Play Time!
“We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing.” Charles Schaefer, PhD (American psychologist and author, considered by many to be the "Father of Play Therapy")
How do you “play” at work? When I ask this question in my workshops, I’m often met with a look of indignation that says “yeah, right …”, as if play was something we did when we were children but that it certainly has no place in the sophisticated and serious world of healthcare. But what if “play” was actually an important ingredient for connection, creativity, and even your health?
Stuart Brown, MD is a psychiatrist who has devoted his career to understanding the importance of play for healing and health. In his book “Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul” Brown writes, “I have gathered and analyzed thousands of case studies that I call play histories. I have found that remembering what play is all about and making it part of our daily lives are probably the most important factors in being a fulfilled human being. The ability to play is critical not only to being happy, but also to sustaining social relationships and being a creative, innovative person.”
This past weekend I had the joy watching the 8-year-old son of one of my new colleagues at play during a small work-related “R&R” gathering at a local lake. He was trying to climb onto an inflated bull toy in the water which was designed to make it very challenging to do so. Once he finally mastered the basic “ride the bull” maneuver, he proceeded to experiment, trying to ride it backwards, by standing, while walking on it, and by jumping off the dock onto it, all the while totally engrossed and gleeful. It was an incredible reminder that play is wired into us. And his example provided the impetus for some of the adults to get into the much-needed play mode as well, moving us quickly beyond the often socially awkward “getting to know you” phase, accompanied by laughter, teasing, and a completely different level of dialogue as we transcended our “work persona.”
While “inflatable bull-riding” may not be an appropriate activity for work, the need for deeper connection is vital now more than ever. So, this week, look for opportunities to play at work – even something as simple as some light-hearted banter with colleagues, your care team, or even your patients. Paradoxically, doing so will likely make you even more effective doing the very important work that we do and allow for it to be sustainable over the long-haul. Your connection, creativity, and “fully aliveness” are waiting …