Play provides more than pleasure. Play energizes and enlivens us, opens us to new possibilities, and nudges our sense of optimism. Play is also a profound biological process that promotes survival, shapes the brain, makes us smarter, encourages adaptability, fosters empathy, and taps creativity and innovation. Play is pretty important!
Children don’t need instructions on how, why, when, or where to play. Adults, on the other hand, can forget how important play is. As adults, we work to be productive, make money, or teach ourselves a new skill. We might even find ourselves saying, “I don’t have time to play.”
The truth is we don’t need to dedicate hours and hours to play to get its benefits, but if we entirely omit it from our lives, then we are missing a key catalyst to productivity and happiness. Balancing our lives with a healthy mix of play and work connects us to a force that will help each of us find greater fulfillment and creative growth in all aspects of our lives.
When we really sit back and think about it, we can discover that play is one of the primary threads of memory making. Play connects joyful experiences with the people we love and then binds them together emotionally.
Promise to play!