“Life without play is grinding, mechanical existence organized around doing the things necessary for survival. Play is the stick that stirs the drink. It is the basis of all art, games, books, sports, movies, fashion, fun and wonder- in short, the basis of what we think of as civilization. Play is the vital essence of life. It is what make life lively.”
Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul showed up on my blog reader one day and I was fascinated. I’m increasingly seeking balance in my life- with work, exercise, food, stress, faith, personal time and play. I firmly believe that we are an incredibly over-worked society, and it’s looked down upon to spend time enjoying an activity that doesn’t produce tangible results or forward progress. I thoroughly enjoyed this book as I learned about the importance of play and how it provides so many benefits like releasing stress, strengthening the brain, enhancing emotional intelligence, stimulating creativity, preparing us for relationships, improving immunity & health, and reducing aggression/violence. One of the major purposes of play is the improve social ties & assists us in learning the limits in appropriate interaction as we are free to use our imagination, to take risks without the threat of permanent consequences and to prepare us to deal with real-world threats.
The book made me expand my definition of play to include more than just playing Xbox or Angry Birds or pickup basketball. Properties of play: apparently purposeless, voluntary, inherent attraction, freedom from time, diminished consciousness of self, improvisational potential, and continuation desire. Another list defined play as involving: anticipation, surprised, pleasure, understanding, strength, and poise. The same activity (running, anybody?) can be play to one person and work or punishment to another. The book had some fascinating ideas and insights into such a vital aspect of our life. Many people hardly have anything that lets them unplug from the pressures of life and revitalize the soul by playing. Even things like creating or enjoying the arts, music, theater, movies and books are considered play as they allow us to escape the immediate demands of life.
In the book, several pay personalities are presented: the joker, the kinesthete (athlete/mover), the explorer, the competitor, the director, the collector, the artist/creator, and the storyteller. I can see certain traits of these personalities in both myself and hubby, but I’m glad to say that we obviously share our explorer personality as we travel and explore the world around us. Just for the sake of taking a personal inventory, I thought I’d list all of the ways I like to play: travel, photography, running, blogging, games with Mia & Zoe, yoga, reading, listening to music, and long dinners with hubby. I really enjoyed the book & found it very informative and interesting, giving me new tools to better balance my life and feel a little less guilty when I make time to play because I know the importance of it.
One of the suggestions in the book is to create a play history to learn what things you enjoyed and excelled at as a child & what that means in your adult life. I took a few minutes to think about all the ways I played as a child & thought I’d share a few of them.
- Played volleyball from 7th grade through 2 years in collage and a few summer leagues
- A few years of gymnastics when I was a preschoolers
- On the neighborhood swim team for almost a decade
- Learning to play tennis with my dad & Brenda , attending camps, playing with them at Jaycee Park
- Having Kleenex fights or water fights with re-used shampoo bottles with my mom
- Dancing is one of my all time favorite things- still. Dozens of Friday nights at the dance halls in high school, private lessons in Austin, and months of CW & salsa with hubby before our wedding at SSQQ
- Computer games like Where in the World is Carmen San Diego and the Oregon trail
- Nintendo games like Super Mario Brothers, Tetris and many more
- Snow skiing with Dad & Brenda each January in Colorado from 1987 to 1998
- 3 years in the band playing the French Horn in 6th, 7th & 8th grade
- Pickup baseball games in the street with mailboxes for bases at Ms. Diane’s house
- Assembling puzzles on cardtables with my mom and my US states map I’ve done thousands of times
- Dozens of camping adventures with mom & Gram, and then eventually John
- Learning to play cards and gamble with my church friends on summer trips
- Spending hours in my grandparents backyard, exploring grandpa’s garden & playing in his fishpond
- Enormous lego sets I’d get for my birthdays and Christmas that I loved to put together
- Riding my bike to elementary school or the park to play on the train tracks
- Creating a fantasy world in an enormous tree by my grandparent’s house & playing make believe for hours with their little girl
GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: I love having flexible work hours- it’s awesome for afternoon swims and morning yoga.
What an awesome book! I love that concept that we need play in our life to balance us out.
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You should add it to your reading list- it really helped me feel less guilty about indulgences on my free time and that playing really does have more value than just being for fun or kids.