I’ve been thinking a lot about play lately, and the relationship between play and our Spirits.
Sometimes, especially in hard times when things are challenging for us, play or playful thinking can get shoved into a small dark closet.
The tougher things get, the less fun and play we give ourselves for fear that we’ll be seen as frivolous.
And when we’re scared and worried, the furthest thing from our mind is to conjure up the will to feel playful. So we hunker down, furrow our brow and try—sometimes even struggle—to get things to work the way we think they should.
Yet, that’s the exact opposite of what needs to happen in order to creatively work our way out of something.
Play and playful thinking is expansive. And, expansion is what we need when we find ourselves with our backs to the wall, resistant or just plain old stuck in life.
We can think of play as a energetic idea…it then becomes a space within us to expand and fill with possibilities. This playful space is where we meet our creative selves. Perhaps I should say it this way: it’s where we create as the Creators that we are!
To create, we need that energy of space and imagination to try things out, to gather the possibilities and even begin to assemble the energetic building blocks of our creations. It’s this space where we test out how things will look and feel. To get there, however, we have to interact with life from this perspective. By experiencing this creative expansiveness, we breathe life into our spirit.
Our spirit is a creative one. It needs inspiration to thrive.
So the next time that you feel that restriction in your belly or the worry that keeps you up at night, look to where you can bring back play into your life. Let it out of the closet with a big deep breath and a loud “Ahhh” on the exhale.
You may have to actively and consciously do this. But do it for your Spirit. Let it be part of your spiritual practice to feed this creative energy as you look for solutions to life’s challenges—especially when you feel the least playful.
In fact, give yourself permission right now to be playful, even silly sometimes. But find what feeds your spirit an be sure to do it when you need it the most.
Play. Think in playful ways. Begin to see the possibilities only your imagination and creative self can offer.
