Compounding our sense of time-poverty, however, is what some researchers describe as the "therapeutic" tendency. Ours is a culture obsessed with Self. We are painfully self-aware, driven by the promise of self-actualization and self-improvement. More and more, we see play in terms of yet another emollient that can be applied to the Self. We focus not on the play, but on the benefits play can provide us and we consciously play for them. We end up playing because we feel we should be playing. It is, ultimately, a doomed endeavor.
True play requires that we forgo the Self, step outside our relentless self-awareness--a step our Self-obsessed culture hasn't prepared us for. As the University of Wisconsin's Duncan notes, "in a highly organized, individualistic society, where every minute of every day must be accounted for in some way that is directly related to building the consciousness, people can't simply 'lose' themselves." Adds Penn State's Godbey: "Instead of seeing ourselves as the buffoons we really are, we take ourselves far too seriously. Instead of losing ourselves in play, we're concerned about what we're wearing or whether we smell good."
how to goof off
Can playfulness be recovered? While we're not likely to see a sudden surplus in leisure time or lose our obsession with Self overnight, researchers like Godbey, Csikszentmihalyi, and others insist that bringing play back into our lives is far from impossible. The first step, researchers suggest, is to take stock of our own state of playfulness. Are we getting enough? Have we been using play more than simply experiencing it? Are there possible changes that might shift the balance back?
One suggestion, researchers say, is to try to simplify your play objectives. For example, try taking a walk without your watch or without monitoring your heart rate. And don't take on an activity that is so ambitions, challenging, or expensive that you spend the entire time worrying about whether you can afford it, or whether you're performing well enough, or having enough fun, to justify the time expended.
Also, check out how attached you've become to the material aspect of play--clothes, shoes, equipment, etc. If you've reached a point where you can't go biking without your biking shorts, biking may be not be as playful an experience as it could be.
Chances are, you're not a professional player, so stop pressuring yourself to play or perform like one. Although amateur has almost become an insult, bear in mind that the word derives from the Latin for to love. Unlike professionals, amateurs engage in an activity solely because they love it.
And remember to goof off. A century ago, baseball was played by men who would, on occasion, go on field wearing outlandish top hats. Play, says Godbey, "means giving yourself over to an activity and not having worry whether you're making a fool of yourself. Playing is fooling around, and fooling around requires fools."
Likewise, don't forget to let your mind play as well. Fantasize. Children spend a good deal of their playtime imagining they're somebody or something else. Don't be afraid to do a little "play-pretending" yourself. Moreover, be inventive. Don't limit yourself to routine or traditional types of play, or feel you need a certain time, place, or set of gear. Left by themselves in a large grassy field with a ball and a few traffic cones, children will invariably come up with their own game, complete with rules and boundaries. Adults, too, are allowed to come up with their own games.
Yet perhaps the most important step we can take is simply to pay attention: be open to play. Perhaps play will never be as simple or pure as it was when we were young, or when our culture was less complex, or when we had fewer responsibilities, or more money. But play, like hope, springs eternal. It breaks out, like weeds between cracks in the cement. It pops up and out in the most unlikely situations.
Our task is to recognize play and then be willing to just let it happen. "Walking along a sidewalk isn't playing," says Godbey. "But as soon as one observes the cracks in that sidewalk, and then begins to measure one's stride by those cracks, then tries to avoid stepping on those cracks--well, that's play."
PHOTO (COLOR): "There are three things difficult: to suffer an injury; to keep a secret; to use leisure." -Voltaire
PHOTO (COLOR): Playing miniature golf
PHOTO (COLOR): Playing touch football
Photographs by Chip Simons
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