Living Life in the “Spirit of Play”

When I first started my Life Coaching training at the Center for Coaching Mastery at CoachVille, they talked about one of their core values of “Living life in the Spirit of Play”.  At first, this talk of play left me feeling a little unsure. When I heard someone mention it, I would think “playing sounds frivolous”.  After all, I was training to be a serious coach.

When I began telling my friends and family about what I wanted to do as a life coach, I would tell them ‘how cool it would be if we could live life in the “spirit of play”. This seemed to make them pause – they would frown and shift uncomfortably and say – “not everything in life can be is about play.  You don’t play with hard things, you need to take them seriously. I suggest you find a new way of talking about what you are doing.” With that feedback, I became even more unsure about what to do with this “play talk”.

As I continued my training, something began to shift for me. As class members began to talk about their experiences with the “spirit of play”, I began to feel the energy behind the concept. It sounded good… It sounded great!  But… I was still stymied by how to explain the “spirit of play” to others.  It wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago that the light bulb went off for me. I offered to help assist on a call with individuals interested in coming to CoachVille as students.  One of the prospective students raised the question – “what does the spirit of play mean?”  Amanda, one of CoachVille’s current students, jumped in and gave the most understandable, inspiring explanation I had heard yet. She said,

Living life in the “spirit of play” take us back to our childhood, to a time
where we were curious, open and willing to try new things.

And then… it started clicking for me…

It means being curious and open to explore.

It means trying new and different things with gusto.

It means living life from a judgment-free space.

It means dreaming big dreams.

It means living in the present, not in the past or in the future but in the current moment

It means wringing every drop of happiness out of each experience

It means taking risks and living life to the fullest.

How amazingly wonderful!

What would you do if you were bold enough to live life in the “spirit of play”?