Welcome to the Infinitely Precious podcast produced by Infinitely Precious LLC. Your host is James Henry. Remember, you are infinitely precious and unconditionally loved for the gift you already are.

Hello, beloved. It's good to be with you again to share some thoughts and to invite you to think about some things yourself if you wish. Perhaps to engage in a new practice. Today, I wanted to talk a little bit about play. It's not something we always do very well, particularly in the culture in which I'm from.

I'm from, the west in the US American culture where it seems like we almost brink on the edge of worshiping work. We believe anything less than working all the time, overtime, extra hours here and there, anything less than that is some kind of laziness. And I fear that we miss out on anything that is modeled in, spiritual forms, and it also kind of robs us of the opportunity to truly live life. I was pondering, the 7 day week, which is, you know, we there are variety of reasons why there are 7 days in a week and how we came upon that. It really isn't truly based on there's no science necessarily to it.

It was a construct, but I was pondering it. And, certainly, the, the genesis orderly, story of of how this whole thing began. This creative process, began some time ago. And in it, there are 6 days filled with work and a 7th day in which the divine rested. Now we're not told much else.

We don't know exactly what the divine did on a restful, Sabbath day, but we are later told that it is clear this model is meant for us as well, that we need rest. We need, to step back. We need, if you will, to play some. We need to vacate. To borrow a more, European term, we need to go on holiday.

And I think when you begin to think of your vacation or your break or your playfulness as a holiday, that is holy day, as a sacred space for you to just get to express yourself, to get out of the box that is whatever it is you, do for work in the world, and get out and really enjoy this beautiful life we have been given. As much as sometimes we let work be what defines us, and we let society define us by our titles and our economic status and all those things, Beyond that, it doesn't truly identify who we are. And part of discovering who we are is simply finding pleasure in this life, joy in this life. Taking a holiday could be going camping and appreciating the great outdoors. Making one day a week a playful holiday could be going to a museum or taking a walk in nature or, playing a game with people that you love.

It could be reading for pleasure, some delightful book that draws you in. Because, you know, there's an old, perhaps over, used kind of, adage, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, or Jill a dull girl, or anywhere in the range of gender identity. But the bottom line is that it also it robs us of their the joy of living. I wanna suggest to you that playing is not a bad thing. It's not a negative thing.

It's not a lazy thing. Playing is actually the opportunity to exercise something that you and I share in common in the image of the divine, and that is our creative energy. The the opportunity to just be free, to experience, fresh breath outside, a fresh way of looking, a fresh engagement with the larger world, gives us a new perspective, allows us to see things in a new way. Because when we're doing something for work, oftentimes that work, doesn't allow us to see what we're doing as anything but producing. But what about just the enjoying?

A lot of, a lot of sports movies that I, watch or sports series, for instance, Ted Lasso, periodically, even professional sports players forget the joy that they originally started with in the game and begin to think about that it's their work and that it's their paycheck. And I'm not saying they shouldn't appreciate that it is work and that they get a paycheck for it. But they started playing probably the sport that they played for the joy of it. And you and I began this life with just amazing awe and wonder at the beauty of everything around us. We wanted to taste everything.

Hence, as small children, we often put things in our mouths, things some things we shouldn't put in our mouths. We touch everything. We feel everything. We test our vocal cords. We try different volumes.

We dance. Whether we're any good at it or not, somewhere along the way, someone tells us that we're that we're not good at doing whatever thing it is. And then we stop doing it because someone else has robbed us of the joy that might come in dancing. Whether we're good or bad, it is irrelevant. Life is meant to be enjoyed.

It's a gift. It's a gift to you and to me. And just the pleasure of watching the birds outside for 15 minutes, feeling the breeze on your face, maybe not in the middle of winter when it is 30 degrees outside, but the breeze in your face in the spring or the or the fall, maybe even the summer, to watch the waves roll in, to to play a game with someone you care about, to take a walk, without any destination in mind or without necessarily imagining I have to do this fast because I need 15 more minutes of exercise. What would it look like just to take off and to go somewhere without having any plan about the place you're going to get to? Instead of being focused on the end, the destination, simply to find pleasure in the doing, the being right here, right now.

Even this conversation for me is is is an opportunity for me to celebrate pleasure because I'm sharing with you some thoughts of my own about playing. Every, every Wednesday night, I get to get together with a group of friends, most of Wednesday nights. And I play a game called Dungeons and Dragons. And I play it, actually, a different version, Pathfinder right now, but let's not get into the details. We play.

And I get to pretend to be someone I'm not and just kind of express myself and enjoy myself and be press you know, just present, you know, banter with folks, try on different personas, and have fun, and feel the release of that. Earlier, I was talking to my parents. And, at 96 and 91, or 96 and 90, sorry. Not trying to advance anyone's age. They talked about yesterday how they had a fun time going to the grocery store, and then ordering a pizza, and just enjoying the pizza when it came at the at the house.

And, you know, that it was a fun day for them. In fact, they used the word a fun day, a playful day. I'm hoping for you that you have playful days. I'm hoping that you have something that you do just for the fun of it. That you can laugh or dance or sing, whether or not anyone else thinks you can carry a tune, just to enjoy yourself.

This life is itself a beautiful pleasure and gift given to us. And even the divine is said to have relaxed on at least one of the 7 days a week. Can you find a holy day for yourself, a holiday? And maybe not just, one day, but a few days or a week or several where you experience the holiness of play. Remember the joy of your childhood, the dancing in the plane, the joy of watching animals frolic about for no particularly good reason.

Everything in life doesn't have to have a good reason. It can simply be fun. Have you had very much fun recently? Just worth considering. I encourage you to think about it.

And beyond thinking about it, to find something fun to do, to give yourself permission to play sometimes, and to really, enjoy this life that has been given to you. This one wonderful life that is yours, to to live. So live it as fully as you can. Remember, however you receive what I say, that you are indeed infinitely precious and unconditionally loved for the gift you already are. Until the next time.