Mischievous Day. Does your family have one ... yet?
When our kids were younger Wednesdays was 'Mischievous Day'.
"Pardon me?" you may be politely interjecting right now and rightly so. "Mischief" has indeed gotten a bit of a bad rap but stay with me here and maybe you'll realize "mischief" is not only unterrible but EVEN (I dare say) a missing ingredient in your life. (Whaaat.)
So, yes, the mischief we were up to was sneaky and super secretive but in the best of ways my friend. Sneaky in the "do-something-special-for-someone-without-getting-caught" flavour. And my children loved it! I like to think I was simply re-orientating my children's eager prankster genes (which as far as I can tell are in the 'dominant trait' category in my lineage) towards the good. It was so fun for all of us!
Recalling some of the harmless antics we got up to makes me shake my head and smile - you'd think we were on major spy assignment for some of these mini-love-missions and others were very simple, short and sweet. I'm writing about all this now because I've realized I've kind of missed our past focus on 'mischief' and decided it's time to bring it back! Not officially once a week this time but we are having an official 'Mischievous Day' each month (exact details of which for obvious reasons I can't divulge publicly) to help keep the intent of it - the "Mischievous Mindset" as it were - alive and well. Would be a shame to get low on Vitamin M again so just hedging my bets.
What I LOVE about reinstating 'Mischievous Day' most is that I notice I start looking at my world through lighter glasses, through "hmmm, what might be possible here" type love glasses and it colours every day a bit brighter.
Honestly, the 'mischievous' things we did weren't huge, time consuming or expensive but all were inspired and with the delight of the receiver in mind. I wonder if you've experienced the magic and potency behind both receiving and giving unexpected kindnesses that we have. I have noticed that the breath I breathe right is somehow a bit freer and my heart, which seems to get caught off guard by the unexpected kindness, softens with a feeling of renewed openness ... to me that's unexpected kindness's magic ... AND then I notice not too long after I often feel super inspired to pay it forward ... which for me speaks to its potency ... kindness is catchy ...
Here are some memories and inspirations to plant some seeds of possibility ...
- Tip toeing up a neighbour's/friend's stairs and leaving a rainbow painted rock or a couple Gerber daisies from the bunch we just bought and slinking away - sometimes crawling under windows, or darting behind bushes/lamp poles ...
- Leaving a bouquet of wild flowers, ringing a doorbell and running for our lives ... (-:
- Ducking in and out from behind trees making our way to inconspicuously tie balloons onto door handles and car wipers
- Sending off hand made anonymous gratitude cards in the mail with sparkles in it 'from the fairies' or 'the Moon'
- Heading out after dark in our pjs and planting the surprise/treasure then - this was rare so super exciting for them
- Beeswax heart ornaments we made the day before and hung on neighbour's tree plants/front door knobs
- Solana sneaking into her dad's closet and slipping $5 into one of his pant pockets
- Little bag of Rose hips dried and collected for tea with directions from the fairies.
- De-icing a neighbour's windshield before they wake ... and so on ...
See, none of them of themselves are big nobel-prize efforts - but doing it together with my kids ... and in this secret 'mischievous' way (that they got into) ... that was what made it juicy and at times ridiculously enjoyable.
Any act of kindness is fair game here and now as I get to the end of this post I find myself wondering whose moment YOU and your children will (de)light up next ...
A blessing to end: "May you and your family cultivate and enjoy the gifts of a Mischievous Mindset all the days of your lives!"
