Play: It's Not Just for Kids

Hey, did you know we have a National Institute for Play? No? Neither did I until today, and now that I know about it, I'm all for it. It appears that play isn't just important for children, but it is also important for adults (and no you don't have to play like children, but it doesn't hurt either). Play apparently helps keep us healthy and mentally flexible.

The founder of the institute gave an interview on "Speaking of Faith" which you can download by following the previous link or this one. It makes an interesting listen.

I write this post more for me than for anybody else since I know I can be a bit of a stick-in-the-mud. Like a lot of people, I used to denigrate play as useless, but I have been trying to loosen up lately if for no other reason than to actually enjoy myself a little. As such I've been in the process of trying to identify the fun things I used to do that I no longer do. It's become an embarrassingly long list.

Now that I know how important play is to one's health, I will use that knowledge to let go of those inhibitions that I've developed that prevent me from doing something when the only reason to do it is simply because I enjoy it.

Anyway, play a little today and every day.

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I found out about this stuff from Summer Pierre.

Blobs Become Doodles II

I've been traveling around this past month visiting various members of my family. Any of you that know me realize that traveling to somewhere besides Montana has been a rare thing for me. I actually managed to visit my sister and her family in Chicago. I even took a plane to get there! I know! I'm surprised too.

Now I have no fear of flying, but I am wary of the airline industry and its too often exposed callous disregard for passengers, and its frequent overbooking and mishandling of flight schedules. I realize most of the time things work, but that doesn't change the fact that I don't enjoy submitting myself to the airlines. It's like getting digested by some monstrous process in the hopes that my belongings and I will eventually be crapped out at my destination. But I'll put aside my neurotic dislike of airlines for the sake of this blog and just say that I don't enjoy flying the friendly skies.

Anyway, I survived the flights, and enjoyed the trips. But the traveling is part of the reason why there has been so few posts here in the past month. But I'd like to point you to the doodles that other people made in response to that blob doodle exercise. There's some fun, creative stuff there.