Appreciating a Sense of Play
Some people have preserved a sense of play that allows them to be wonderful playmates for young children. My partner is such a person. When my granddaughters are with him, there is always loud laughter and much giggling. This happens regularly when he puts them to bed, and we wonder how they get to sleep. But they do.
Others like me find it difficult to get into this sense of play. From the psychologist’s view, I’d call myself a “parentified” child. This means that early in life I gave up being a child and became responsible, like an adult. I’m not sure why this happened for me. But looking at some of my friends who are such wonderful reliable responsible adults I can see the reasons in their early childhood. When your parents for whatever reason aren’t caring adults to take care of you, some part of the young child “decides” to take over.
It may be okay for you if you don’t have this sense of play. However, I’ve been curious about play for years. I believe I’m missing out on some very pleasurable experiences. More to the point, I believe I’ve lost touch with an important part of me that is creative, spontaneous and fun.
Games are our society’s way of having fun, of playing. Some games succeed splendidly at this. An example of this is the game of charades. Some of the funniest moments I remember come from playing charades as each of us are put on the spot to creatively and/or ineptly act out a word or idea.
Too many games, however, have a winner and too many losers. Unless players are into the spirit of play and not into competition, play is quickly eliminated. You can see this on TV on any weekend as fans watch ball games. Rarely do you see any genuine sense of “play.”
So what is “play”? For me, it’s about spontaneity and living in the moment. It’s so spontaneous that outrageous, incongruous things are said or done resulting in much laughter. People lose themselves and a sense of decorum, just giving themselves over to what is happening. “Rules” are forgotten. Creativity, living outside the box is rampant.
This idea of play is probably not sustainable, is it? But the light hearted-ness, the present centered-ness, the spontaneity, the lack of seriousness and importance, the creativity: all of these are attitudes or perspectives can be chosen and practiced.
It is such a sense of play that I want to bring into my “work.” When my “work” feels like work, it’s a sign that I must stop. Nothing should be so serious that it ceases to be fun. Hmm, this may be seriously un-American.
I’ve invited this sense of play into my new business, and hope to expand it to be my whole life. Hopefully you can sense some playfulness as you read reviews of the swivel sweeper g2. I haven’t fully arrived in maintaining my light hearted-ness. But don’t you agree that it’s worth striving for?
It’s okay that you don’t. But it would be nice if you could consider how to have more of a sense of play in your life. If everyone did, the world would change, wouldn’t it?
Anne K. Uemura, Ph.D.
www.swivelsweeperg2reviews.com
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