Play with me

Wild Kuan Yin oracle

Prayer: help me to let go of the fear, guilt or shame that would prevent me from being able to play, to have fun, to trust in life and to let go and experience all of what is being offered to me.

Help me find the balance between work and play… so I may grow in my life path to experience more happiness, fulfilment and joy.

Pondering

What springs to mind for me are the words: ‘all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’ (a proverb first recorded in 1659).

It is in play that we connect to the joy of creating, that we lose ourselves in another realm.

This other realm – filled like Willy Wonka‘s chocolate factory with sweet delights and magic, brings us the unexpected and the treat of finding out more about ourselves.

When we play, we please ourselves.

We choose something fun to do.

For me it was so many different chances to lose myself in different worlds.

In my granny’s garden I made mud pies with some of her kitchen moulds, creating flower covered delights fit for the table of a fairy queen.

In the woods around my house I took straight sticks and peeled the bark to make swords to do battle with my fellow pirates. We would build huts and climb trees creating stories as we went.

On rainy days I created gardens of tissue paper flowers or played with my spirograph – never quite managing to finish the geometric shapes without the pen slipping in the plastic cogs.

My brother and I raced his toy cars on a plastic loop the loop. We dug in the garden to try to reach Australia.

We made a basic go-kart from the old pram wheels and pushed each other down the sloping lawn into the beech hedge shreiking with excitement.

Nothing we did was perfect and it didn’t matter as we made it all up in the moment and lost ourselves for hours in our play until we were called to tea.

There were things that felt serious and troublesome then.

Arguments between parents overheard.

Trips to the dentist.

Being made to eat gristly stews.

Tidying up – a never ending chore.

Small worries, cuts, bruises, sore throats, tummy aches, awkward and embarrassing moments.

But so much more often, it seems, they were golden days, laughter, absorption in play and the delight when Mum and Dad joined in too.

I choose to play, even now, and as it seems to me, much of my life.

I make things: food, jewellery, photographs, stories, humming balls, friends. I go on adventures.

I have so much joy in the excitement and alchemy of bringing myself, some magic and inspiration together and voilà! A cake, a necklace, a picture, a conversation with a friend or stranger; something that never was before, now exists. An energy, and excitement, unique and perhaps ephemeral, but the focus, fun, delight and joy are mine in that moment and in the memory of it.

Writing these words have been playful for me and have made me happy.

So, my lovely friend, it is playtime.

What game, what fun, what toy will you take up?

Will you pick up a pencil, a ball, a puzzle, a wooden spoon?

Will you take the hand of a friend and skip laughing through the autumn leaves?

Please will you come and play with me.