Last night as I drove through neighborhoods of brightly lit Christmas displays my insides leapt with excitement, as I took in the eye popping light displays. The Christmas season stirs my senses with smells, sights and tastes, like every child I’m taken into the magical world of play that the holidays so aptly invites.
In last week’s blog, I discussed Joy and the invitation before us; this week I want to go a step further and talk about Play!
Clinical Researcher, Medical Doctor, and Psychiatrist, Stuart Brown, has spent a career working with Fortune 500 companies on how to incorporate play into business. In his book, Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul, Brown tells us that years of academic and clinical research has taught us that the power of play, energizes, enlivens, eases burdens, renews our natural sense of optimism and opens us up to new possibilities.
Being a person who thrives on creativity, enjoys the possibilities, and is all about investing in a play filled life, I am thrilled that the medical community concurs with my own findings! “Neuroscientists, developmental biologists, psychologists, social scientists, and researchers from every point of the scientific compass now know that play is a profound biological process…Play lies at the core of creativity and innovation.” Brown continues to explain that, “We are built to play and build through play.”
So let me ask you, how seriously do you take play? Are you as intentional about your play as you are your work? Do you look at your calendar every month and every week and make sure that you’ve scheduled time for play? If you don’t most likely your play ration is down. If you aren’t intentional about creatively planning time to play, you are robbing your life of an important element. You may have surrendered your youth way before it’s time.
I intend to play long and hard in this life, watch my energy and creativity fly off the charts, and whoop it up big, while enjoying a grand ole time. During this Christmas season, why not join the ranks of the highly intelligent researchers who advise us to play for all our life and reap the benefits of what play will do for you.
Always, remember: Follow your joy!
