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| Quinn's art journaling entry ( age 3) |
Anytime you want to be reminded of absolute freedom,
just invite a small child over. It is remarkable how playful and unconcerned
with the logic of time they are.
Lately, I have been trying to tap into my
granddaughter Quinn’s sense of time and her obsession with play. Prior to this,
I found myself getting frustrated with her inability to focus on one thing for
more than 5 minutes. I would ask her if she wanted to draw, and then 5 minutes
after I got out all the materials she would want to do something else. Instead
of me, the know it all adult, managing her time or directing her day; I began
simply following her lead and directive. There’s a whole lot of wisdom in her
time management and her expression of play. For her, play is serious business.
When allowed to flow in and out of what interests her -- and this seems to
change often -- she is learning invaluable lessons about herself and the worlds
she inhabits.
When taking this wisdom into my own
experience (sans child) I find that by moving through the day with a sense of
playfulness and allowing my day to unfold based on what is truly interesting to
me- ideas come more freely -- a sense of discovery comes from following your
own intuition about what is needed in any daily task. Once I started following
an inner directive, I learned that I do my best “work” when I allow myself
relief time, break it up time, for me that usually means focusing on one thing
for around 30 minutes to an hour then getting up to do something opposite of that
activity. I find that when I go back to the previous task I have more clarity
and a fresh look at it. Now, to some linear thinking folks, that looks like
chaos, or procrastination, or undisciplined. But, it is how my body, mind,&
spirit likes to roll. Truth is, I get just as much done as the next person. The
key is to find your own rhythm, syntax, and play-work balance and trust it.
The rest is child’s play.
