Play with playfulness
Can playfulness be stimulated in adults? Research shows it can. Join me in a free seven-day experiment to find out.
True play is something you do for fun; you do it because you want to; you lose yourself in it and you lose yourself in time; it’s improvisational and it’s something you enjoy so much you want to keep going.
It’s that spark that happens when you step into discovery. “Let’s try this,” or “I wonder if this will work”, or “Hmmmm…” or “Eureka!”
True play can, and often does, include others and is something that can generate peals of laughter, new ideas and thoughts, and good feelings.
Research seems to indicate that our capacity for playfulness is mapped out in our childhoods, our “play histories”. Healthy, playful environments that include healthy, playful interactions with other humans are the sandbox of future playful adults.
Research also seems to show that those who “play together, stay together”. Couples who play and are playful, who mix things up, who try new activities, who support each other in their interests and hobbies, are couples who enjoy longer, more joyful years together. Play both strengthens and renders couples more flexible and open when they are faced with the challenges of pain and loss.
If I were to encourage you to “play more” or to “become more playful”, do you know what you would do?
Imagine for a minute that you didn’t have a wonderful play history. Imagine that your life is stressful and busy and crazy and there is no room for play or playfulness. What would you do?
What if you wanted to play more at work or at home, but at this stage of your life, you have responsibilities and are expected to be serious? And besides, you don’t have time.
Research may help you here, and if you’re willing to experiment — to play with playfulness — for just a week, you may find that:
- Play doesn’t take a lot of time and it doesn’t require a lot of resources.
- You can be both playful and responsible.
- You can experience more joy in your day, at home, at work and in your relationships.
When you focus your attention on play, you can stimulate it
Researchers carried out a study in 2020 in which participants were asked to do three things at the end of each day (spending only 5-10 minutes on the exercise) for a total of seven days:
- Write down three playful moments from your day (these can be small moments; remember: play is fun, good feeling, improvisational, so a light, teasing moment with a friend counts!). Include who was involved and how you felt as a result.
- Think about opportunities to be playful in new ways, such as “do something playful at work”.
- Reflect on the total number of playful experiences you’ve had today.
That’s it.
The results of the interventions suggested that while we each may have different levels of intrinsic playfulness, it is indeed possible to “stimulate playfulness” by choosing to focus your attention on it. What’s more, given the very short amount of time involved (5–10 minutes for seven evenings), the effects were “comparatively large”.
Who wants to play?
I’m curious to see how we can stimulate play with our attention, and I think it would be particularly playful and fun to do it together. If you’d like to join me in a free week of playing with playfulness, in which we simply carry out the above three interventions, each evening for seven days, reach out to me at julie.harrisguiader[at]gmail.com. If you’d prefer to try this on your own and feel comfortable sharing your results with me, I’d love to hear from you, as well. What if it works? Can you imagine?
Special thanks go to Catherine Price, the author of The Power of Fun, How to Feel Alive Again, in whose book I first discovered this research.
Feel free to share this article, or give a “clap” if you enjoyed it. For more information on my fascination with play, Hit Pause, Then Play.
