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Mar 7, 2025
"There is no quest so profound as freeing the flame of your childhood’s magic laughter."
—Ricardo Gutierrez
Writer Lindsey Wayland invites us to examine our thinking around play. Some may think play is something only children do, and many of us forget how to play as we age, “reinforced by a culture that measures worth through productivity.” Afraid of embarrassment or feeling foolish, we lose our freedom – “freedom to fail, freedom to change our minds, freedom to be ridiculous.” Lindsey says, play is “not about what we can produce together; it’s about being together.” Play allows us to enter “a timeless space where we are wholly absorbed in what is rather than what must be done.” “It asks only that we step outside the roles we are performing and engage with life on its own terms—improvisationally, intuitively, and openly.” Play may feel “lost to us, yet it isn’t truly gone. It remains in the ‘enchanted place’ of our memory. We leave it behind, but the possibility of return is always present.”
The author has many suggestions to engage with play. Here is one: Think of a childhood game you haven't played in years. Now, imagine playing that game as your current self. What changes? What remains? Write about how the game still lives in you. Free the laughter!