The Power of Play
I am rereading a small classic book that I recommend to my students at The Writer’s Loft. It was written in the 1930’s by Dorethea Brande. The title is On Becoming a Writer; John Gardener offers the introduction to the book. It is a book that belies its age and gives testimony to the staying power of its message. A marked component of Becoming a Writer addresses how our creative lives need the time and space to play.
As synchronicity might have it, I discovered a talk by a psychiatrist, Dr. Stuart Brown, who studies about and believes in play. In fact, he leads the National Institute of Play and claims that play is inherent to human health, well being, and survival. He suggests that the opposite of play is depression. In the studies he has conducted the right hemisphere of the human brain lights up when we play.
When I am writing and creating my right brain lights up. I can feel it in my focus and energy and enthusiasm and desire. Writing stories becomes a form of play, an active engagement in make believe, and learning new things and I enter into the domain of the creative, the imaginal.
Play is my favorite word.
As synchronicity might have it, I discovered a talk by a psychiatrist, Dr. Stuart Brown, who studies about and believes in play. In fact, he leads the National Institute of Play and claims that play is inherent to human health, well being, and survival. He suggests that the opposite of play is depression. In the studies he has conducted the right hemisphere of the human brain lights up when we play.
When I am writing and creating my right brain lights up. I can feel it in my focus and energy and enthusiasm and desire. Writing stories becomes a form of play, an active engagement in make believe, and learning new things and I enter into the domain of the creative, the imaginal.
Play is my favorite word.
