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Yes, I implore you to play. There is so much fun in that. Create mess, live random, and de-stress. Play,because you absolutely NEED to. Anyone reading this needs to play, and if you already do then reinvent play, throw out your old way of playing and just play.
Okay, so you are a serious business person or a professional working a 9 to 5, you don't have the time and you have kids to take care of and a home to straighten when you leave work that is why you need to play.
If you need the experts to tell you that you need to play then let me dawn my counselor hat and site more reasons on why YOU should choose to play:
Play is voluntary by nature, and in a world full of rules and requirements, play is refreshing and full of respite;
Play is free from evaluation and judgement, thus it is safe to make mistakes without failure;
Play is free from evaluation and judgement, thus it is safe to make mistakes without failure;
Play encourages fantasy and the use of the imagination, enabling control without competition;
Play increases involvement and interest; and
Play encourages the development of self.
-Caplan and Caplan (1974) as mentioned in 'Sandtray Therapy: A practical Manual' by Linda E. Homeyer and Danel S. Sweeney.
More reasons? Okay,
Play is done for its own sake-it may even seem purposeless
Play has qualities that promote freedom and growth
Play has qualities that promote freedom and growth
Play involves a freedom from time
Play helps diminish the consciousness of self
Play has an improvisational potential
Play develops a continuation desire-you want to come back to it once you start
-Brown and Vaughn (2009)as mentioned in 'Sandtray Therapy: A practical Manual' by Linda E. Homeyer and Danel S. Sweeney.
In a world where working in groups, living with rommies and family and being with people all the time and staying connected to them via a variety of media is the norm, I encourage play that is done for yourself and by yourself. I encourage this, especially if you are feeling lost, overwhelmed, confused, stuck, listless or just stressed and find that you have more to-do things on your list than time to actually do them.
Yes, its ironic, that you don't have time to actually do the stuff on your to-do list, that you don't have time to actually do the serious stuff in life and here I am encouraging you to play. Oxymoronic, but let go and just dive and you'll find that like meditation here too you feel an opening up of space, creativity and MORE time!
I for one have rediscovered play in my life through art. I began to draw and color with oil pastels. With a little encouragement from Lisa Wilson, Awareness Artist at LifeUnity and after some inspiration from a few online classes from artists like Tam and Jane Davenport and youtube videos on how to draw this and that I began to unravel the creativity and "flow" from within.
For me, play is about:
Freedom: It frees me and eases my tensions, it loosens me up and fills me with love for all the other areas of life.
Stillness:It stills me and quietens me.
Insight: The beauty in scribbling like I do is in finding and discovering what I am truly feeling and thinking.
Creativity: Sometimes I know what I want to draw and other times I ask a greater energy to guide me and present me with something to draw, and other times I just draw an inner state of being.
Sometimes (most times actually)It might make no sense to anyone around me but it clarifies me and shakes away any mood cloud I might be experiencing.
Judgement Free: I dont draw beautifully, nor is my goal to be a professional artist of any kind. My goal is to just Play. If its beautiful sometimes so be it.
No rules: There are no rules in my play. Ofcourse, you cant use a pen after you paint with oil pastels, of course, oil pastels can smudge and mix in strange ways but those are just some "rules" some ways in which this game can be played/not played but for the most part I feel a huge space where I can explore and play the way I want.
I began to maintain an art journal too. It looks like a child's play and my mom says that maybe because I didn't get to do enough of it as a child I am doing it now. Maybe its true, maybe there is a child in me that wants to play, that wants this release. And why not? Internal Family Systems Therapy suggests that there are many parts within us, a child part, an adult part, a rational part, a creative part, etc and my child part is really helping my adult part relax, loosen up and create joy in my life. Don't you want that for yourself too? Research like the ones I indicated above suggests that it helps when adults play. It helps when couples play, it helps express aspects of your life that you cant find words for. So play!
There are SO many ways to play, for the most part you will just have to check-in with yourself and realize there is a certain part of you that wanted to play a certain game/instrument/whatever forever but never found the time to do it or thought it was too childish. Set aside that adult self that is so judgmental and play because you will love it when you do it a few times and will want to keep coming back!
