Follow your bliss….
–Joseph Campbell
…sometimes pain is bliss.
–Joseph Campbell
I read Stuart Brown’s Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul hoping to find some good research and examples about play that I could use in lectures. I found this and so much more. It was a wonderfully written and fun read. Brown is a pyschiastrist, researcher, founder of The National Institute for Play, and producer of a documentary on play featuring Jane Goodall and Patch Adams. Here’s a little clip from the documentary:
Stuart makes a compelling case for why goofing off is important. He defines play as purposeless, voluntary, improvisational activities that are done because of their inherent attraction (i.e., because they’re fun, not because there’s an end goal). He also describes the biological and evolutionary basis of play and discusses the many benefits of play. Play can:
- enhance problem-solving abilities, creativity, abstract thinking, and language skills
- assist in the development of self-confidence and social skills such as cooperation, sharing, turn-taking, and conflict resolution
- reduce stress
- enhance motor skills
- make life fun
I took lessons away from this book to apply not only in the classroom, but to my immediate life. My enjoyment of some of my usual play activities has waned in recent months. In reading this book I began to think about my own play history and what I enjoy doing and why. When I think about the salient moments of joyful play in my life, these are the memories that emerge:
Adventures with The Elitest Jerk on scorching summer days as we explored the waterfalls and wildlife in the Amazon River (i.e., our grandparents’ pool).
Riding to the bottom of the ocean (the pool again) on a dolphin (i.e., my brother’s back).
The Angry Russian reading me stories. And then me reading me stories.
Playing school with The Elitest Jerk and graduating to different grades (i.e., placemats) set up in the grandparents’ forbidden livingroom.
Catching fireflies in mason jars to make lanters, attempting and failing at back walkovers. All this again with The Elitest Jerk. I really miss you, Jerk! We need to play together again soon.
Cartwheels.
A wrestling match with my best friend Jenny in Little Matthew’s front yard.
Riding my bike: the burn of lungs and legs as I push uphill. The flow of freedom flying downhill.
My cousin, Amy, working magic as she transformed a frightening basement that I avoided at all costs into a secret wonderland hideout. We became everything from mail carriers to grocery store checkers to dance superstars to celebrated singers in that magical place.
Conjuring storms with my cat Unity Graveyard.
Finding the quiet attic of the church where I could watch the graceful dance of dust motes floating through the air and read uninterruped for hours at a time.
What I find striking about these memories is that there were no screens involved and no electronic devices necessary. There was very little expense involved in most of these things – we used our imaginations and whatever was laying around or in the environment. No store bought toys were necessary other than the bike. Books were available for free from the library.
The school-aged kids I work with today can tell me about the storyline from the video games, how to work an iPhone, and some can recite nearly the entire script of movies and TV shows. Imaginative play, when it exists, is usually based on videogame and movie themes.Unfortunately most have no idea how to play jacks or marbles or how to fold a paper airplane. Some of the college-aged students I work with don’t know how to play marbles either for that matter, so I teach em these things because I think its important to do more with your hands than push buttons. I’m not alone in this value – as I learned from Stuart Brown’s book, the use of the hands to manipulate three-dimensional objects is an essential part of brain development.
Some of my adult play is a bit more expensive than my play as a child, but here are some of things I like:
Traveling – nearly anywhere, though I prefer places where I can spend a lot of time outside.
Watching a knitted scarf or hat or gloves emerge from a ball of yarn.
Being a sequined, bespeckled, and glittery fish in a sea of dance with my school of bellydance fish friends. Responding to the movement of others to create a union of singular music, motion, and beauty.
Physical activity – walking outside, doing yoga, dancing, and the occasional karate kick or cartwheel, even if I do wind up hurting myself.
Reading and learning.
Writing and finding new ways to bring old ideas together.
What do you like to do for fun? How has it changed since you were a kid? Do you get enough play in your life?
6 comments
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April 14, 2011 at 10:38 am
Amy
Thank you for posting this and introducing me to this book! There is a movement going on in schools to take the kids recess and only play organized, structured games (organized and structured by the teacher, as if we don’t already dominate every aspect of their day at school anyway.) I’m 100% against it. I’m a big believer in play.
When I was little I would do the regular things… play school, act out stories (my favorite was pretending to be a slave running away through the underground railroad.) It was so real to me.
Now that I’m older my play mostly consists of playing with my babies, but it’s so much fun to show them the world and see what they learn and watch them play on their own.
I want to read this book!
April 14, 2011 at 11:26 am
Lunar Euphoria
Yay! I’m so glad this post was useful to someone!
You are welcome to borrow my copy. It’s cat chewed, water-logged, and marked up, but still in one piece.
Taking recess out of schools is absurd! That’s where you learn life skills!
April 14, 2011 at 11:54 am
Skattur
Well…I use to make mud pies as a child and I still play in the dirt as an adult. When spring hits you can find me in my garden. Altho I will say, putting in the new big flower bed in the backyard has seemed way more like work than play. I’m really looking forward to the end result!
I use to love riding my bike as a child…I still ride my bike and love it. Wendell and I went for a bike ride last night and we enjoyed it very much.
I loved swimming as a child and as an adult I still love swimming, I just prefer much warmer water. hehe
One thing I use to do as a child was put down huge sheets of plywood in the yard so I could catch grass snakes. I don’t do that anymore but I had fun playing with a grass snake I found while digging up my new garden. It brought back many of snake catching adventures I had as a kid.
hehe some of my play is the same it seems, it’s just done in a more adult way.
April 17, 2011 at 1:16 am
Lunar Euphoria
re: flower bed – “Sometimes pain is bliss”
🙂
I really need to get a bike and come play with you!
I like to play in the dirt too. I especially like pulling weeds. Crawly, creepy, squirmy things I find in the dirt make me scream. I don’t mind observing them from a distance, but I don’t want to touch them!
April 19, 2011 at 11:21 am
Skattur
yes you need to come bike riding with me!
haha…that quote is a perfect one for my new garden! It’s taken me almost 3 weeks to make it and I’ve been so sore I could hardly move.
April 21, 2011 at 2:59 am
Lunar Euphoria
I want to be blissed out in your garden. Without the pain.