Come play with me!
This is your Invitation to play, laugh, tell jokes, and get silly!
Wanna play with me? Remember when it was that simple to just start playing with a kid you didn’t know? Life was a new and exciting adventure and you could presume the other kid was ready and available to play with you. Think of this as your personal invitation to play. Watch this video and see how you feel after watching the boy and his dog. Heart-open? Centered? Delighted? Makes you want to go for a walk with a dog and stomp in a puddle, right? Do you love the dog’s patience?! And the boy’s focused intent as he explores the puddle?! Just watching those two puts you in that heart-space of simple innocence and is so satisfying. Play is the boy’s occupation, it’s serious AND fun. Play is really good for “grown-ups,” too.
If you need intellectual discussion of the importance of play, here is an article from Psych Central about the Importance of Play, or you can watch neuroscientist Stuart Brown give his TED talk on Play is more than just Fun. Ironically, his presentation is not particularly fun, in itself. He cites statistics about what happens to a brain that is “play deprived” versus a brain that plays regularly. The playful brain is bigger and healthier, of course. But knowing about the benefits of play just keeps you in your head. The point is to experience fun, not just think about it.
Play is good for everyone
There’s a part in all of us that yearns for play. It’s easy and available to you and takes a down-shift to “simple and innocent.” If you tend to be serious and adult-like, you may need permission to get silly and play – but you absolutely can do it. Here’s your invitation, permission and encouragement. Come on! Let’s see what you can do from where you are right now.
What would be really fun for you to experience? Imagining is play you can do right now, sitting still or lying down. Imagine yourself feeling open-hearted, silly, and delighted. Yes, really stop for a moment and imagine yourself giggling at some silliness. What just happened? Did you feel a shift in your energy, an opening? Invite Curiosity and follow it where it takes you.
Simple fun for me is rolling my hand in a bowl of dried beans, popping bubble wrap, or sliding down a chute of mud or snow. I’ve always wanted to fall into a vat of rice noodles. That’s kid fun and will differ per our preferences. Baby fun is more universal. There’s a reason this video of a baby laughing at ripping paper has been watched 80 million times!!! We naturally entrain with the baby’s delight at such a simple miracle.
Invitation to TELL JOKES
The kid in me likes telling silly jokes, likes hearing them. I invite your inner kid to enjoy a silly joke too. Here’s a joke I’m enjoying these days:
Q: What has Beethoven been doing since he died?…………
A: …………………De-composing!
Q: Why can’t your nose be 12 inches long?
A: Because then it would be a foot!
GIVE YOURSELF FUN TREATS
I invite you to call back whatever you used to love doing when you were 8 (or 5 or 6). What was your favorite food treat? Favorite flavor of ice cream? If you haven’t had that treat in a while, please! treat yourself. Pretend that you are taking your 6-year old self out for ice cream and let her/him choose what you’ll have [1]. Then enjoy that treat with every yummy-sensor you have. Buy yourself toys or stuffed animals that would have delighted you as a kid. There are probably a lot more fancy options available now. Buy yourself a light saber! or a big, stuffed Chewbacca.
PHYSICAL PLAY
Let yourself play physically. Flop around. Wiggle. Stick out your tongue. Some movements just feel silly and fun! The next chance you get, swing on some swings; go go carting; take yourself to a county fair and ride some rides. In the same way a kid thrills when a parent loosens up a little and allows usually-forbidden treats, you can experience that same generosity – from both sides of the relationship – by loosening up with yourself and letting yourself play.
My book is full of original cartoons, stories, and a generally playful approach to healing. Private sessions with me are full of physical and emotional play, toys, and curiosity – because I’m a playful pup [2] and healing is more fun that way!!!
Allow in Playful Innocence and Curiosity and follow it where it takes you. Leave a comment on my Google + page or my Facebook page to let me know what is simple kid-fun for you. Don’t worry if you’re reading this long after the original post. Play never goes out of style! 😉
#play #fun #importanceofplay #innerchild