When’s the last time you decided to just play around?

Play is extra.  Not for kids.  It’s pretty universally agreed on some level or another than kids are allowed to play… but once you’re old enough to be adult on some level, play is reserved for many to a non-thing.

I know. I stopped playing and it was a crazy place to be in… where everything waas serious.  That was noble, responsible, “the right thing to do.”

After all, adult play in Los Angeles to the casual observer seems to be commonly partying, oblivions of drinking and sometimes drugs and messy nights and every version of debauchery…or obsessive video games and other obsessive escapes that were also numbing.   And for those I saw who quit that life, they did it and turned… serious.  It was a misery sentence, either way.

Serious is a lot of things, and none of them are beneficial to a creative life.  Serious implies penalties.  Serious implies gravity.  Serious implies that fun is frivolous.  Serious sucks the life out of life…

But… what would happen if you could actually play again…and have it be a part of life that’s indispensable?

I’ve found that surfers have figured out a lot about play in Los Angeles.  Athletes, too.  And artists.  There were pockets of people who hiked for fun (not for a brutal workout) and explored art-making (I couldn’t even get a spot at the local pottery place to try making some pottery on a wheel!) and went to sober raves in the mornings to dance around before work at sunrise.  There were all kinds of ways to play… in Nature, in art, in imagination, in life…

Once you get into play, it’s indespensible.

And today, the power of play lights things up! 

Play brings you into a state of flow. Play is creative.  Play is expansive.  Play builds skills of playing more.  Play is fantastic.

If you haven’t watched this TED Talk, it’s brilliant. The flowstate is a massive way to harness the power of play and let it move you…

Flow is where things are present.  They just “are.” And they move forward in a pasionate way.

Flow is triggered by PASSION and PLAY is a part of passion.

Play is healthy, too.

Play isn’t a “waste of time”, “just for kids”… and it certainly is important for everyone!    It actually brings you to a brilliant state of presence.  It’s vital for your wellbeing.   In Psychology Today, Emma Seppala explains:

“No matter what we’re actually doing, pleasant or unpleasant, we are happiest when our mind is in the present moment. When our mind is in the past, it usually dwells on negative emotions like anger or regret. When it turns to the future, anxiety and fear arise. Play makes you present, and both modern research and ancient wisdom say that’s the only place you can be truly happy.”

The brilliant coach and author Martha Beck talks about Deep Play as a state of engagement that channels the ancient technologies of magic and catalyzes all kinds of shifts in life, the most vital being the fact that problems seem to disappear and reimagine themselves when you’re in a deep state of play.

Lots of people know how to work hard… but lately my admiration has turned toward the people who lean into playing hard in healthy, life-stretching ways…!

How do you play? 

If you’ve bought the myth that play for adults is either a huge vacation or a wild party or elaborate dinner or date that involves some sort of huge event,  I promise you there’s so much more.

My favorite play has been cooking wild new dinners, roaming through museums, actually playing games, making art and DIY projects, the most rock n’ roll yoga classes, vintage rummaging, exploring pockets of the city I’ve never seen, hiking to tops of new peaks of canyons… Both with people I love and on my own, play is everything…. and without it I start to feel stale, heavy and disinterested.

What do you do to play? 

How long has it been since you’ve done it? 

If you’re feeling really serious, sitting in a place where you feel lost or otherwise in a pattern that’s repetitive and somewhat punishing… play in an unbridaled way.

Losing yourself in crayons, a new cookie recipie, a new dance class… it’s actually the most powerful kind of self-help and self-healing, and it’s deeply personal.

What calls you to excitement in it’s purest form is play.

Let it be what moves you through the day.

xoxo Dana

 

*******************

Welcome to Creating Genius!

I spent the last year creating this e-guide to balancing and unblocking life by pulling together the best of a decade of space-changing and life-shifting feng shui! It’s 50 days and 50 ways to use feng shui to shift your space and your routines to move from “stuck” to creatively inspired and alive.

Start Creating Genius right HERE!

And… As a special bonus when you get the e-guide– a bonus that thrills me!— I’m leading a private Creating Genius + Artist’s Way Group for all of you, to guide you online through twelve weeks of creative awesomeness this year!

Gather up your magic & make gorgeous dreams come true!

xoxo Dana