suffer a big hit. I still wonder: what if we approached our daily lives with even a smidgeon of the excitement that carnival brings? What if we could be creative and replace the words work and busy with play and creatively engaged? What if we loved what we did, made a great living doing it and a contribution to something bigger than our selves – all at the same time?
Carnival gives us all permission to play and play is the basic activity of creation. Artists of all kinds know that playing and experimentation lead to magic and extraordinary results. Children approach their sandcastles and make-believe with an earnestness of people who are up to big things. Theyare so deeply engaged they don’t want to get out of the water or come in for dinner.
Keep the Carnival spirit alive in your lives all year round. Think of ways to incorporate the pure passion, the outrageous and magnificent costumes and inspired themes and songs of Carnival into your daily lives. Write your own Calypso song, choose a Carnival King or Queen name, dance down the street, dress up, hug your friends, walk on stilts and make a point of doing at least one thing to celebrate your life every single day.
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