Emotions are running high right now, and they should be. We all are working on our own version of how to make this world a better place, and this is just a little snippet of how play can help right now.
“The debt we owe to the play of the imagination is incalculable.”
C.G. Jung
We all owe our childhood selves big time right now. The majority of us I feel did the best learning with what we were presented with, and I want to believe that the majority of people are doing the best we can. This episode is just pinpointing how I think we can be helping ourselves do better. We can imagine a place where everyone gets to feel the full force of being valued. We, as adults, can help build a world that is better for everyone, and equitable for all.
A few references from this episode:
https://voiceofplay.org/benefits-of-play/#emotional
Resource for play definitions.
"Finding Fred" hosted by Mr. Carvall Wallace
https://www.fatherly.com/finding-fred-rogers-podcast/
You’re listening to the Art of Play Podcast. This podcast is about play. Not just childhood play, all play. This podcast is exploring play as a means of not just being better adults, but better, well-rounded humans. Play makes us reignite the fun while adding to our proactive human nature.
Happy Friday Everyone. Friday feels like any other day now. It feels like a revolving door of Mondays, but that is besides the point we want to get to today. I want this episode to be short, mostly because I feel a need to be an encourager and example of kindness at this time. 2020 has not been the year anyone expected. Now that we are nearly 50% of the way through the year, I think we can all agree 2020 had different plans for us as humans than we made for ourselves.
Today, I am talking about emotion. Emotion is a word that I interpreted as being something to ignore and pretend didn’t exist in previous parts of my life. Emotion felt like an ever-rising doom sometimes. It was like in Mario Kart, when you are neck and neck in a race, or you’re in first and you don’t want to lose. It’s intense and if you’re like me that didn’t have constant access to video games I had no idea what to expect from the track, and I didn’t know any shortcuts. Now as an adult I have realized that emotion is more like the coins in Mario Kart. If you avoid them they don’t help you. If you can acknowledge and get coins your life could be extended or your speed increased. Avoiding emotions does not help you. Unlike the coins however, if you don’t acknowledge them they can start to feel like other more volatile emotions. Acknowledging how you feel will help you. Feeling your emotions begins the process of sorting them out. It can also help you file that experience away into a bank of sorts. You can draw on that experience at another time for strength, light, and reassurance.
The emotional danger we put ourselves in, maybe especially right now, is that there is a lot of hurt in this world. There is a lot of anger, of fear. Sometimes these emotions overwhelm and frustrate us. Sometimes they leave us feeling powerless, or even at a loss. Emotions are part of being human, part of the experience on this earth. That does not mean that they’re fun right now.
Children are known to play to deal with emotion— Good and bad. They build self-esteem and self-confidence, they experiment with different emotions, and the part I want to highlight today is that children release emotions from trauma through play.
I understand that now is not the time to play for everyone. Suggesting play right now, to me seems borderline inappropriate, but I want to just encourage you to look to play when it comes time for you to process. Processing takes on many faces, but I would encourage you through this to not go to a comfortable numbing place or anything mindless. Try and intentionally give yourself free space to think and process in a creative way. Try processing as you do a light workout, or do yoga. Try out those cartwheels you used to be good at on the playground, or finger paint the emotion that you feel. Play on your own time table. Play with the purpose of releasing. Play with the knowledge that it’s good for you. Play confident in the fact you don’t have to excel at any activity you consider play. And let your mind wander, and grieve, and laugh and process.
One thing I have come to know is that the more we try and process the news of the day holding still, the more tension we hold. That does not go to say that we don’t find ways to release it through our workouts, or our vent sessions with our girlfriends, but what I am trying to show you is that you need to use your adult side of the emotion capabilities and realize what your body is internalizing. We literally hold the tension within our bodies in ways we may not have the chance to release passively. Give yourself the permission to feel a taste of release. Relish the knowledge that you know what you enjoy, you are not in a competition. Find some Legos and tinker while you process. On your nightly walk stop and do jumping jacks. Use a pillow as a sparring partner (you know the way you used to have a friend hold it so you could feel strong? No? Just me? Okay, have a pillow fight with your bed frame. Roll down a grassy hill. Do something that makes you giggle from deep within, or something that makes you sigh with relief when you’re done.
I promised I would keep this short, and it’s been long enough, but I just want to leave a quick thought. C.G. Jung is a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst from the 1800s. He lived to see 1961, and one of my favorite perspectives from him is about play. One quote I love that I come across often on my web-hunts is this: “The debt we owe to the play of the imagination is incalculable.” I (Sarah) agree that our imaginations are powerful sources of new thoughts and ideas if we consider that is where our imagination lead us in the first place. We can have the audacity to imagine a new societal setup. We can have the ability to envision our future as being better than our today. And we should. We should imagine a wonderful world where Mr. Rogers would be proud of you and your actions. I realize this is a tangent, but I just have to plug this 10 episode podcast called "Finding Fred” hosted by Carvell Wallace. Mr. Wallace makes the point that those of us raised on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood (which spanned 31 years incidentally so that covers a large portion of us) are now the helpers. We are the adults now. We set the standard of kindness now. Mr. Rogers taught us well, we know we all have inherent worth, and it’s time to show those in our lives both physically and digitally that we are adults who know we can be kind, caring, boundaries and loving. We can make a better world listening and working together.
So, here’s my final thought: Use your arsenal of play. No one has to see it, or everyone can see it, it does not matter. Find some spark of joy, and then pass it on. Have a wonderful weekend.
This podcast is fueled by my family’s mission at the Oliver Fund. We send toys to children in hardship all over the world. Because we believe in the value of work, but we also believe in the value of play. It’s a part of our family creed. You can find out more online at TheOliverFund.org or on social media at @TheOliverFund and @ArtofPlayPodcast.