I don’t think I give play the respect it is due. I tend to favor work. Even in the 5^th grade, rather than go to the playground during recess, I sometimes stayed inside the classroom to diagram sentences on the black board – you know, marking subject, verb, adverbs, etc. For some reason I thought that was fun. (I don’t any longer.)

I suspect many of us don’t get enough play in our busy lives. We work, work, work and wait for the bell to signal it’s time for recess. Then we can stop and play. Then we reverse it: Play, play, play until the bell rings, and it’s time to work. But who says work and play must operate independent of each other? Or that we should work more than we play? Or that play is the reward for work? Many of us have accepted the erroneous idea that work is something we have to do to get money and play is something we get to do to have fun. What’s up with that?

It’s a mindset. Can’t our work be fun for us? And can’t our play be just as productive as work? Work and play are not opposites. The more we can blur those lines and enjoy both, the more balanced we feel. The more balanced we feel, the more freely we can engage in both work and play. Then at some point we won’t even be able to define one as different from the other.

That’s a playful thought that works for me!