Playtime!

Santa! Wait for me!

This weekend I attended a fabulous writing workshop at Grub St, a huge center for creative writing, in Boston. The topic was a focused look at the role of narrative in memoir. I’m working on a large project, and I needed some literary know-how, and boy I got tons of great information that will shape my work from a mass of wordy words into a relatively cohesive piece. One little thing was lacking, though, and I just couldn’t put my finger on my unease throughout the day. I let the tickling annoyance play around in my brain, and fully focused on the six hour workshop. During the commute home aha! We were missing play! The whole class was very serious, intense, intellectual and full of opinions, ideas and constructs, all made more important by the closeness we all feel to our characters and text. But there was little laughter, levity, or sense of playful exploration of ideas that is vital to creative endurance.

Laughter lets in light

Laughter lets in space to breath

Laughter helps us remember that what is seems serious is hardly serious at all

Laughter reminds us that life is play

Laughter connects us to each other and to a greater truth

Are you taking everything so very seriously right now? Does it seem like the pursuit of a candy cane perfectChristmas is maddening? 

Here are ways to let laughter in your life:

Watch bits of old sitcoms on Netflix or Hulu. I find that sometimes just 10 minutes of a favorite show helps kick off the laughter and brings light to my day.

Observe kids at play-children should be our role models on this front!

Snuggle a pet

Once I saw a friend put up a Facebook request for jokes-her friends flooded her comments section!

If you need a little help, watching a cat in a shark costume riding a Roomba might help…just sayin’

Or reading silly student answers might tickle your funny bone!

All love and laughter,
Gita