As I walked through the playground in an Uptown Charlotte park, I was struck by the unbridled joy of the children at play: running, jumping, laughing, climbing, shouting with glee. What a contrast to the scene in corporate office towers just a few blocks away, where busy workers had their noses to the grindstone and their hands tapping away at keyboards.
Maybe we can learn a thing or two from the kids on the playground.
Recent studies suggest that play time is important to the physical and mental health of adults. According to the research, playing can reduce stress, improve moods and even help manage certain diseases.
So if it’s so beneficial for us, why don’t adults play more? Obviously, we have more on our minds and more obligations to attend to than kids do. As we get older, our focus shifts from playing to working and we lose touch with the playful instincts that were so strong in us as children.
But here's the good news: It doesn’t have to be this way. Even if we’re not swinging on a jungle gym, we can approach everything we do with a playful, curious attitude that makes even the dullest chores or the most demanding jobs more fun and more productive.
Stuart Brown, a psychiatrist who studies the effects of play, says “When I interviewed Nobel laureates, I was struck by how most of them didn’t separate work and play. Their labs were their playgrounds.”
Last week, I watched our six-year-old granddaughter doing experiments with a junior science kit we bought for her. With a serious focus and a playful spirit, she embodied the attitude that Brown was talking about: incorporating fun into our work. To a six-year-old, there’s no difference between soaring on a playground swing and mixing liquids in a beaker to watch them bubble and foam. It's all play.
What a wonderful way to see the world.
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