Playful
Living
Sadly, I mostly stopped playing sometime in my late twenties.
But in my fifties, I began engaging the spiritual practice known as One Word (asking God to give me one word to pay attention to for a whole year). I was given words related to play for the first five years of asking for one special word!
1—dance 2—play 3—explore 4—create 5—play
As I stepped into Love’s invitations to add play to my life—taking time for pottery classes, adding pickleball to my weeks, solving word puzzles on my phone, reading novels again, and most importantly, observing a weekly Sabbath as a day of delight—my sense of wellbeing began to climb. I remember asking some dear friends: “Is life really allowed to be this much fun?”
Somehow, I had absorbed the idea that the Christ-centered life I want to live was all about the serious responsibilities of commitment, service, and sacrifice. That play and pleasure were frivolous at best and ‘thieves of what mattered most’ at worst.
As I lean into more discovery, I am finding gems like this one:
There is a sacred secret in play which is the hope for another form of life. All play arises from the human longing for the vision of the divine. ~ Hugo Rahner
While I am no expert on play, no amazing model of playful intelligence, I am someone who has grown passionate about the value of play in the lives of people of all ages. Have fun poking around this page. I hope it holds a gift or two for you.
What is play?
Dr. Stuart Brown, founder of the National Institute for Play, has dedicated much of his career to the study of human play. He offers this definition of play in his book Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul.
Play is:
apparently purposeless — it’s done for its own sake
voluntary, self-motivated
inherently attractive — it provides enjoyment
free from consciousness of time
an activity in which consciousness of self is diminished
marked by potential for improvisation
something you want to do again and again
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What kind of play comes to mind for you as you reread each line of the definition?
Play through the lens of personality
What’s your adult play style? Find out. Therapist Lindsay Braman created a short quiz to help you.
To really regain play in your life, says Dr. Stuart Brown, you will need to take a journey back into the past . . .
Sit and remember/visualize something you did in the past that gave you a sense of unfettered pleasure, time suspended, total involvement, wanting to do it again
Remember how it made you feel and hold on to that emotion – it will be the rope that lifts you out of the well of a play deficit
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Barbara Brannen, author of The Gift of Play: Why Adult Women Stop Playing and How to Start Again, says “Be on the lookout for your heart play—play that speaks to your soul.”
Benefits of play: a sampler
The more adults act from their play nature, the greater their overall well-being.
There’s nothing like true play to promote social cohesion at work. When people play, they become attuned to each other.
~ Stuart Brown, M.D.
Play improves attention and cognitive function.
~ Jones and Dearybury in The Playful Life: The Power of Play in Our Every Day
Play through a theological lens
Creation as a whole is because of divine playing – and this playing is one of love. Our own playing, our own refusal to reduce our acts to strict biological or utilitarian purpose, to waste time and energy in superfluity, is a sign of being made in the image and likeness of God.
~ Brendan McInerny
The prophets say that the future kingdom is full of people laughing and playing, which has implications for Christians who are called to live out the future kingdom in the present.
~ Brian Edgar
If God is a God of play, and if human play is, indeed, rooted in divine play, then we, as humans, [get] to develop our abilities at play and cultivate a spirit of playfulness. This is both our gift and our responsibility in a often-serious world. Your life … will testify to the Friedrich Nietzsches of the world that, indeed, there is … a God who dances.
~ David Naugle
Already playing regularly? Ready for more?
Explore Playful Intelligence . . .
As the intensity of Dr. Anthony DeBenedet’s adulthood grew, he noticed that the playful part of his personality began to wither. So he went in search of the qualities most common in those with the power to live lightly even as they carried serious responsibility or endured extended suffering. He chose five words to communicate what he found . . .
imagination * sociability * humor * spontaneity * wonder
I found this book to be a delightful blend of stories, neuroscientific findings made accessible, and coaching tips for putting those insights into practice. Those tips expanded my imagination for how to walk in Jesus’ invitation to learn the unforced rhythms of grace — to keep company with him and learn to live lightly and freely.