Time to play

I am an advocate of play, I like to have fun and I think it is an essential part of the day as important as breakfast. Play relieves stress and allows our subconscious time to work on problems as well as helping to keep the brain young. However one of the biggest problems is growing up is we are tought that playing is for children and should be put behind us. In our collage years we turn to partying to replace play and after that TV fills the void.

When life gets fast passed and the deadlines start to loom we put our shoulder to the wheel and pull all nighters to accomplish what needs to be done. All to often the result of working like this is that we turn in shoddy work while we wind up stressed and burnt out. On top of this we tend to over fill our lives with to many things that we feel must be done now, we set unreasonable time lines and overburden ourselves with to many projects. So what is play and how do we learn to play again.

Play for the purposes of this discussion is any activity that is fun while still being mentally stimulating. For some this may be crossword puzzles for others hanging out with friends talking about life or analyzing a movie. The idea is to use the brain for something you enjoy, it is as simple as that. Play should also be socail, an activity that stimulates us and we enjoy but is done alone does not have as great an impact as one that is done with others.

What is not play:

Most Tv: Tv gets us to turn our brains off and worse then that it teaches us to shut down any time we are in front of it. There is programing that stimulates the mind and news shows that require us to form an opinion but for the most part we just take in the information and make no effort to prosses it for our selves.

Partying: Going out drinking with friends can be fun, it can releave stress but it is not play. Drugs and alcohol cloud the brain, they interrupt the subconscious minds ability to proses the days events and in the long run can make normal situations more stressful.

Work: This one may be a no brainier but so often we treat work like play, after all it can release stress by getting things done and for some of us we work a job we love. However at the end of the day any work we do is something that has to be done. Part of play is allowing yourself to do something different that is not necessary. The knowing you are free to fail or succeed with out risk of lasting and serious repercussions is an important element of play.

Learning to play is easy, were we usually run in to problems is finding the time. Make the efoert to set aside some time to do a stimulating and chalanging activity that will not mean finacial ruin if you fail. Turn off the TV and gather up the kids for a night of bord games, call your budies up and go shoot hoops.

So how do you play? Or if you don't play now what are you going to do to start?

If you like what you see here feel free to leave a comment (or for that mater if you don't like what you see let me know that as well) and don't forget to fallow the feed. Get out there today and play, have fun, be silly and most of all be happy.