So, when is the next time you’re going to play?

When is the next time you’re going to race a family member or friend to the car? Or see who can make the basket with a crumpled up piece of paper?

Maybe it’s giving a high-five to someone you work with. Try this on a Friday.

Maybe it’s telling the server that it’s your birthday. They might even bring you some dessert or sing you a birthday song.

Maybe it’s asking the next person you talk to what they do for fun. Ask if you can join them next time.

What would your life look like with a little more PLAY?

Connect with Kathy – https://www.linkedin.com/in/klenguyen/

Play Is Timeless & Ageless!
Why do we tend to lose our playfulness as we get older? Should it not be something that we should strive to maintain throughout our time on earth? Any person of any age can participate in play. Yet as we grow older, our priorities shift away from play to responsibility, especially in the world of work. Interesting when you think about it.

Play Is So Vital To Our Positive Mental Health!
Play brings out our inner child and allows us to lean into vulnerability in a safe space. This opens space to be our true selves. Play creates a space of no judgement and complete acceptance. In fact, play is the universal language of acceptance, non-judgement and just plain fun. What could be better than that!!!!

Play Is Self Care!
Self care can easily be enhanced through more play in our lives. When we invite play into all areas of our lives and make time for play, our relationships with others are much richer, productivity at work improves, and positivity in our everyday approach to life suddenly makes its presence known.

Play Is A Game Changer!
When we give permission for play in the workplace, it breaks down the hierarchy. Everyone participates and engages one another on the same playing field as equals. Through play we move from being uncomfortable with vulnerability into the comfort of vulnerability. Strangers become playmates and laughter echoes long after the session ends. So does a perma-grin! When play allows people to lean into vulnerability, remember this: “There is no growth in the comfort zone and there is no comfort in the growth zone.”

Play Is Being Human!
Play teaches us to focus on what is strong about our loved ones instead of what is wrong or challenging. Ultimately, this shifts our perspective. In the area of Peer Support, play builds trust amongst participants and leads participants to learn more about themselves. It’s a great icebreaker. Think about it. Play breaks down those barriers to hard conversations and shines light on courage and inner strength. It allows us to set realistic and purposeful boundaries. This results in more positive relationships with our loved ones and with ourselves.

Play Is Story Telling!
When we think back to a great memory with a long-time friend, we are most likely to think of a time when we laughed and had fun. A time when we played. When you ask a student of any age about their best memory of the day/week/month, fun and laughter is always part of the storyline. When you ask a group of colleagues to think about a great day at work, it’s often a story about a team building day that made them laugh and smile with colleagues. When you ask seniors in a retirement residence to talk about a great day, what you often hear is a story about an outing in the community or a special event where everyone participated. “Most recently, my own parents participated in the “Senior Olympics” at their retirement residence and talked about how my dad won the Smartie Game! They all laughed afterwards over banana splits. Play invokes memories of childhood. Memories of play, your way, I say!!”

Connect with Christina – https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-henderson-7815a322/

Play Is Taking A Different Perspective!
We tend to get wrapped up in the drama triangle, vying for the largest victim prize, according to the Conscious Leadership group. If we can break out of that, begin to see things from a different perspective, employing radical responsibility while doing so, we can begin to see the lighter side of almost any situation, and can engage in play far more frequently as a result.

Play Is Teamwork!
When teams can gel, really understand how to relate with one another and how to get tasks accomplished, they can get into a state of flow, almost as if they are actors in a play, and they can feel enriched and fulfilled.

Play Is Leadership!
When leaders can realize that their followers are imperfect human beings (as we all are), they can hold themselves accountable with radical responsibility, and see that people are trying their best. They know that success is not possible without failure, and realize that people should not be rescued from every failure experience. They can derive enjoyment from seeing how people flourish when they are allowed more autonomy, more play.

Play Is Managing Meetings!
Meetings are often seen as a drudgery, but they should be the most exciting aspect for a leader in an organizationally healthy company. As Pat Lencioni says, leaders should be like directors of a movie in meetings, ensuring the movie is progressing, cutting the filming when course corrections are needed, and overall celebrating a project well done.

Play Is A Mirror Of Ourselves!
When we engage in play, we might exhibit behaviour that we would otherwise restrain – we may laugh out loud, we may engage in friendly competition, we may act silly, we may sing and dance – all of which may reveal to us a side of ourselves we rarely ever see.

Connect with Tanya – https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanya-hewitt-55804529/

Play Is The Energy Place!
Where do we go in order to generate more energy and new ideas? The more we play with other people, the more energy gets created and the more ideas are generated!

So much fun and people have a body memory of it for a long time after. For some, it remains an exciting “cup” you are able to sip from over and over again, or recreate as a new “cup” or “bowl” or several “lakes”, spilling out and overflowing in sparkling ways to you and your teams and families and other joy-filled communities!

Connect with Sharon – https://www.linkedin.com/in/yourenotanail/

What if your team members had permission to play at work, to interact, to laugh, and to engage in play experiences that totally generates a buzz of excitement in the workplace? Isn’t it really all about happy staff? 100% of people surveyed agree that they all can use more FUN AT WORK, generate more excitement and energy, and create a dynamic team of individuals working together as partners in their department’s success. 

Play is permission for a time out from an all too busy world of work to feel engaged, manage stressors, open lines of communication, and strengthen employee relationship building through fun and laughter. Play achieves the goal of simply bringing people together in a most unique experience. Through the sheer magic of playing together, we create a feeling of community in which team members at work are truly connected, operating more effectively with each other and celebrating their achievements.

Connect with Robert – https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertmanolson/

The workforce needs POSITIVE PLAYFUL opportunities to connect with one another and build meaningful interactions. Robert! You are ahead of the game…the workforce has spoken: no one wants to grind anymore. More play!!! Nothing else compares!

Connect with Isabelle – https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabellewellness/