Got Play? (it is summertime after all)
At the moment of writing this post, we stand at the precipice of summer. With Memorial Day behind us and the long stretch of warm months ahead, comes a little tinge in the brain, a little skip in the soul. For some of us it’s more like a loud gong of a bell – for others it is the slightest whisper of a long ago memory. You see on some level summer means play. Summer is about a shift in our mental state. Summer has a call to our deeper, more playful selves. Are you listening? Will you answer the call this time? Or will you, like so many of us, put your head back down to your desk and get on with the work at hand ignoring the impulse to play and the call of fun?
In my work, the most referenced thing lacking in people’s lives is fun. This got me thinking about fun and more importantly, play. What is the power of play and why is fun so freaking important to people? I did a little research and get this, it turns out that play is as important as sleep. Read that again. What?? It’s true. We’re biologically programmed to play. It supports memory, creativity, reduces stress, and builds trust and safety between individuals and within groups. A playful brain is a happy soul. And we’re talking about play that is not driven by a purpose; it’s simply the act for the act’s sake. In his work on play, Stuart Brown says that if its purpose is more important than the simple act, it’s probably not play. He also says that the opposite of play is not work but depression. Yikes. (Check out his talk on TED). Folks this is huge. Play is not simply fun, it’s kind of essential to almost everything we do!
Now let’s go back to the call of summer. Grrr… it makes me smile just thinking about it. It not only makes me smile but it stirs a sensation in my whole body. Summer has a feeling to it. To me, as a child, summer equaled play. It meant freedom. The days had a different rhythm. In Houston, Texas, summer days were hot and muggy. I lived outside with my friends, Mallory, Lisa, Alice and Scott. We rode ponies, jumped on trampolines, swung on swing sets and played outside late into the night. We canoed in the ditches when the rains came. Summer was about swimming pools and summer camp and building forts and riding bikes and schedules so flexible and spacious there was even time to get bored. Today when the months turn warmer, I still feel the muscle imprint of those memories. I still experience the sense of possibility that came from all that play.
What about you? What are your summer memories? How did play live in your life? Try this: pull together your play history. Go back into your own memories and recall as much as you can about play and fun in your life. Get it all down on paper. Recall the friends, the activities, the games, the fantasies, the stories, the humor, and the laughter. As you do this watch; watch and feel what stirs inside of you. Notice what comes up for you. This is the power of play. This is the altered state of play.
Play is about curiosity, it’s about exploration. There is ritual play, spectator play and physical play, imaginative play, body play and social play. Play is a state of mind. It can be infused into any activity and into all of your life. Play deprivation leads to all sorts of nasty things but add it into a moment and just watch the brain light up. Play empowers your life, strengthens your relationships and dances with your passions. Play is a force of transformation. Play opens you to possibility.
So, friend, this summer, how can you create space for play? How can you make it a part of your mornings, your meetings, your conversations, your weekends and your work? What if you used play as a form of problem solving? What if play became a strategy for everything you did? What if you became so committed to play that it informed all that you did? What, my friend, would happen then? How would life be different for you? Where might you go? What might you achieve if you lived from a commitment to play?
If you’d like help or want to explore the power of play in your life. If you feel stuck or just want to take all this deeper, reach out to me and let’s connect. It would be an honor to help you connect to your own summer child again.
