I’m having one of those days where Brian (aka my brain) has literally presented me with a thousand things that could be written in this blog, so I’ve given him the day off and let my Heart Word for the day, which is “Play”, lead the way.
To be honest, I haven’t been feeling very playful, which I suspect is precisely why the spirit of “play” has been presented to me as a quality that will support me through just this day. Interestingly, on the journey to using my Heart Word as todays Meditation cafe theme, I randomly came across a video of Jordon Peterson talking about play! These are some of the points he made that are worthy of contemplation:
- Play is very fragile
- It can be interrupted by almost any other motivational state
- Sense of play = direction with variability
- Play only emerges (in a group) when the situation of communication and cooperation has been optimised
- Play is voluntary
- Play implies a fair bit of tolerance for deviation
As a neuro-complex being with sensory challenges, play as a child did not come easily to me. At 53 years of age, I’m only really just getting the hang of it so it feels like I’m living life back to front. I remember not really knowing how to “do it”. Play felt like a merry go round that never stopped for me to get on, and if I did manage to get on the play train, I was constantly watching the other kids and mimicking their behaviour.
I remember actually trying to jump onto a spinning roundabout in the playground and sprained my ankle. I remember falling of the top of a slide trying to copy another kid who’d slid down in a squat position. I literally rolled off the top and landed on my nose. Due to my spacial awareness challenges, games like rounders were an absolute nightmare for me. I don’t think I once ever managed to hit the ball, hence always was the second last to be picked in the team, the last being a boy named Ben whom was as outwardly discombobulated as I was inwardly. These types of situations do nothing for a young girls self esteem.
Enjoyable play for me was mostly solitary. It involved a lot spontaneous movement, jumping and spinning and dancing. But only when no-one was looking. I get to play now in my Movement medicine practice. I literally come alive when I can move in this non-structured way and I feel like I am dancing with life itself.
I didn’t understand role-play and let’s pretend as a kid, I mean why would you pretend to be something you’re not? Brian can be very literal. I guess though, that’s preparation for what many of us do most of our lives isn’t it? Pretend we are ok when we’re not. Pretend to be what we think we should be to get love, attention or a specific outcome. My poem I See You comes to mind.
Play can be beautifully spontaneous and it can also be treacherous if we open ourselves up to playing with someone whose intentions are not rooted in innocence and curious exploration but in exploitation, like a cat playing with a mouse. Play can move us beyond our boundaries and also show us where we need them.
I observed when looking for pictures to accompany this blog, the prompt “adults playing” brought up images of adults playing something.. A guitar, a flute, a piano. It seems that as we age, playing becomes very tied up with accomplishment, the spirit of play being ignited or extinguished by the level of our own self worth and beliefs. A creative pursuit started in Joy can soon become a huge weight, when expectations get in the way of play.
So how can we keep the spirit of play alive in our life? What unrealistic expectations do we have that are killing it? What beliefs need slaying in order for that child in us to remember what it’s like (or like in my case to learn what it’s like) to just to do things for the sheer Joy of doing them, to run free, to twirl for no reason, to make up a song or write a poem for fun, to see what happens if…
In our Meditation practice we start to dissolve those limitations and make space for more spontaneity, more creativity that’s rooted in Joy. We get the opportunity to practice playing at not taking our thoughts and ourselves so seriously.
Here’s the zoom registration link for tonights Meditation Cafe, Monday 24th March 2025, 7.30pm, if you’d like to join us as we explore awakening the spirit of play, through Self Enquiry and Heart Words Meditation practice.
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/R6MMIHKtT9qChzmSZF5afw
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The Bendy Witch 