PLAY MORE

play:
- to exercise or employ oneself in diversion, amusement, or recreation.
- to do something in sport that is not to be taken seriously.
- to amuse oneself; toy; trifle (often followed by with).
- to take part or engage in a game.

I work with animals, so children are never far away. They watch with excitement and ask too many questions. They smile and screech and run. Their brains work differently. They play at all times. They play because they have nothing to worry about; life is a game.

To play is to learn. Children experiment with the world, its properties, and its possibilities. This is an essential part of our development. When children experiment, they take nothing for granted, they see the world with untarnished eyes.

As we age, responsibility appears, followed by pressure, guilt and pain. We lose the ability to truly play.

By losing this ability we transform into creatures lacking imagination and spontaneity. Our actions are predictable and based on assumption.

Children have no manifesto in their mind when playing, but we, as adults, are past the point of being this free. So, how can we learn from children to - in part - regain the ability to play?