#15.5 ... crossing the bridge - we are called to Play -

All of life plays. There is joy within every creation seeking to experience its existence in a way that we can only explain as a child looking to say 'watch me!'

There’s little to say about play, like many pieces of the Living System we are asked less to explain and understand and more to explore and dive in. Rather than describe play there is an opening for us to play. Play is the ability to remove limits from ourselves, a permission to step in to engage, it is an offer of amusement, frivolity and joy. The most glorious component of play is it’s asking for us to not take ourselves, or life, too seriously.

A light hearted look at what Life is, play acknowledges that despite life having endings often leaving a heavy heart and beginnings often holding a stumbling start, the middle can afford us play. The ability to avail ourselves time to experience the wonder in order to have fun, play allows us to put down life's complexities and indulge in its simplicities.

To play is really one of life's greatest offers. It can have rules of engagement as much as it can be silly and without context, with the greatest example of play being life itself. Life is joyous, not only sharing this joy in its expressions, but always willing us to step into its joy. There is a luring cheekiness to life, a wonderment that sparks our curiosity.

Many people wonder about the childlike energy that lays deep within us all and how it is never tamed, that our capacity to turn inward to its childlike energy is never distinguished, this is the eternal spark that is one with life and all her creations and it sparks joy.

It is a part of creation as much as a spark of creation. The energy of life herself, childlike, joyous and filled with inspiration is connate to our being. It never ceases to amaze me how brilliant life was in our creation, as if knowing we would at times take our days too seriously, that it would allow space for a concept of fulfilment that comes through this explosive unexplainable expression, that ignites us and sets us off exploding with colours of excitement, like fireworks does the night sky.  

To play asks us to put down how we think things are, to discover how else they can be.

Life says if you can show up I can show you joy in so many ways, if you dare to step in, I can share so much of my own elation.

Life is joyous, do we notice its playfulness? There's abundant joy in life and its offerings - that is indisputable- the question is do we see this? Do we recognise the joy within life? Life is always encouraging us to step into her beauty, to find ecstasy, enchantment, gladness and glee. To know play, we are required to play, our beginning is in answering that call. We can imagine life as the friend outside throwing rocks at our window to gain our attention, that waves us to come outside to embrace and share in the joy to play. 

Play is about connection. Regardless of how many are playing, even if just one, there is one and life, one and the trees, the birds, the ground under our feet. We sing as part of the choir whether there is 20 or 1, we play as part of the team no matter how many on each side, play is a togetherness. The interconnectedness of play is who we are, we hold it like family. The vibrancy brings us alive. Play is interacting with life and she offers so many ways for us to do that.

Not just as human interaction but with our animal companions and our imaginations that come alive with play. Life herself inspires us with the pallet of colours that we colour our lives with. The shades of blue that cross the skies, the hue of the rainbow, the enigmatic storm clouds, to the variety of flowers fashioning our fields. I once heard a man say as he looked at a picture of the ocean ...'That is a colour I am yet to meet'. The vibrancy of life's colours is beyond compare and it brings us alive when we look deeply at each day's offerings. 

Play is discovered through space and time. It can be found in crevices or wide open offerings. It requires room to breathe and imagine, with a feeling of free expression. Dance, sing, wiggle, handstands, head stands, cartwheels, run, kick, throw - body movements that have no ties to them - it is allowing these into our days so that we have room to be eager to engage, a reason to discover, enthusiasm to explore.

Play is the essence of all creation as it calls to dream and imagine.  

Creativity 

We witness life’s capacity to play amongst her creations. It is inconceivable to imagine all the unique offerings life has dreamt. We each giggle when thinking about the odd sods we have been lucky enough to see, with long snouts to exorbitant feathers, from furry to leathered, everyone loves a Sloth! It is as if life seeks to bring forward our own creativity with each revelation of her own inspiring us, daring us to dream on and dream big. The assortment of creations awakens the permission of creativity in each of us. Every new discovery of a creature only builds our imaginations further and allows us to experience wonderment. 

Joy 

We share in life's joy with every breath and in this we discover that joy is to be found everywhere. There is so much to experience and explore of life that we are enticed to wander paths through curiosity and play. There is joy in all the nooks and crannies, joy in adventures and joy in the stillness. From the wilderness to the forests we can experience awe in the offerings of nature. When we walk with silence we can hear her call to run, be joyous, laugh, find glee in breathing in the deep wonder of life itself. That very breath is alive! To hear the waves crashing at our feet is an invitation to play, to witness the animals grazing in fields is an invitation to play, we are called daily to be a part of that which we are and to play amongst all our brethren. 

‘Play with me’, is all of nature's call to us. We hear it in our own language as we are called to 'watch this' or 'run with me' or 'push higher dad' as we reach our toes to the stars, but if we pay attention, the language of life's creations also speaks to us every moment of the day and night asking us to join in. The clouds call as they play with us through their shapes, the birds speak to us as they dash and dart through our trees, the bees whisper to us as they dare to fly so close, the grass and the pine trees call us with their 'woooosshhh'.. we all have language and if we draw ourselves into nature we can recall the language of play asking us to step in. In returning to our beginnings we connately hold play as a part of our becoming.

Beauty 

Beauty as life’s language is a magnetic pull to step in. The most glorious thing about beauty is that it is appreciated by so many in so many ways and it brings us joy. What or whom we find beautiful is so unique that all things are loved. Beauty engages us in so many ways, it grabs our breath, it clings to our chest, it tugs at our sleeve, it calls us in our sleep. Beauty urges us to play. The invitation is to put down all else and engage with that which we love, and to touch, feel, sing it to the world as we share it. Beauty is one of life’s languages for play as it is for love and while we would not think of play and love together, they ignite the same drives for passion and expression. Play leads us to the lightness of all that we love.

Laughter 

As another of life's languages, laughter is a call to express joy. There is nothing greater than a good laugh to shift energy, to expand time and to allow us to indulge in deep elation. How do we explain the pain in our cheeks from smiling so much, the ache in our belly from laughing endlessly, the tears that fill our eyes and roll down our cheeks from sharing sheer delight. To share joy, to share play is to laugh. A great gift in our not taking life too seriously is our willingness to laugh at our own selves. To see our own irony and idiocies, to laugh as we stumble, to make fun of our ways, to giggle at our forgetfulness or to be humoured by our nuances, is to play with our own being. Again, we find ways to make light of this life that can feel heavy, as if a burden. There is mischief in play that is expressed as laughter hidden behind hands, giggles that only those engaged in the game understand, or our imagined friends can know. Mischief and play teach us how to dare, how to be bold, how to live. 

Life is mischievous and to mimic the joy of play in life, again we find that symbiotic nature once more asking us to simply follow her lead.

Daring ourselves to play is a great beginning. It can often feel daring to step into nature's games but no more daring than what is required by nature who offers itself to us. As we trample and cut, poke, prod, snap our way to her breast, bravely and with a mothers love nature welcomes us continuously. It is we who need to find courage to open ourselves to her, again led by her example of desiring us even though we tread heavily.

Wherever we seek to begin, the Living System needs our delight to stir its core to create again and again, and so we are asked to gently yet boldly rediscover ourselves amongst her. We are encouraged to have an adventure and to be bold in our games, to be fearless with joy in living. Life is always calling us to play, to step in as a way to ignite the senses within us to continue the flame of life itself.

It’s time to answer the call to play!

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