Play games

With my experience of Google being what it is, I'm guessing that there's a fair chance that you're landing on this blog post because you searched for 'play games'. Chances are you're looking for a quick source of entertainment to kill some time that requires a little more mental activity than blankly staring at your social media feeds or the latest viral video.

Stop.

That's the whole problem right there. In my previous post I was saying that I want to dedicate my 50th blog post here to something special, and I can't think of anything better than highlighting this website I stumbled across.

If you don't have time for more reading - who does? - here's a quick visual summary:

I highly suggest you watch this video which was embedded into the previous site I linked to. Chances are it will call to a part of you that you've forgotten after years (or decades?) of being taught to suppress that part of yourself: The importance of 'Play'

"Playing in public is a political act. It is a demonstration in every sense of the word: a demonstration of how easy it is to transform a public space to a play space. A demonstration of how easy it is to take a place of anonymity and change it to a place of intimacy. A demonstration of how easily we can change a no trespassing zone to a zone of shared laughter, of permission to play; to a place where we are safe enough to let ourselves be beautiful, together, in public."

"And it made me think that it’s funny, in a sad way, how much we worry about beauty, how much time and money and grief and doubt to make ourselves feel beautiful. The make-up, the clothes, the dyes, the exercise – they help us feel beautiful – but it’s funny, and sad, too, to think how simple of a thing like a children’s game would let us be as loved and lovely as the world’s children we always have been." [SOURCE *thanks Bernie]

 At this point, I can't remember why we decided to out-source our 'play' to computer or console games? I've felt increasingly disenchanted with investing hours of my life into my Playstation, and maybe you've felt the same.

Maybe you'll join me in a pledge to not just tell a joke in the office, but to take the next step into enjoying a game with somebody ... it could be calling your co-workers to prank them in a foreign accent, it could be a game of soccer, it could be something silly. Remember: the point isn't to make yourself laugh (e.g. at somebody else's misfortune) but to enjoy making somebody else laugh.

There's a world of difference there, and a world that's worth living in.