A year to the day and I am still asking myself “Did I play today?” A simple question but if I am to answer honestly… it’s hard to find time to play, to truly be absorbed and in the moment.  To shrug off responsibilities, to-do lists, the news, the banks, the worries and commitments and to find a little time, no matter how short, to be engaged in something just for the sheer joy of it. To daydream – to dawdle – to create – to play – whether alone or with a willing accomplice. 

10 minutes of play per day – dedicated time – Can it be done?   

I am challenging myself and anyone who is up for it, to ask the question “Did I play today?”  

Last year’s post.  Why is the first step the hardest step of all?  Perhaps it is a step which is stored deep within the body – that first wobbly step.  Was it barefoot? was it noticed? was it scared?  was it encouraged? was it fun?  I wonder..

Anyway here I am in 2017 taking my first public step in to the world of blogging.  I want to play with the very notion of play. I am hoping to explore it, to get messy in it,  get lost in it, get found in it.

In a world gone mad, I find myself drawing on some of the powers of play; transformation, imagination, resilience, creativity. Super powers all of them.

Mr Ralph Waldo Emerson said that  “It is a happy talent to know how to play.”  Imagine if we valued that thought.

So, did I play today?   I sure did.  I got myself to a beach.  I loitered with intent with music flooding my ears and my bones, soundproofing courtesy of my space buns and a snug fitting woolly hat, to gather stones and a sea-weedy lion’s tails to write ‘play’ in the sand.      I returned home to a house full of little boys  bursting with energy (my sister’s little ones) and we re-invented a game of ping pong ‘piggy in the middle’ – one tiny rubber ball  with a bounce as unstoppable as their zest for jumping and squealing and I realize that between us we have loads of ‘happy’ talent for we sure know how to play.

The cost?  Nothing but time.

So when your day’s work has eased a little (it kinda never does, I know) , when the world wide news is grim, ask yourself “did I play today?”

 This time last year Carrie Fisher a.k.a.Princess Leia and her mother actress Debbie Reynolds had passed away within a day of each other, so I brought them with me on my headphones.  Pure joy in the listening. Go on take some play time and enjoy. 

Feel the energy – feel the force.

and …..Singin, dancin, playin at its best.