My children invented a game, this morning,
which involved the little one pushing the big one out into the rain, dissolving
in fits of laughter and repeating. I was drawn away from the kitchen to the
intoxicating sound of their joy.
In my experience,
creative, spontaneous play unfolds organically when children are given large
amounts of unscheduled time to follow the whims of their developing brain in a safe and familiar location, like their own home.
In spite of my
strong commitment spontaneous expression, I constantly find
myself feeling pressured by "schedule," "measuring my worth by
production" and "number of organized activities," values highly
revered by American culture. Certainly schedules, goal setting, planned activities and
production have their place and have the potential to facilitate a certain amount of joy and satisfaction, but every human needs a balance of scheduled time and unplanned
time. Some of us are designed to flourish in a more structured environment and
some of us are designed to flourish in a less structured environment.
I'm still learning
who my children are and what they need as individuals, but I know I myself
thrive on large amounts of unplanned space to create and follow an unseen
"flow." Perhaps it could be called an "unseen structure."
In spite of this self awareness, I spend far too much time chasing satisfaction
from rigid models of daily life. Today the example of my children, and their
deep notes of delight in surprise creativity, beckoned me back home.
I welcome you to delay your next activity by another 39 seconds, walk into my home through this one minute video and relive this unplanned moment with me.....
