Make a list of the things you used to love as a kid (◕‿‿◕｡)

and use ChatGPT to get some AI insight into your play self

PrEaMbLe:

I’m playing around (lol) with this idea of the Play Self:

the being you are when you are playing.

Donald Woods Winnicott, psychoanalyst and the author of “Playing and Reality”,speaks a lot on a true self we have from infancy and the false self we create. By his definition, the true self is who you are when you are simply being. And the false self is the facade that you slowly build up over time in order to comply with parental and societal expectations.

art by Hizgi

Play is an interesting word because it’s imbued with so much meaning. To “play around” means to be irresponsible or casual. To “play along” is to pretend to be down with whatever is happening around you. “Playing it by ear” is to wing it. And “play” is simply an activity of recreation and enjoyment.

So here Play Self is the you who is in flow through play. It is a state outside of the false self that we have created out of fear, but something different than ‘simply being’.

Today I want to bring you closer to your play self with an exercise. So let’s get started and:

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1. Make a list of what you used to love to do as a kid

If the goal is to play in flow, unencumbered by fear, a good exercise I discovered is to look at what you loved and loved to do when you were young.

For me, it was pretending to be a pirate hunting for treasure. Daydreaming. Playing piano for our cat Bill. The Dark Crystal. Aaliyah. Thunder storms. Thundercats. Body surfing big waves.

My 6th birthday party, Atlantic Beach, FL.

Playing Neopets while listening to the Slim Shady LP at my neighbor’s house in Texas. Waking up early to watch Sailor Moon on Kids WB. Singing the dial up modem tune for laughs.

Who else was obsessed with these RANDOM AF facts on Pop Up Video??

My Madonna and Hall & Oates cassette tapes. My copy of Rhythm Nation I had on VHS. Pop Up Video. Making orange peel smiles after soccer games.

ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ

You can think of it like a work in progress. Play with it. Add photos. Add to it when you remember things.

Maybe it’ll make you happy to just reflect on things that used to bring you joy. You might rediscover ways you naturally liked to look at things before you learned to do things “normally”. You could get inspired for the work you do or for how you can feel more connected with others. Maybe you can bring these rediscoveries into what you have fear doing now.

I made my list in notes because it’s easiest for me to add to whenever I think of something - here’s a peek:

Since starting this list, I started playing Minecraft for the first time (after years of grumbling about how I was too old for that.) I made and found even more silly memes for this post. I recaptured my love to goof around and do weird swimming tricks in the pool. I started drawing for fun again. I started dressing beautifully on Fridays.

dreamcastar

A post shared by @dreamcastar

Okay next,

2. Plug your list into ChatGPT and ask for a brief summary of the kid with that list of likes.

Everyone’s always talking about how ChatGPT is fixing their code, writing their copy, or 10xing their productivity… but what about ChatGPT giving you insight into yourself as a child?

I’m not actually breaking new ground here - last year Michelle Huang used OpenAI’s ChatGPT Playground to train a chatbot on her childhood diary entries. And then she spoke to her “younger self” as a chatbot.

Inspired by this, I threw my list in and asked ChatGPT to give me a little summary of the kid that loved those things:

I can’t lie. That summary looks basic… but it was nice to read such a clear perspective on such a long list. It was like some objective (albeit robotic) Dungeon Master threaded together things I couldn’t objectively thread myself. Like, yes, I guess I do love being outside. I love any good story and I love games and I love music. I love hanging with my friends and family and being funny with them. It seems so silly, but at least for me, it was a nice, clean, uncomplicated reminder of what easily sparks joy within me.

⊂◉‿◉つ TrY iT.

Side Quest: Ask ChatGPT to recommend what a kid with your list could do as an adult. It recommended I become a game dev 😂.

Comment down below with some of your childhood loves or ChatGPTs summary of it, I would love to know. ლ(◉‿◉ ლ)

Thank you to everyone that reached out about my last piece. The amount of people that resonate with play makes me really happy.

And thanks for reading. You’re the best. Great job being you.

If you feel called, share Play Palais today ^_^ Especially share with anyone who is having a hard time tapping into their inner juice and infinitely lovable self. This will help.

I’ll leave you with this quote from “Playing and Reality”:

"The place where cultural experience is located is in the potential space between the individual and the environment (originally the object). The same can be said of playing. Cultural experience begins with creative living first manifested as play."

- D.W. Winnicott