Being Point

Tag: fun

  • “Play Is The Highest Form Of Research” ~ Einstein

    Among the best creative activities is brainstorming – which can be an enjoyable and highly productive form of play. When we’re playing, we are far more open to all possibilities. Assumptions about our limitations fall away.

    Einstein said, “Play is the highest form of research.” And Emerson said, “It is a happy talent to know how to play.”

    Play in the form of brainstorming teaches us to think synergistically – and have fun in the process. How you do at brainstorming most likely has everything to do with how playful you allow yourself to be.

    What kind of brainstormer are you? Can you relax and appear to be foolish as if you’re playing – all in service of better or more creative thinking – and for just having fun?

    What do you think of brainstorming as play? Do you see benefits from playing / brainstorming in your life and your career? Can you imagine using the web as a source of playing / brainstorming?

  • “A Child Who Does Not Play Is Not A Child, And The Man Who Does Not Play Has Lost Forever The Child Who Lived In Him” ~ Pablo Neruda

    Play has been celebrated by thinkers throughout history. How alive is the child within you? Do you give the child who lives inside you the permission to play? What about others? Do you allow them to be playful without judging them?

    Dr. Stuart Brown said, “Play allows us to develop alternatives to violence and despair; it helps us learn perseverance and optimism.”

    In other words, in an ironic twist: Play is seriously important! LOL

    Workplaces can be playful without being out of control. Humor and fun and play allow hugely greater degrees of relatedness among human beings and, thus, help us get along better and be happier in our relationships.

    Who do you play with? Is play integrated into your life? Do you teach, model and encourage others within your sphere of influence that play is positive and deserves encouragement? Hopefully, you have not, as Neruda wrote, lost forever the child who lived in you.

    Come out and play fair, play safe, play fun!  Please write and let us know how you are at play.

  • Playfulness And The Ability To Be Downright Silly

    Silliness is a wonderful form of playfulness. How precious it is to cultivate light-heartedness and relax the ego’s insistence on being important.

    I have some very good friends who, like me, are monkeys. Monkeys are smart and playful – and even downright silly. What does the adult part of you think about playfulness and silliness? Have you ever felt like a monkey?

    Have you noticed any fear associated with silliness and playfulness? Yet, couldn’t we all use a ready wit, an easy sense of humor, along with precious little need to take ourselves seriously?

    Are you playful and silly? What are the conditions which have best allowed these qualities to shine through? How do family and cultural patterns about playfulness show up in your behaviors and belief systems? Who are the people with whom you feel most comfortable and safe to be fully yourself – even when you’re being goofy and silly?

  • Playfulness And The Beginning Of Summer

    Memorial Day Weekend is the traditional beginning of summer, our best season for playfulness.  Let’s shift from seriousness to playfulness, lightness and fun.

    Remember the joy we felt as children when school ended and we were free? It was fun to eagerly anticipate three months of unscheduled days and staying up late, summer camp and family vacations, swimming and being around water at the ocean or the lake?

    Now, consider how you’re starting the summer of 2010. How can you make it more playful? Can you give yourself permission to be free to enjoy your life in ways that perhaps only summer provides?

    Consider the next three to four months, and map out the activities that you need to have a playful summer. How much is enough play for you? How willing are you to give yourself the gift of playfulness?

  • The Three Levels of “Get-To”

    Today, let’s explore the things you “get” to do. Usually, these activities are fun, free from work, and done with friends or family. “Get to” implies pleasure, opportunity, privilege or something you don’t want to miss.

    Getting to travel, exploring a new place, trying a new restaurant, getting to know people in a deep way, spending quality time with your children, throwing a ball with your dog . . . all these are examples of “get to.”

    There’s a next level of “get to” which is about doing things that on their faces would not “normally” be “fun,” but in a particular context, they are fun. For example, working in a soup kitchen, cleaning up after a charitable event, spending time working on a school or church project . . . or, the classic: helping a friend move. “Getting to” be of service and being helpful to someone or something can feel great.

    On perhaps the highest level – a level that we can often forget – is that we “get to” live. We get to have a life – with all that that implies. More on that later this week.

    What are your favorite “get-to’s”? Think about the three levels above. It’s astounding what we “get to” do; isn’t it? Please share your “get-to’s” with us!

  • Is Hope Foolish?

    I’m gratified to report that we now have confirmed readers and phone participants in our daily Study Hall from all seven continents. Antarctica wasn’t the most difficult, believe it or not. Our numbers are small, but growing, and I appreciate all your support for our little experiment. As we explore HOPE this week, it’s thrilling to see some our hopes begin to be realized.

    Our study of results continues to advance, and all of us are on the forefront together. We are getting reports of spontaneous breakthroughs – even without breakdowns – and fewer and fewer people are speaking about their limitations in the present tense (a bit of an inside joke, and we invite you to get in on it).

    Hope is a funny thing sometimes . . . and often it can be downright foolish . . . at least to someone observing it. A human can hope; right? Think about it.

    From now on, Study Hall will be broadcast in HD and be a daily part of “The Today Show” as well as being a recurring segment on “Oprah” – she keeps asking for more and I hope this works out . . . and the extravagant good news goes on and on . . . I’m hoping for “The Daily Show”!

    I hope that we all remember that we are all human and that one of the true indicators of our humanity is our willingness to appear foolish . . . all in service of connecting deeply to each other and being in smiling, exquisite mutual service.

    HAPPY APRIL FOOL’S DAY!!!

    Hutt 🙂

    PS: Please keep this vision . . who knows? With enough hope, you could be saying, “I was there way back when it began . . .”

    Copyright 2009. E. B. Hutt Bush and Coaching for Results, Inc.

  • Having Fun While Changing A Habit

    I used to have a fondness for chocolate-covered doughnuts. Think Homer Simpson. That “fondness” developed into a habit of once a week indulging myself with two doughnuts . . . after which I’d feel terrible both mentally and physically.

    One day, I went from the doughnut store to my office and promised my assistant, Marge, that if I ever ate doughnuts again, I would pay her $1 per doughnut. Being accountable to Marge helped me change that minor doughnut habit. It wasn’t the money . . . it was the consequence. Marge made no money on that deal, and it didn’t cost me a dime.

    What habit could be made into a game like this where you could be supported by someone in your life? Can you think of a way that changing a habit can be FUN? Who would be a great person to engage in this kind of playful way of changing a habit?

    Copyright 2009. E. B. Hutt Bush and Coaching for Results, Inc.