Sitting down to write this entry, I knew what I wanted to say, though I still lacked a title. So I minimized the website to play a round of solitaire... Sometimes when we need to think creatively, it can be best not to "think" at all. If we can only step back from our thoughts for a moment, creative possibilities previously unthought-of will often arise, with great thanks to our subconscious mind.
Moments of play, similarly to moments of silence, I've found, can be a great support for fostering our creativity. However, play's potential reaches further than that, and I'd like to explore a link between mindfulness and play that I feel is worth investigating further. As I wrote in "Humble Beginning: A Moment of Fun," a significant step in my journey with mindfulness was a moment of play I experienced at a faculty meeting. At that meeting, the idea of playfulness was presented as "the motivation to freely and joyfully engage with, connect with, and explore the surrounding world." For me, in some ways, playfulness IS mindfulness. When I think of mindfulness, meditation and stillness do come to mind first, but then I also acknowledge a wider definition, which recognizes any moment in which our senses are fully awakened--and we are fully present--as moments of mindfulness. One such moment shared recently in my classroom comes to mind. As my students headed over to morning meeting last Friday, they came prepared with the lines of a Shel Silverstein poem in hand. Humor--of a wonderfully "just right" fit for fourth graders--is a hallmark of Silverstein's poetry, and "Sick" is no exception. Without giving away the ending for anyone who hasn't read the poem, let's just say that "little Peggy Ann McKay" is ailing with long list of illnesses that are miraculously cured by the poem's closing lines. My students came to the circle that morning ready to read--and act out--their lines of the poem as they saw fit. What a blast we had! Shared laughter, smiles, and joyfulness strengthened our sense of community, getting us all connected that morning, and brought a new, focused energy to the classroom, which provided a smooth lead-in to the rest of the day. A lofty educational goal for any school district is to strengthen a student-centered approach to teaching and learning, in which children's social and emotional development is valued just as much as their intellectual and academic development. Children, like adults, need to laugh and need to feel connected, and play can help in both of those areas. For me, mindfulness has been a tool to help build my awareness of how to merge "joy" with students' learning. Joyfulness, it seems, is closely linked with playfulness, and when students are actively engaged in solving a problem or exploring a concept, the energy in the room seems to take on a similar feel as that of "play." "Play," after all, is a primary learning tool for young children, arising naturally and teaching much. When I allow myself to sit in stillness for a few moments to consider a lesson from my students' perspective and imagine what might make even a "boring" topic fun--perhaps by building in a game, or a chance to create something, or a chance to move around the room as they develop their understanding--then something creative usually arises. Most often these ideas aren't difficult to implement and are effective...little tweaks that can make a huge difference. In Pink's A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, play is one of the six "senses" that he proposes will help individuals thrive in the 21st century. He writes, "Humor embodies many of the right hemisphere's most powerful attributes--the ability to place situations in context, to glimpse the big picture, and to combine differing perspectives into new alignments...And just plain laughter can lead to joyfulness, which in turn can lead to greater creativity, productivity, and collaboration." I'm realizing the potential for playfulness to enrich a student-centered learning environment. While mindfulness can help me infuse my lessons with a healthy dose of fun, I can also use those moments of fun to help my students reflect on what being "fully present" feels like to them, a tool which could potentially help for a lifetime. What's your take on mindfulness and play? Can mindless fun be mindfully rich? Can mindfulness help us support a sense of play? Take a moment to reach out and share your thoughts...they'd be joyfully welcomed! ;) Playfully, LAH
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