Laughter, creativity, play & the state of the world.
This is an unplanned download of some stuff that’s been brewing around in my head - you’ve possibly seen it peek out a bit here and there.
Here’s some more of it.
So you know I’ve been thinking about things that have been going on in the world these days lately. A lot.
Recently, someone said to me “I see you seeing what’s wrong with things” .... which was a sort of mild complaint ...
My (very non-apologetic) response?
Yeah, 3rd Line profile here ... literally built to understand “what’s not working”
Plus all the ‘depth’ and ‘getting to the bottom of things’ this and that that’s part of what makes me uniquely me ... it’s there in my Design ... eventually I do also get to see what’s gone wrong, from which “the fix” can possibly be extrapolated.
The ‘doing’ of that (or not) begins to be outside my particular realm of ‘work’, though the brainstorming of possibilities can be enjoyable & use me well.
It’s one of the places where I find my Projector success. In the dreaming up. Not so much the doing - that’s someone else’s joyful piece of the puzzle.
Anyway, back to the state of the world - which has now become highly politicized...
Looking back at my own life to consider why I am how I am and what holds others back from being content ... and that’s something I really do see - a lot of people feeling discontent with their lives ...
Thinking about all this stuff for the last year or so - pretty consistently....
I’ve come to some conclusions, some awareness, some seeing of things that I think are really missing from the lives of the people who are the most upset, with what’s happening and what’s been forgotten that’s allowed the world to become what it has become.
I think what’s really missing is an ongoing nurturing and support of -
- creativity
- laughter
- and play
And when it comes to public education in particular, it’s what’s been evolved out of it.
You know what I spent the better part of my 3rd grade year doing? - in the classroom??
Jacks. We played SO MUCH jacks. You know what else got anchored in that year? Math. But it’s Jacks I mastered. Math was a happy by-product.
Creativity
Laughter
and Play
That’s been the secret sauce to my (ongoing) upbringing.
I also think there could be some correlation to these things being somehow enmeshed in the way that people who are told they’re oppressed - generationally - get raised. IE. these three things get left out.
And yeah maybe there is some extra connection to the erasing of culture through slavery - and the recovery from that...
A recovery that I personally think is being disrupted by the current trends in the state funded educational policy and especially curriculum decisions ... but that’s a whole additional “what’s not working” rant.
I’m feeling like I’ve reached the foundation (in my thoughts).
Creativity and innovation are inseparable - and innovation, which ironically ultimately comes from individuals BEing themselves - is where all progress hails from.
They cut funding to the arts, reduced lunch periods to 20 minutes of silent eating with no play time, loaded on the academics and when that didn’t work .... “oh we must need even more (of what’s not working)” was the solution.
Right.
There’s a word that I hear people use that just grates like nails on a chalkboard for me.
“Adulting”
Good grief I hate that word.
“Adulting” is like the antithesis of “play”... it’s anti-creative ... and rarely coincides with thoughts of laughter.
Jesus what a fucked up thing to strive for.
There’s gotta be a better way.
I leave you for now with a Tedtalk that Latecia shared in a group earlier today - exploring the science behind play.
Play is More Than Just Fun:
https://www.ted.com/talks/stuart_brown_play_is_more_than_just_fun/transcript
Personally, I think if we want to broadly and universally improve the lives of pretty much everyone... as counter intuitive as it may seem as a way to support people who are suffering in one way and another...
The bottom line missing pieces - encouragement and nurturing of those three things -
Creativity.
Laughter.
Play.
Many have either forgotten or were never cared for in this way.
And that, I think, is at once the problem & the solution.
Phew. It’s out of my head and down on paper yay! 😄
To be continued - or not ... let’s see what happens next.
:)