Well you can. Actually most times it’ll work for you. Other times it will work as well as gunning your engine when you’re parked on a patch of ice; wheels are furiously spinning but you’re not going anywhere. We eschew being playful because we need to deal with all the problems and unpleasantness in our lives. Being serious is our way of “taking care of business”. We’ve all have had years of practice learning how to deal with life. “We’ve got this”
Except when the universe throws us a curve ball. Then we’re stuck just like that car; spinning our wheels. It’s something outside our experience. The tools in our box work just as well using a saw to drive in a screw. We need something different, something new, a way to free ourselves from our normal frame of reference.
This is where a playful personality comes in handy. A serious frame of mind is actually antithetical to being open to new ways of doing things; it’s a fixed perspective. It’s that box that everyone is trying to tell us to draw outside of.
Being playful is about being loose and flexible. It develops an ability to improvise, to be present and relaxed. To me playfulness engenders an openness towards, and confidence in what’s to come.
Doesn’t that sound like a good frame of mind from which to steer yourself towards your goals? 😊
The Playful Life 