Play at home and in a work environment can be experiences in various forms.
Do you like to hang out and have fun with family or friends? When was the last time you had a good belly laugh? Are you spontaneous – finding little moments to dance with wild abandon, or calling up friends for a last-minute games night? Do you chase your dog around the living room and gleefully snap the dish towel at your husband’s legs?
Or do you view playtime as a guilty pleasure and simply impossible to fit into a day filled with Adult Responsibilities?
Play is just as pivotal for adults as it is for kids
It really is!
We don’t lose the need for novelty and pleasure as we grow up. Play brings joy. And it’s vital for problem-solving, creativity and relationships.
Psychiatrist, author and Play Expert Stuart Brown, MD, compares play to oxygen. He says, “It’s all around us, yet goes mostly unnoticed or unappreciated until it is missing.” Many experiences constitute play. Play is art, books, movies, music, comedy, flirting, daydreaming, dancing, laughing, jumping in puddles, doing jigsaw puzzles.
(And DIYing with friends. Just sayin’.)
Play is empowering
Play can even facilitate deep connections between strangers and cultivate healing. Have you heard of Patch Adams? He is a renowned physician and a clown! who helps people heal through humour. Now that’s an inspiring use of play!
Play is a moving target, and so rather difficult to nail down with an exact definition. That said, it should begin in anticipation and hopefully end with some degree of fulfillment. And in between, you find treasures like surprise, pleasure, understanding, skill, empathy — and strength of mind, body, and spirit.
Play boosts our productivity and happiness
It’s important to add play to your life – give yourself permission to play every day! Find what brings you joy. Surround yourself with playful people. Your play is a state of being – it can be whatever you want it to be.
Will you make time for play today?
It’s a happy talent to know how to play - Ralph Waldo Emerson