This pleasure in play is a strange pleasure that is difficult to grasp, one that is neither merely sensuous nor yet merely intellectual; it is a creative, formative bliss of its own kind and is in and of itself polysemous, multidimensional.
- Eugen Fink, Play as Symbol of the World
While exploring a different topic to share with you all which is coming soon, I had an aha moment. An ahaha moment, if you will.
Understanding Playfulness
I’ve been trying to understand my stakes in this game whilst placing my stakes in the ground. And I think it’s just that, at my core, I don’t understand why every thing has to be so serious.
I remember how fun and light everything was when I was a child and I have this intrinsic North Star urgently guiding me to a dream reality in which we all can feel free and playful at all ages.
This past month, with a researching mind, I attempted to bring the spirit of play into every aspect of my life. Especially into moments that are otherwise trying or triggering.
Like, for example, deep cleaning.
It’s not that I don’t like to clean - in fact, when I get in the flow while cleaning I feel really energized. And I love how immediate the reward is. But… sometimes when I’m cleaning I feel like it’s getting in the way of what I actually should be doing. Which is obviously to -
The other day, I felt this resistance come up and I was huffing in frustration. Being mindful just wasn’t working. So I decided to role play being a Navy officer cleaning their quarters before inspection. I know. Kind of cringey.
But, it worked!
The mental frustration rolled away. I scrubbed every nook and cranny of the kitchen and bathroom. I hummed as I cleaned with the discipline of what I imagined a soldier to have. The imaginary inspection I created for myself, gave me a fun goal. Everything else fell away.
And my kitchen has never been cleaner.
I tried again, before a workout that I didn’t really want to do. I tapped into the feeling of playing, playing the workout - and suddenly the feeling of fun dissolved the tension of not wanting to exercise. My inner critic relaxed. Instead of beating myself up for not doing each rep like a machine, it felt like a game in which I would only get better at as I continued.
And I tried again, when I saw that my partner again didn’t replace the toilet paper roll (usually the bane of my existence). I felt myself laugh as I lowered the volume on the critical gremlin inside of me. I enjoyed a funny thought of my partner’s gaming stats being very low on remembering to replace certain things. I thought of the other amazing stats he has in his game of life.
And I playfully, humbly contemplated my own lower stats that I try to hide from the world.
The Ahaha
After intentionally implementing this spirit of play in these otherwise mundane or traditionally “serious” situations, my belief was solidified:
Playfulness is a type of mindfulness.
Why?
The playful mind requires presence. Like mindfulness, it relaxes your body and mind. It reduces stress. It heightens creativity.
When it is intentional, it can suspend egoic judgment and open curious awareness to the world around you.
Time becomes irrelevant,
self judgment washes away,
urgent to-dos suddenly don’t feel so urgent.
There are no mistakes.
What you are playing with takes center stage.
And like mindfulness (and muscles), playfulness is strengthened through practice. Training.
However, it is also different from the traditional definition of mindfulness - which opens awareness out expansively. Playfulness opens awareness around the object of play. And instead of the blissful neutrality that mindfulness imbues, playfulness flavors reality with a joy, a spirit of fun and curiosity.
Play Palais’ mission so far has been to transmit the spirit of play as something to prioritize. As an important ingredient in a fulfilling life.
Before, in Make a list of the things you used to love as a kid (◕‿‿◕。), I defined the Play Self as the you who is in flow through play. I add playfulness to the dictionary of Play Palais:
Playfulness - the manifestation of the Play Self exploring and experiencing reality with curiosity, creativity, and joy.
Bring playfulness into your daily life and lighten the load on your spirit. I hope you dance through the mundane.
My tips to get started:
Play a game you really love and hone in on the feeling in your body (mindfully) as you play. Remember this feeling.
Identify a thing you have to do that you don’t really like to do and try to bring the feeling of playfulness to it.
Keep practicing.
And meditate if you don’t already. That’ll give you more space to play.
Playfulness Mood Board 🌈
for the vibes
“Existence - the physical universe, is basically playful” - Alan Watts being Alan Watts [youtube]
A 2020 MLU study that proves that playfulness can be trained in adults
Thorsten Ball writes about a playful approach to programming
2017 article on why its good for grown ups to go play from the Washington Post
Jimin (😍) from BTS being very cute and playful
“The most responsible way to live is that you are playful with life” - Sadhguru speaking on playfulness and passion [youtube]
This Are.na channel 1400 and Today is so aesthetically fun and weird I had to share
follow @p.s.kaguya on insta for playful, beautiful, vulnerable content
my fav meme of the week
watch Yumeko Jabami (Kakegurui on Netflix) take playing to an insane level. Let’s also resurrect this photo of Megan Thee Stallion cosplaying as her for halloween:
Here’s to a world where we all play together 🥂
💭 Have any thoughts about playfulness? Comment below.
💌 Email playpalais@substack.com to keke with me about play.
Spread the word that having a fun and playful life is completely okay and share this newsletter to friends.
Ppl that play together, stay together.
**P.S. I will admit, when this thought arrived in my head - I was like you genius Michelle. Playfulness as mindfulness 🤯! Buuuut a quick google search later I found there are not only articles written on this but even a whole online store called Playful Mindful. So charge it to the game I guess.
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