Maybe it's the influence of my explorative 1.5 year old. Or, perhaps it's the anticipation of welcoming the wonder of another little miracle in just a matter of months. It could also certainly be the fact that I'm married to an imaginative soul who embodies the craft of play in his own daily rhythms (and emboldens me to do the same). But, regardless of the source of inspiration, thoughts on the art of "play" have been happily dancing in my mind.
I find "play" especially intriguing because, if left unchecked, my default driving pursuit is productivity and efficiency. As a stereotypical "3" in the Enneagram chart, I love to "set goals, rise to challenges and solve problems." I have a hard time with the "being" and quickly jump to the "doing." And yet "play" is described in Dr. Stuart Brown's Ted Talk as the act of doing something for its own sake. He states, "If the purpose is more important than the act of doing it, it's probably not play."
Dr. Brown continues, "play is born by curiosity and exploration." This may be the reason my busy toddler is so good for me. I am endlessly intrigued by the seriousness of the art of play at hand: threading a straw in a cup, maneuvering the dials so the animals pop up in a line, or setting the dial just right so it's the cat that meows and not the cow that moos. All for its own sake and its own sake only. All this deserves the gravity of focused attention given it by my little girl.
And I find my day is enriched as I simply sit, watch, and learn to "be" with her. Together, playing with the stacking tree for play sake and not to correctly mount the timbers on the toy log. Or running barefoot in the grass to simply feel the blades tickle the underside of our toes. All worthy discoveries; all moments of wonder. But all lost on me if I'm consumed in task and oblivious to the gift of play.
Yes, I have a sense that I could learn a lot by watching this little girl interact with life. Learning to take the moment to stop and smell the roses along the sidewalk. Or to initiate a pause with emails by stopping to dance to a favorite song. Or to create a wonderland with forts and blankets in our living room, just because. Just because play is worth it and because of what could be lost in a day without play. Yes, the first lesson forgotten and now relearned thanks to my little girl is the Grace of "Jouer," play.
In this newfound spirit of play, I took a "serious" chair and webbed it into a dance of embroidery string and pins-- extending the wrapped embroidery floss from the back of the chair to the wall mounted piece behind it. Cause what chair needs to stay stagnant when instead it can jump off its seat onto the wall behind? I hope it can cause our days to embrace a touch of play in the midst of the routine, ordinary and mundane. Bonne Jouer!
