Interject play in everything you do and you will find your mission energized and purposeful. There is not good work without good play.
There was a lot of work to do. Housework. Yard work. Business work. Social networking. Bill paying. Grocery shopping. Work never ended. Reaching out, her hand got caught in a rainbow emanating from a window prism. For a moment she remembered what it was like to play and she did. She played with the light.
Play is the rainbow that unexpectedly interrupts work and brings power and beauty to what you are doing. Interject play in everything you do and you will find your mission energized and purposeful. There is not good work without simultaneous good play.
An overworked student called her counselor. His therapy was the following poem:
“If you keep your nose to the grindstone rough,
And keep it there long enough,
You will soon forget that there are such things
As babbling brooks and birds that sing.
Three things then will your life compose,
Your self, the stone, and that darn old nose.” (Author unknown)
The student’s problem wasn’t work. It was the lack of play. Each time the work became unbearable, she decided she would jump up, dance around the room, take deep breaths, and play with positive affirmations. She finished her mission which was to get a degree.
Shel Silverstein, an American poet, musician, and composer, successfully integrated work and play. He created “works” that brought hope to hopeless situations. He played with the notion that life had to be a constant laborious tug of war and wrote the following lines:
“I will not play tug o’war. I’d rather play hug o’ war.
Where everyone hugs instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles and rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses, and everyone grins,
and everyone cuddles, and everyone wins.”
His children’s book entitled, The Giving Tree illustrates how the universe provides the means to play. Shel Silverstein and other successful people on their missions have found power by putting play to work.
Let your mission be exposed to the beauty and energy of play. This simply means being engaged in imagination and joy. Let fun be the goal of every proposed ultimate outcome and your mission work will be accomplished.
Quote
“Letting your mind play is the best way to solve problems.
- Bill Watterson American Cartoonist of Calvin and Hobbes
Activity
Activity: A Play Play
Materials: A paper and pen or paper
Time: Ten minutes per person
Instruction:
1. Write down ways that you play throughout the day.
2. Choose one to act out.
3. Act out one way you play.
4. If there is a group watching, have them watch you act out. Then see if they can guess the way that you play throughout the day. If you are alone, simply take your list and act each one out.
5. What was it like to act out the ways you play? How did it make you feel? Did you have a hard time thinking of ways you play? Did you have an easy time thinking of ways you play?
6. Watch the other people in the group and how they play. Think of more ways you can play in your work and during you daily routines. If you need to, put up a small note to remind yourself do have fun throughout the day – no matter what the circumstance.
Affirmation
I play so I can ...... We'd like to hear your story about using play. Write your story below.
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