I have always been interested in play for adults.

I recently looked at an article by Dr Stuart Brown who has written about the seven properties of play.

I wonder, by analysing play and categorising the properties is it taking the fun of it? Brown said that explaining what play is like explaining a joke, the more you explain the less funny it is.

So, for this discussion I will pick three of the properties and talk about them but feel free to pick any of the other four to comment on.

Dr Stuart Brown on the 7 Properties of Play

• Purposelessness.
• Voluntary Nature.
• Inherent Attraction.
• Freedom From Time.
• Diminished Self-consciousness.
• Improvisational Potential.
• Continuation of Desire.

Purposeless

Play has no purpose. When there is no child around, there is no purpose in play. People don't have to play to live. I think doing something for the sheer joy is a wonderful freedom. I like to walk in piles of leaves and crunch them, just because it makes me smile.

Freedom from time

That is the fun of good play. It takes away our awareness of time and makes us live in the moment. 

Diminished consciousness of self

While we play, we stop focusing on the fact that we are thinking. Hence, we stop caring about what we look like when we play. We are not thinking about ourselves at all.

I am interested in whether you find play helpful in your life and if so, how?

Do you think this analysis complicates a simple thing?

Is play something that children do or you do with children but not for adults? Why or why not?

Leah 

A Moodscope member