Day 27: Nourish

Day 27 here, and we're coming off of a full day of IDEAS.

Did you get in to a playful space with a new idea over the past 24hrs? Did you simply sit a think about some playful ideas for a moment after reading the post? No matter what you did - it's the IDEA that matters. As I said yesterday, all of the most wonderful things in the world all started at one point in time as a single blip of an IDEA.

Rewind to yesterday, and I got straight to playing as soon as I launched the prompt. Wild had gotten me going with some IDEAS about how I could bring more of "the wilderness" into my bedroom. I had noticed over the past week or so a little blip coming on my radar. At first I wasn't sure what it was - just a passing thought - and then i noticed it start to grow as an idea. I've mentioned in previous posts that rearranging furniture in my house has always been a way I have played, ever since I was little. It's how I feel like I step into different mental states when I am in need of a change. So what I had was an IDEA to bring some wild in to my room to encourage the growth of some play activities that I haven't really felt the space for recently. In one fell swoop and the rearrange of one wall in my room i was able to nest (our week 4 over-theme!) some wild by way of house plants, with a chair that would help bring out my slumbering artist-creator ukulele bass player and my read a good book before bed or on a Sunday morning storyteller. I love both of these things! But to be honest have not touched either my bass or a book in a few months. In noticing this idea blipping on my radar, I decided to playfully run with it and let it turn in to a game of nesting.

What I was doing here I think was preparing a sort of garden bed for two types of playing that I have noticed missing in my life. Having a space dedicated to a particular activity is something that I have found helps me get into a space of playing with that tool MUCH more quickly. And who knows what IDEAS can spring from there? It's all really about.... NOURISHING the idea and letting it grow. Your prompt for the next 24hrs!

Bits and Bites

Before we get to the heart of this offering for today, I want to talk briefly about how the idea of NOURISHING, or nurturing might be another way to put it, play types - especially ones that may not be your primary one to try on.

You see, one thing I have encountered a lot in my conversations with people is the idea that they are one thing and are not another. And funny enough, sometimes the root of this identification can be traced back to a teacher or a parent or a friend in childhood telling you "oh man- you're not good at that."

Let's take drawing for example. I can't tell you how many people tell me that "I'm not a good drawer." First of all this is really disheartening because it means that at some point in time someone was able to convince you that there is an objective truth about "good" and "bad" in the world of drawing. Fortunately I'm here to say hey- do you think Picasso's teachers thought his drawings were good? Absolutely not. He was highly criticized in his time period for drawing and painting in completely different ways that anyone else. It's these playful differences straying from the prescribed norm of good and bad that make the most interesting developments and evolutions into any sort of art form or play type. It's the NOURISHING of an idea for the sake of fun that is the seed that sprouts so many of the amazing things that people have made in the world. Before we go any further I really want to encourage you to try on a play type that is not primary to your signature for this one. You might be surprised about what you discover! What might you find when you NOURISH that idea for a funny drawing that pops into your head, regardless of your skills. How might that NOURISH a piece of you that just wants a moment to express and try something out?

The other part about NOURISHMENT is that it doesn't have to happen all at once. It can come in bits and bites, in tiny spoonfuls that are sprinkled throughout your day. Playing doesn't have to be this big daunting thing that you either do or don't do. You can totally let it become that single moment of NOURISHMENT that you sneak into your day between work meetings, or the way you choose to NOURISH yourself for the first five minutes of your day when you wake up.

I had a conversation today with my dad where I was laughing about the fact that each time we talk, my work-life report is that I'm always just fixing the broken things. He laughed out loud and said, "isn't that everyone's jobs? I'm pretty sure everyones job on earth is to fix the broken things." And man when everything is broken, NOURISHMENT has got to be one of our most powerful tools in getting through things with a smile on our faces, and an idea in our heads just waiting to be NOURISHED.

Ideas take time to grow. They require NOURISHMENT to grow from that tiny seed or blip on your radar. They don't happen all at once. I see them almost as images appearing out fo the fog. You have no idea how big they may actually be, what size or shape they are, but can sense that they are there and just waiting to be NOURISHED and allowed the space to form beyond any box. Every foggy idea just needs to be invited in to play for a moment before they reveal their true form and accept nourishment!

Today spend some time playing with the idea of NOURISH and how you can allow your ideas, play types, tools, environments, and play-filled gardens to gain in size as you feed them, bit by bite. What is nourishing to you and is done just for fun? What play types are asking for nourishment? How deeply can play nourish you in these wild times?