Let's Play

Did you know that "play is a basic human need. It is the basis of discovery of self and life; it is the bridge that connects mere thought with experience, that integrates new experiences with old, that opens up new possibilities and new ways of being, and that enables us to transfer learnt skills or ideas into new concepts."?

This is an excerpt from Nikki Bush's and Graeme Codrington's book 'Future Proof your Child'.

Wow! I just spent the most part of my day trying to learn new skills on my new smart phone with the help of my youngest son, Dylan.

I can't believe the amount of tension, stress and lack of comfort I felt just trying to learn something so simple, especially in light of the fact that a design team spent hours perfecting the user friendly ability of the phone for simple people just like me. It is always at times like these that I feel like the worst type of hypocrite. I know that to worry is of no value except to hamper the process and yet I feel my neck and shoulders tense up. I become aware of an almost tangible wall of fear that I need to conquer.

It seems that once the fear has been tackled and I'm in full swing with the process, in the moment of the experience the fear is forgotten and then it becomes a game. The experience takes over and the process of learning new skills becomes rapturous fun.

I have to laugh at how serious I become, how easily fearful and how rigid. When I reflect on how easily our children take to the water with new technology, I am inspired to breathe in new youthful vigour, new energy and playfulness.

After all, I am a firm believer in "if they can do it, so can I". I also believe that the future generation are our best teachers and that we need to pay attention and follow their lead.

I think I have forgotten how to play. Life has become far too serious. I think that if I could approach my work as a child approaches play, with the abandonment of fear and without expectations, with an openness to experiencing the new and exciting, with nothing more than the expectation of the thrill of the ride, rather than the expectation of success and accomplishment, life would shift into a different gear.

How insurmountable change sometimes feels. How staid and stagnant we become in our ways, in our 'stuckness'. I am only half a century old. I still have plenty of living and learning to do. Well, that's how I perceive it.

The Butterfly of Freedom
"Why do you fly outside the box?'
"I fly outside the box because I can."
"But we know the box. We are safe inside the box."
"That, my friend, is why I leave it. For you it may be safe, but I am free."

 Edward Monkton in Happiness

Oh, I am newly inspired to play and have fun and seek more ways to learn creatively, to approach learning with curiosity rather than resistance, to learn fearlessly with the abandonment of a child.
I have so much more playing to do.

Thanks Nikki for this wonderful new awareness with which you have gifted us.

Have an awesome fun week!

love
Nicolette