So why wait, stop all your work, especially if you are feeling all anxious and NEED to finish work and just take a break and play! Even if it is for a few minutes only. And don't forget to ENJOY!
I for one have rediscovered play in my life through art. I began to draw and color with oil pastels. With a little encouragement from Lisa Wilson, Awareness Artist at LifeUnity and after some inspiration from a few online classes from artists like Tam and Jane Davenport and youtube videos on how to draw this and that I began to unravel the creativity and "flow" from within.
For me, play is about:
Freedom: It frees me and eases my tensions, it loosens me up and fills me with love for all the other areas of life.
Stillness:It stills me and quietens me.
Insight: The beauty in scribbling like I do is in finding and discovering what I am truly feeling and thinking.
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| Titled: A holding space for my emotions. My dad thinks I might be going crazy, when I showed him this one! But that's play for me. Sometimes random and sometimes an expression of what I am feeling. This is a scribble I did when I was feeling stuck and wanted some release. The back and orange box like things represent the feeling and the cross strokes represent the sinking feeling I was experiencing then. The blue background is a representation of a peaceful holding space. After I did it, I had a good laugh and the "stuck" feeling disappeared! So go ahead and go crazy! It might help. |
Creativity: Sometimes I know what I want to draw and other times I ask a greater energy to guide me and present me with something to draw, and other times I just draw an inner state of being.
Sometimes (most times actually)It might make no sense to anyone around me but it clarifies me and shakes away any mood cloud I might be experiencing.
 |
| Untitled. |
No rules: There are no rules in my play. Ofcourse, you cant use a pen after you paint with oil pastels, of course, oil pastels can smudge and mix in strange ways but those are just some "rules" some ways in which this game can be played/not played but for the most part I feel a huge space where I can explore and play the way I want.
I began to maintain an art journal too. It looks like a child's play and my mom says that maybe because I didn't get to do enough of it as a child I am doing it now. Maybe its true, maybe there is a child in me that wants to play, that wants this release. And why not? Internal Family Systems Therapy suggests that there are many parts within us, a child part, an adult part, a rational part, a creative part, etc and my child part is really helping my adult part relax, loosen up and create joy in my life. Don't you want that for yourself too? Research like the ones I indicated above suggests that it helps when adults play. It helps when couples play, it helps express aspects of your life that you cant find words for. So play!
There are SO many ways to play, for the most part you will just have to check-in with yourself and realize there is a certain part of you that wanted to play a certain game/instrument/whatever forever but never found the time to do it or thought it was too childish. Set aside that adult self that is so judgmental and play because you will love it when you do it a few times and will want to keep coming back!
So why wait, stop all your work, especially if you are feeling all anxious and NEED to finish work and just take a break and play! Even if it is for a few minutes only. And don't forget to ENJOY!
What an uplifting post. I do so believe that much of our troubles arise because we fail to acknowledge the child-wisdom within each one of us. Play often offers insights into problems and situations that so called mature and rational thinking cannot. Loved the pics.
ReplyDeleteHi Subho! Thanks for the wonderful words and for liking the pictures too :-)
DeleteIts a truly inspiring post!!! My Guruji Rishi Prabhakar used to say that if you treat your work itself as play then you never need to work in your life :-) But I have neither been able to do that nor been able to play as a child like how you are asking me to do here. Its just the result oriented attitude I suppose. I would really like to wait and watch if you can continue to play once you start your M Phil and parallely start being a full time some mother ;-) that's going to be interesting and if you manage that then I will be fully inspired by word as well by deed ! Wish you all the best...
ReplyDeleteEggjacktly! This post is a reminder for me to do that. Now that you have read it too you can remind me as well. I can already tell that I am going to stop many times, be overwhelmed just by the concept of play and be driven crazy, but I can also see myself doing it eventually because of reminders and because of the fire of mindfulness that you mentioned in the last post's comment :-) and who knows I might discover some other kind of play for later!
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