Play On! - Daisy Deely, CBT

Play on!
“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”  
        -George Bernard Shaw

Reflecting on your life (or maybe just the last week, for now?) when are you most playful? Most focused?

Play therapy isn’t a means to a more “intellectual,” profound process...it is the process! Thinking of yourself in your most productive flow of focus, what sensate experiences come to mind? 

Ray (2011) posited that the brain must reach a sense of trust in safety before tapping into lower limbic, creative systems. School environments are too often anxiety provoking...but what if you experience most environments as anxiety provoking? Rollo May said we shouldn’t seek to extinguish our anxiety but to reach a deeper understanding. Maintaining curiosity requires resources of replenishment…how can you  direct attention to your environment, nurture your awareness and thus convert your influence on felt-sense experiences? Eugene Gendlin talked about exploring what he called “the murky edge.” How do you gently yet persistently push the limits of your mind? 

How do you cultivate a creative atmosphere for yourself? Your loved ones? Think about the places, people, experiences, memories where you’ve felt wholly accepted. No matter what subject you choose to focus on, imagining your ideal situation helps fill in the details, the limits. Now go forth, explore the possibilities of your creative freedom!

References
Ray, D. C. (2011). Advanced play therapy: Essential conditions, knowledge, and skills for child practice. Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.