Infusing Play into the Every Day
Making Work Feel More Like Play
I've been thinking about how to reframe the word "work." It sounds hard and uninteresting and not fun. That doesn't sound like something I wanna dive into every day. What is it that keeps me showing up every day, then?
I'm leaning into bringing "play" into the equation. What if we looked at everything we do as play? What the heck does that even mean? Play is doing something out of enjoyment, for no defined goal or outcome. Play is full of imagination, creativity, spontaneity, experimentation, discovery, and learning.
What Play Looks Like To Me
To me, bringing play into my every day situations feels like bringing in a lightness, a sense of wonder. Instead of looking at a task as a hassle that I don't want to do, I can get a little curious about it and see what I can learn or how I can look at it in a different way. It's all about the reframe. It's still the same task. Just how I choose to view it, think about it, and invest my energy in it is different. Then whether or not the activity is actually fun is irrelevant, because I can bring my own fun into it.
For example, and I'm gonna be real honest with you here, I've been dreading writing this. I've been procrastinating and telling myself that dreaded self limiting belief from a few posts back, that I don't have anything interesting to say. So, in my practice of present moment awareness and acceptance, I asked myself what I could do get through this situation of not wanting to write. How could I reframe this situation? Because, let's be honest, the situation is here whether I choose to stuff it aside and procrastinate or I choose to work on it. So I choose to look at writing with play incorporated into it. It's all a grand experiment and a learning opportunity. I get to write to you, I learn a little more about myself in the process, and I get to hear back from you about your experience with it! Somehow the words now seem to flow and the process feels less heavy and daunting. Wowee!
I looked up more playful every day ideas and came across this post by Leo Babauta. This is one of my favorite prompts he lists:
Pretend you’ve never been anywhere before, and that everywhere is new.
Imagine how much fun you can have with that one!
Let me know, what does play look like in your life?
Consciously connected,
Brigitte
This Week's Conscious Collection
A curation of my latest favs and interests.
I have a newfound love and appreciation for Jewel and her song “Hands” after listening to her episode on the Armchair Expert podcast. She completely blew me away with her life story and the ways in which she has chosen to live her life. I can confidently say she’s now one of my role models!
This is my fav curry recipe. Sometimes I forego the cauliflower and use lentils instead. I made it with this coconut basmati rice which turned out so good I wanted to eat the whole pot!
I’m currently reading Healing Back Pain by Dr. John Sarno. It’s about the mind-body connection and psychosomatic nature of back pain/other chronic pains.
Lately I’ve really been appreciating using Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds biodegradable cleaner. It’s a multipurpose concentrate. I love to keep everything I do natural & simple, so having one product in the cabinet instead of a bunch is chef’s kiss good. We use it for dishes, hand washing, counters, bathroom, floors, whatever, anything, everything! It’s great!
