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October 2009 
Are you playing enough in your life?
Posted on Jun 4th, 2009
by 
Centria
Centria
This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for June 04, 2009:
I am playing answering this question!
But is it enough?
What might "enough" play be?
"Enough" must be when you feel the edges of play and silliness and fun in your lives many days. When you let go of expectation and just goof around.
I play Scrabble with my son on Facebook most days. Cribbage with my daughter when we're together. And sometimes computer games like Mahjong Solitaire, Suduko, Spider Solitaire, Freecell and Hearts. Sometimes it's fun and sometimes it just feels addictive and sometimes it's miserable and sometimes glorious.
Like everything else, play encompasses so many possibilities. What we call "play" can be drudgery. Or it can be lighter than a feather and so much fun!
Play can be married in whatever activity we're doing: balancing budgets (oh that's one of my favorite kinds of play, believe it or not! It's like putting together a giant jigsaw puzzle), sizzling up some stir-fry for dinner, writing blogs (oh that's the best kind of play!) , splitting and piling firewood. OK, OK, I kinda played with that last sentence. I have had a bad attitude about our wood pile the last couple of days.
Today's assignment: Play with the wood pile! Watch it be funner than fun. I'll let you know if it works. Whether it does or not, I think it's "enough". :)
But is it enough?
What might "enough" play be?
"Enough" must be when you feel the edges of play and silliness and fun in your lives many days. When you let go of expectation and just goof around.
I play Scrabble with my son on Facebook most days. Cribbage with my daughter when we're together. And sometimes computer games like Mahjong Solitaire, Suduko, Spider Solitaire, Freecell and Hearts. Sometimes it's fun and sometimes it just feels addictive and sometimes it's miserable and sometimes glorious.
Like everything else, play encompasses so many possibilities. What we call "play" can be drudgery. Or it can be lighter than a feather and so much fun!
Play can be married in whatever activity we're doing: balancing budgets (oh that's one of my favorite kinds of play, believe it or not! It's like putting together a giant jigsaw puzzle), sizzling up some stir-fry for dinner, writing blogs (oh that's the best kind of play!) , splitting and piling firewood. OK, OK, I kinda played with that last sentence. I have had a bad attitude about our wood pile the last couple of days.
Today's assignment: Play with the wood pile! Watch it be funner than fun. I'll let you know if it works. Whether it does or not, I think it's "enough". :)
Access: Public
Fun with the wood pile eh? So how did it go? Was it delightful? I do love you!
Can't wait to hear if it was fun…yep, and I love you too!
I'll trade you your woodpile for my taxes! Hmm, maybe that's because I don't have a fireplace. I used to love mowing lawns for other people (for free!) when I didn't have one of my own. When I did, I wasn't that enthusiastic about it, it felt like a *have-to*.
I have come to the conclusion that we can make anything play, or work. I think approaching the thing from here-now is more likely to result in play than work, however.
Maybe it was the ultimate play, Nicole and Helen…the wood-splitting didn't even HAPPEN tonight! So it will be tomorrow night's assignment…and with all the love you ladies are beaming around, it's bound to be fun. Will let you know! :)
Ruth, woodpile trade for taxes. hmmm…. I think it's the “have to” factor and the sheer size of it that's been intimidating. But I agree with you about the here-now. When we're actually doing it (rather than thinking about it or dreading it) it's…well…I suppose more like play than work. Updates coming!
ha ha well the “play” started about 8:30 tonight when I said to Barry “let's split wood!” He almost fell over in disbelief. Because it was so late & cuz I wanted to do it. So we just did about 40 minutes & stayed in a light and cheerful and playful mood. Present with the wood. A good experience…how you can make anything play, no matter what your mind or emotions think.
Oh, I just reread what I wrote and think it would have been more apt to say that what is approached from here-now is just what it is, without judgments as to whether it's work/play, good/bad, etc. No duality in here-now. No thoughts, no judgments.
Kathy, we must have cross-posted there—I didn't see your last comment when I posted my last one. But hurray! you did it and it was fun, or at least, play, sort of.
A good experience…how you can make anything play, no matter what your mind or emotions think. That's a good way to put it.
Hugs!
Ruth
We MUST have cross-posted! And, yes, it was fun. I seem to be working on…or aware…of many more places where I've been struggling recently. And bringing it all back to the here-now and feeling…relief. It's hard to describe. For once words fail, ha ha. Blessings to you, dear Ruth.
Just thought that you might like the book by James Carse, Finite and Inifinte Games. It was discussed in the POD Fully Engaged. It is a quick read and one of my all time favorite books. It is about staying in the game and keeping the game going … which it does anyway. It is about infinite possibilities.
Hi there, John! You know, have never heard of that book. Will look for it in the next bookstore we pass through. Ahhh, the joys of infinite possibilities. The infinite play of Love in its many forms… Thank you so much for suggesting it. :)
Yeah, it's the Starting and the Thousand Steps when only on the first three that makes it hard to 'play' at first. Then you make the decision from there. Is it going to be a fun 997 steps or a drudging, miserable 997? Or a combination of the two extremes?
If my woodpile consisted of 997 big ol' hunks of wet wood… I might have to have a wood splitting party to make it fun! Otherwise, I doubt I'd be able to muster up the giggles over that task!
Smiles!
Amber, aren't you right on, girlfriend? That's the whole thing. We get caught in so many inner judgments and negativities about things like big hunks of wet wood. What if we just realize, once and for all, when we feel that negative buzz…it's simply not TRUE. and we can just choose to look at things differently. Without going through the blah, blah, blah. Except we do until suddenly we realize it doesn't have to be a drudging miserable 997. It can be a smiling giggling experience. (ok, i'm maybe going overboard now. ha ha…)
LOL
Play in work. I made my play, my work. Playing the ping pong now with that addicted to feeling, that feeling of pressure. Using all of that self talk to move thru it. When I look back on it all, I realize that I am simply learning thru the play. Finding that it might be nearly as uncomfy for now as the spaces in between used to be! :D
Wonder what'll happen next. Think I'll pause to blow a few bubbles out and watch them go. Speaking of bubbles…isn't it neat that when one really focuses on blowing a bubble, the edges of view fuzz out of focus? And as the bubble gets far enough away, joy in a discovery of what we can notice around the bubble with equal focus increases way beyond what it would have been. Without the bubbles.
That is certainly a great way to look at play/work! And the bubble analogy is fantastic too. Thank you for that. The remembrance of that joy of discovery…