Play: The lost Art

Play: The Lost Art

Who says you cannot get “things done” if you play? Actually, almost everyone; however there is no truth to that statement. Research shows that in fact play and humor enhances productivity andcreativity in work and problem solving, improves health and stabilizes socialrelationships both at home and in the workplace. Yet play is a lost art. Most people know how to escape or recover neither of which is related to play. The norm is to “take a vacation” or “take a break” as ways to try and survive work or family pressures, then “get back to reality.”  Since we mostly live in “reality” why not make it something you do not need to escape or recover from?  If life is presenting as “this is as good as it gets,” why not laugh it up and enjoy the  good that IS there, right now rather than working harder to “make it better.”  Because even when life gets “better,” there are still problems and challenges and typically when people get to the “better” place they still give precedence to the new problems and challenges that arise  in the “better” circumstances and after a short time, once again decide to work harder to get to a “better” place. Whew. No wonder over 1/3 of the nation (under reported statistics so the percentage is much higher) is on some kind of mood altering medication and even more on non-prescription drugs and even more on alcohol, sugar, nicotine, caffeine, or obsessive behaviors in order to self-medicate.

In this era, in the industrialized cultures, play is indeed a lost art and most people have no idea what constitutes play for them. So now what? Time for a learning curve, which means trial and error, and with trial and error you have to have a sense of humor or the process becomes grim instead of being fun. Where to start? A low risk first step is humor. As many people do not have a sense of humor anymore (if ever for some) you may need to read some books including buying joke books and literally memorizing some jokes and then practice telling them .  While at first this is work, it quickly turns to play and fun!  See if you can bring humor into as many situations as appropriate. Take some risks. Be prepared for trial and error, making mistakes, as well as laughing your butt off and sharing that with others. See how the mood changes, how the situation lightens up, how solutions arise or the time passes. A good place to practice is standing in lines, checking out of a store, make conversation with a stranger, some laughs. See what happens. You will be quite pleasantly surprised. After you build a little confidence up, give it a shot at work, and at home. Notice how your energy changes, your meditations, your sexual life, even your appetite. When you laugh you are present in the here and now. The more present you are, the more you can receive and actually hear Guidance on a moment ot moment basis. Humor and laughter keep you humble as well and Spirit loves humble. It is much easier for Guidance to come in to a soft, laughing, receptive being rather than an anxiety ridden “driven” human.

Then make the search for play your hobby. Schedule time for play experiments like you would work or a doctor’s appointment otherwise you will never make time for it.  Look on Meetup, or local Facebook pages or newspapers for events that you would be willing to try, and start to re-discover what is or is not fun for you now, at this age, at this place in your life.  Too much of an introvert for that?  Go to a park and watch children and adults play with each other, with pets, with toys etc. Watch the squirrels and birds play.  It will give you some ideas and if nothing else will make you laugh, make you smile. It is a start. All learning takes starting points, even having fun.

Spiritually you can bring play, humor and laughter into your Practice.  Laughing Yoga has wonderful exercises on YouTube and you can look for local classes.  Another fun practice is to take a moment every hour to wish for two people in our lives, work, home or socially , to experience laughter, humor, or moments of playfulness.   This is a micro version of loving-kindness meditation, where you generate feelings of goodwill and warmth toward others by wishing them well. Loving-kindness meditation has been shown to generate more positive attitudes toward the self and others and more positive emotions, which in turn can lead to a greater cardiac health, fewer symptoms of illness, higher life satisfaction, and less depression. Loving playfulness meditation can do the same. It is a kind of joyful remote healing. In your own meditations, say a prayer for laughter, and see if it comes up when meditating. When it does, don’t hesitate, Laugh!

If you have lost the art of play (or never had it), you will have to work at having fun.  And some play IS work. Going skiing takes work, packing, equipment, travel, reservations, being in some kind of shape etc., however it is so worth it once you are on the slopes. People will work hard to earn money, or to avoid emotions however will not lift a finger to engage in play. Play does take, at first, thought, time, commitment, energy and effort. After a while, it will become habit and while habits also take time, commitment, energy and effort, because it has become a habit it does feel effortless.

The search for play and for humor is forever. You learned to work hard on being serious, anxious, obsessed, workaholic, taking yourself and your life too seriously. Now it is a habit that you take for granted. Starting a new habit not only feels like a lot of work in the beginning, it is a lot of work in the beginning. However, once it becomes habit, you will seek it out every day, effortless effort. And this is so worth it. Give it a shot.

Journey On!