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#16: Play

In body, mind, and spirit.

By Chris Dunmire, CoachingYourCreativity.com

I have a game I play with my cat when she’s in a particularly frisky mood. I’ll hide behind the sofa and peek around a corner at her, exposing as little of myself as possible until I make eye contact, and then quickly duck behind the sofa again. She finds this irresistible, because by the fourth time I duck, she comes pouncing towards me as if to say, “Aha! I found you looking at me!” Once I’m caught, I start after her and we begin a high-spirited game of hide-n-seek-kitty-tag in the living room. Isn’t that a riot?

I am so grateful that even as an adult I’ve been able to hold on to both my sense of wonder and love of play — two qualities that undeniably make me love working with kids and add greatly to the nurturance of my creative life.

As further evidence, I have a room in my house that I call my “creativity room.” It’s a cross between an art studio and a playroom and it’s filled with things that inspire and delight me. Aside from art and craft supplies and a string of hanging LED Christmas lights, I have an interesting inventory of toys:

• an egg of Silly Putty
• an original metal Slinky
• a set of Colorforms
• a family of 1970s Fisher Price Little People
• a flexi-pose Gumby & Pokey set
• Corduroy, my second-grade teddybear
• A mixed-up Rubick’s Cube
• bubbles
• a tall tube of Shape Scapes
• a desktop Zen garden
• crayons
• finger paints

FUN TRIVIA: Did you know that you can buy a case of 100 Silly Putty Eggs from the Crayola Store? You might consider stocking up on them if you're in the corporate culture. Their product description notes: "These eggs are great giveaways as stress-relief for meetings and conferences or entertainment for picnics and parties."

There's more to my list, but these items are usually the ones I bring to my kid- and adult playshops and brainstorming meetings because:

1) Creative toys have a way of loosening people up and inspiring a playful atmosphere conducive to relaxed idea-generating and creative productivity, and

2) A playful attitude is contagious and humanizing. Teamwork and co-creating with others has a lot of built-in challenges, so finding a way to bring out the softer side of people in collaborative work through humor and play is a pleasant avenue to promoting good will, common ground, and trust.

Make Time for Play — at Any Age!

How do you feel when you’re playing? Any kind of play — child’s play, sports, games? Lighter? Free-er? Joyful? Don’t you find play a great rejuvenator? Of course you do. Why? Because play engages our minds and bodies in so many beneficial ways and is an important component to creativity that we do well to incorporate more of it in our lives.

Marianne St. Clair, a life coach known for inspiring clients through the Art of Play says that play is “a form of release and connection that can tap into creativity and can allow you the chance to connect with your inner child and the inner child of others." In her article The Top 10 Benefits of Play she says that engaging in playful activities can “reduce stress, enhance your energy levels, stimulate the imagination, and inspire you to think differently.”

One may wonder: Are we ever too old to play or can we get too set in our ways to begin cultivating a playful attitude in life? Not really — it's all about choices. I have a 62-year-old friend who loves doing jigsaw puzzles with her retired husband. I’m in awe every time they start and complete a new 1,000-piece puzzle within only a couple of days. It takes me that long just to get the outer frame done! She’s passionate about the problem-solving challenges puzzles give her, but the attitude of play is so present in her life. Doing puzzles stimulates her mind and engages her imagination, qualities she finds both pleasurable and rewarding.

Others in their golden years incorporate play in similar ways and through activities like golf, light biking, camping, fishing, dancing, and other forms of recreation. Some take creative classes that encourage playful exploration through artistic expression, music, cooking, and storytelling. Why there's even laughter clubs (aka laughter yoga) springing up all over the place! There are so many ways to enjoy play at every level, age, and ability.

Play in the Workplace

Employers in growing numbers are also catching on to the benefits of play in the workplace. In adding playful components to their work environments they engage more creative and productive employees. Google is a good example of this. In his article How the Googleplex Works, Jonathan Strickland writes about some playful on-site perks Google employees enjoy:

“Employees can play against each other in a quick game of ping pong, billiards or foosball — you can find game tables in several of the buildings on campus. There are also video games for employees who prefer to let their thumbs do all the work.”

Further, Bob Eckert, co-founder of the innovation company New & Improved writes in his article Humor and Creative Thinking:

“Over 50 years of research on creativity has shown that playfulness and humor have a positive impact on the quantity of ideas and the quality of creative thinking in groups, which can lead to an increase in the organization’s innovative output. Our direct experience working across industries (yes, even banking) at all levels of the organizations (yes, even the C-suite) validates this research every day.”

With these benefits, play in the workplace is not going away anytime soon. In fact, Daniel Pink, author of “A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future” lists play as one of the six senses of our new developing Conceptual Age. He says that along with design, story, symphony, empathy, and meaning, play is an essential “high touch” ability we’ll need to make our way across this emerging landscape. Don't get left behind. If you don't already know, learn how to play!

• • • Take Action Now! • • •

Hey, hey, it's time to play! What three ways can you can add play into your usual routine this week: at home, at work, and with others (even your cat). Grab your baseball mitt and play some catch with those squishy stress balls. Buy a bottle of bubbles and gather the neighborhood kids. Laugh a little more at work... at life! Play is definitely worth the investment each day even in small increments (think 5 minutes). Try more of it to see how the payoffs are priceless. •

© 2009 Chris Dunmire, CoachingYourCreativity.com. All rights reserved. (7/25/09). Please do not duplicate this article elsewhere without my permission.

About the Author
Chris Dunmire is the author of the Dollar Bill Origami Money Plant and driving force behind the popular Creativity Portal Web site. She finds meaning as an artist, humorist, and creativity coach and channels her overactive imagination into multiple containers on display at ChrisDunmire.com.