nesting + play

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We're finally getting settled in the new house and I'm starting to feel like myself again. The hard lesson of this move? I'm as sane as my house is organized. It's been a tough six weeks.

Now that most of the boxes are unpacked we've been baking, decorating, and getting our creativity on! I've been working very hard to fight off the gremlins that are constantly nagging me with "You're behind on your emails" and "Stop playing with all of those cupcake papers and developing pictures - there's serious work to be done." 

Play is a key piece of my Wholehearted practice and I'm still learning how to do it. In The Gifts of Imperfection, I confess that I didn't even recognize play when I heard the research participants describing it. I didn't "get it" until I saw Ellen and Charlie on the trampoline. It was a total AHA moment: "Oh! These wholehearted folks are talking about play! I guess it's not just for kids."  

Stuart Brown has done wonderful research on play - his book has really helped me get my head and heart around play. Rather than defining play, Brown proposes seven properties of play. One property of play is that it's time spent without purpose. In our culture that's also known as an anxiety attack. Our TO-DO lists are so extensive that we feel like slackers if we're not working to check off tasks every single minute of the day and night. Even sleep has started to feel self-indulgent. 

Brown also identifies losing track of time as an important property of play. Understanding this property of play has taught me a lot about myself. For me, nesting is play. Piddling around my house is play. Editing photos is play. 

Brian Sutton-Smith writes, "The opposite of play is not work; it's depression." The more I play, the more I believe it. 

I'd love to know what constitutes play for you! Leave a comment and I'll draw two names to win copies of Stuart Brown's book!