try kicking through some fallen leaves

Admit it: you used to do this as a child. A pile of fallen leaves is irresistible. Just to walk through them, kicking them up into the air, is such a pleasure.

Somehow, though, we usually lose this simple playfulness as we grow old. We begin to constrain our behaviour; feel that we have to be serious; worry what other people may think of us. And we lose something.

So here, there is an invitation to return, for a few minutes, to that childlike playfulness, without worries about one's appearance, one's reputation. No. Let go of what other people may think of you. Let it drop away for a few minutes. And just enjoy walking through a pile of fallen leaves, listening to the crunching sounds, kicking them up in the air.

You can even pick up handfuls and throw them up, allowing them to shower down on you, like snowflakes. Be free. Feel that slight resistance as your feet are moving through the leaves. Smell the leaves. Allow these sensations to take you over – the sight, the colours, the sounds, ahh.

For a few minutes, be simple again. Nothing to be done, nowhere to go, just enjoying the moment. If we can regain something of this innocence, of this playfulness, then life will feel alive once more, spontaneous. There's a great joy in it. But that particular joy, we can only know when we are not worrying about what others may think. Allow that worry to drop away, and be spontaneous. This is the way to enjoy the simple things in life.