All Work & No Play?
All work and no play? Uh oh, you know what that means. Your name is Jack and your body and behaviorstart to flatline. Perhaps you have heard of the commonly referenced proverb: all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy or even considered the flip side of this statement: All play and no work makes Jack a poor boy. What if we balanced these statements out: Some playfulness while working makes Jack a balanced boy with access to more productivity and contentment in life?
Did you know the 90% of your biological energy is oxygen fueled? 70% of toxins are dumped out with each exhale? Did you know when you play you breathe deeper?
How does knowing this information shift the power you give to a deep breath? Do more of it.
Is one of your core values to incorporate fun and playfulness into your daily life at work and at home? If not I encourage you to add it to your screen saver. When we play we are more prone to breathe deeply.
Studies continue to reveal that work environments that weave in play opportunities, like ping pong tables, foosball and other games for employees to embrace mind breaks and simply do an activity for the fun of it boosts productivity and job satisfaction.
This positivity flows into the home life as well creating the infrastructure for overall well-being, life balance and external positive connection. Playing releases endorphins and serotonin which boost your sense of well-being and fuel productivity. Yet we think we don’t have time to play anymore which is so sad because it’s the very thing that will jump start our get up and go attitude.
In order to fully access the part of our brains responsible for executive thinking we have to be surrounded by a sense of safety and positive connection.
Executive thinking fuels our ability to make life balance choices that support healthy self-care systems. The more you play in life the easier it becomes to tune into playful opportunities.
Playfulness clears out mental muck that keeps us stuck in life and reconnects us to that place inside of all of us that still ranks recess as our favorite subject in earth school.
Don’t allow the fact that your office falls short of a Google environment, make suggestions for more play opportunities and then create your light and fun moments…we used to do this all the time when we were young, we simply forget we still have the ability to create our own playgrounds each day.
Take Action:
Pause for a moment, Breathe in deeply and release any tension in your body
Your positive action step forward in the next 24-hours is to simply explore expanding your ability to have more fun in your day today than you did yesterday. At the end of today take 3-5 minutes and reflect on the moments you flipped into a lighter perspective and wove in playfulness. Also reflect on those moments that you could have had more fun but missed the boat becausethe all work and no play Jackwas at the helm.
Explore audio programs that relax the mind and the body will follow.
