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Go Play! – Freedom’s Call

Mindset· Playtime & Rest

15 Jul

Our daughter, former procrastinators, told me “When I have kids, forget toys.  I’m just giving ‘em cardboard boxes.”  She knows how much fun she had playing with those. The crowning occasion was when we rounded up refrigerator and washing machine boxes from stores to add to our leftover moving boxes. The kids had a grand time building tunnels, houses, a castle, a village.

We hurry to accomplish so much we don’t think we have the freedom to play. We put it off – and forget how to play.  We become more stressed, less creative, even less productive.

I looked at Greg McKeown’s book Essentialism to review what he had to say about the importance of play.  Sometimes we think we need justification to do the fun stuff.  Hopefully, you can have a good time without factual back up, but if not, here are a few tidbits.

The Greek word “schole” means leisure.  It’s related to how we learn.  Now “school” has a different connotation.  Keep this in mind as you read on.

McKeown defines play as anything we do simply for the joy of doing rather than as a means to an end. It’s essential.

He references Stuart Brown of  The National Institute for Play who says, “Play has the power to significantly improve everything from personal health to relationships to education to one’s ability to innovate.  It leads to adaptability and creativity.  Nothing fires up the brain like play.”

Brown says play fuels exploration in three ways:

  • It broadens options, helps us see possibilities and connections. It broadens perspective and challenges assumptions.  Einstein stated that “the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.”
  • Play is an antidote to stress. Stress reduces cognitive brain function, meaning we can’t think clearly.  When McKeown’s children are stressed, he has them draw, and it melts away.
  • Play has a positive effect on the brain’s executive function– planning, prioritizing, scheduling, anticipating, deciding, analyzing. (Need those?) It stimulates careful logical reasoning and carefree exploration.

McKeown points out major breakthroughs that occurred during play – Columbus’s realizing the world is round,  Newton’s apple and gravity, Watson and Crick’s double helix of the DNA molecule, Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter, Einstein’s experiments.  What might develop at your house?

He uses the phrase “the mind invited to play.”  Let’s give ourselves, families, and colleagues the freedom to play.  What a summer this could be….

Brown suggests we look to our past for memories of play.  “What did you do as a child that excited you?”  How can you do that again this summer?

I look back on wading in a creek, building a tree house, bicycling to the library, swimming or playing in the sprinkler, walking barefoot in the grass, reading in the shade, sitting on the porch and talking, lying on a blanket and looking for cloud pictures or stars, writing and putting on plays.  I’m up for this.

How can you recreate a play memory you enjoyed?

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1 Comment

« Enjoy and Exercise – Freedom’s Call
Rest Well – Freedom’s Call »

Comments

  1. Viki says

    July 15, 2019 at 7:53 am

    Hi Ms Beth,
    I can certainly relate to the need for play. I taught children for over 35 years. I enjoyed play as much as the kiddos! I think many agree with the need for it, but most people / children don’t do it because of One thing—– TIME ——— We never have enough of it and we tend to put play to the side and “do stuff” instead! If I had any regrets in my life it would be to spend more time with people I love and to encourage myself and others to “let go and play”.

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BETH STERNE
Welcome! It's great to have you here. I'm a follower of Christ and a learner of new ways. By His grace, I am gaining victory over procrastination. This is where I share struggles I face and lessons I'm learning. Join me and other sisters as we put off procrastination and put on peace.

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“Beth’s presentation on procrastination was truly eye-opening. I knew I had a problem with procrastination, but never thought twice about how it impacted my relationships and showed God that I wasn’t onboard with His plan. I began to see each instance took away from being fruitful; I was living for myself! After this revelation, I have been working on procrastinating less. I can see places opening up in my life for more peaceful moments, more time with and for friends and family, and more time for God’s plan to unfold. It’s amazing to know there’s more to life for me than a life full of “should haves” as a result of procrastination.”
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Beth Sterne - Put Off Procrastination
Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise! It has
no commander, no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.
Proverbs 6:6-8
... you have put off the old man with
his deeds, and have put on the new
man who is renewed in knowledge
according to the image of Him who
created him.
Colossians 3:9-10

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