Getting Serious about Play

There is a book called "Play" by Stuart Brown, M.D. This person has done a lot of research on the importance of play in our lives. He talks about how we are wired with a need to work, play, and rest. We need all three but most of us are only good at one or two of them. We have names for the sorts of people who are only good at one of them: workaholics, thrill-seekers, and sloths. I fall under the workaholic portion.

Recently, I realized my need to play more. I'm usually afraid of people who like to play because I don't do it too well anymore. But, when I read the opening chapter to Brown's book called "Play", I realized the serious nature of play. Play is spiritually healing. It isn't an option that we have as adults. We have to play. We are designed to play. Sadly, most of us spend our entire lives working, eating, and watching movies. It's a really boring existence.

If you feel like you lost your ability to play, then this is what you gotta do. You gotta get out there and try new stuff. It sounds scary because it involves risk, but if you haven't been playing for a long time, then you probably don't even know or remember what you like to do. I think the old adage which says "I'll try anything once" is a good place to start. I mean, maybe you don't wanna drop a rock in a crack pipe and start smoking, but there's a lot of stuff out there to do that isn't going to kill you if you try it once.

For those of you who are engineers and think too much, here are the properties of play as outlined by Brown:

• Apparently purposeless (Done for its own sake)
• Voluntary
• Inherent attraction
• Freedom from Time
• Diminished consciousness of self
• Improvisational potential
• Continuation desire

For those of you who are married or dating, there's a lot of "Creative Dating" books out there that can help you get started. I think that's a great place to start. I typed it into Amazon.com and five creative dating books popped up right away. Also, double dating and group dating is a great way to get out of your shell. Just try a whole bunch of things and then tell your partner honestly which things you love, find okay, and hate. Then, see where you guys line up. It's like a Venn Diagram. You see what each of you loves separately and which things you love together.

In addition to play with others there is also personal play. For example, I collect jazz records. I've got a turntable. I'll stop at the record store downtown and sift through two dollar records for half an hour before I go home. Women, you can go out to the shoe store and decorate yourself with all sorts of nice high heels and glitter this and stylistic straps that, but I'll do my man shopping at the record store. It's my shoe shopping.

So, get serious about play. If you're lounging around on the couch all day, you might have the opposite problem and need to work, but if you're too serious about life, it's probably time to get serious about play. Don't walk down to the corner and pick up a rock from the dealer, but there's a lot of stuff you can do to play and rejuvenate your soul.