My lady and I were discussing the upcoming holidays, wondering what we might do for entertainment. We realized that both of us had become a bit bored with the daily grind and are looking for something “fun” to do. I like having fun and so does she, but oddly enough we found it difficult to think of something that filled the bill. We thought of a lot of things to do, but few really sounded like “FUN” but instead were just something to do.

This got me to wonder what the concept of “fun” really means and what sorts of things trigger it. Most dictionaries associate “fun” with amusement, entertainment, laughter and such. Webster offers the definition of fun being: “What provides amusement or enjoyment specifically: playful often boisterous action or speech.” While these experiences seem appropriate, I think there is much more to the concept.

Years ago I created my company’s motto of “Do Good and Have Fun.” My company specializes in system safety engineering (related to product safety engineering). This seems like it should be a rather “serious” no-nonsense branch of engineering, what does “fun” have to do with it? It is easy to see how we are focused on “doing good things” by protecting people and the environment. The harder to understand is perhaps the “have fun” part. I don’t mean having fun as an amusement or boisterous distraction, I mean having fun by doing interesting, difficult and important things. For me, solving difficult problems is “fun” – and saving people’s lives by doing so is doubly fun. Doing excellent work while making the world a better place is what I was talking about. Perhaps I am thinking more along the lines of being fulfilled or a feeling of making a positive difference. To me, those things feel like “fun.”

That brings up the question of what makes something fun. I am not at all sure about the answers, so I am just going to throw some ideas out there to see where the topic might go. The following list includes a few of the things I believe can make something fun:

• Intellectual
  • Sharing ideas
  • Problem solving
  • Creation
  • Working with a team
  • Learning new things
  • Doing new things
  • Surprises
  • Being mentally challenged
• Esthetics
  • Seeing beautiful things
  • Hearing beautiful things (music)
  • Smelling pleasing odors
• Imagination
  • Sexual
    • Flirting
    • Fantasy
  • Daydreaming/fantasizing
    • Places
    • Activities
    • People
• Exciting
  • Scary
  • Fast action
  • Dangerous
• Accomplishment
  • Physical
  • Mental
  • Artistic
  • Communication
• Sensual
  • Touch (e.g., massage, snuggling)
  • Hearing
  • Sight
  • Taste
  • Body motion (e.g., dancing, hiking, skiing)
  • Eating
    • Taste
    • Smell
    • Texture
  • Temperature/humidity (warm south Pacific beach)
• Spiritual
  • Experiencing “other” worlds
    • Visions
    • Physical experiences
    • “Stopping the world”
    • Experiencing a feeling of “awe”
  • Experiencing nature

I am sure there are many more topics, and also sure that some of these are misplaced or mistaken. I created this list to help get away from thinking about “fun things to do” and instead consider what makes these things fun in the hopes that it will help me think of something to do. Obviously, some (perhaps most) fun activities contain multiple items on this list. For example, I like to dance. When dancing is really “fun” it includes listening to good music, moving my body in enjoyable ways, perhaps touching another person, maybe some flirting and a bit of fantasy. Put them all together and I am definitely “having fun.”

My goal with making this list was to help me identify activities that might end up being “fun” and those that are just amusing or filling time. That doesn’t mean I have to be accomplishing things all of the time, it is alright to just be entertained and amused, being playful is a good thing. However, it seems that there are levels of having “fun” and some of the most enjoyable are deeper and get closer to the heart of the idea of being a “good” person.

I wrote the first draft of this blog a week or so ago, and decided to just let it sit for a bit to see if it is worth posting. I find that the ideas included in my short list of “fun” things comes up several times a day. I find myself pausing for a moment to check in with myself, asking myself if what I am doing meets any of the items – and if not, is there something I could do to change my “moment” to be funner. It turns out there usually is something that I could do, and making whatever I am doing more fun actually makes a difference. It helps remind me that life can be made more beautiful, enjoyable and important just with a thought. Nothing has to change except for our view.