Tag Archives: Play in the Everyday

Creativity, Life Lessons, Memoir, Memoir Project, Personal Development, The Art of Playing in the Everyday, Writing

Our Playful Impulse is to Create

Leave a comment

When inspiration wakes me and the impulse to create is present its best for me to ‘get on with it’ and move into the playful impulse to create.

My usual practice when I wake up in the middle of the night and remember a dream is to write it down in my journal. When I go back to sleep without recording my dream I often lose the threads of my dream story and landscape and as a result I am unable to play with my dream gift later on during my waking hours.

Over the years I have created play lists of what I want to try on in my life and have written hundreds and hundreds of pages long-hand in my journals. These journals fill my bookshelves and drawers. My computer’s backup drive has many files stored there with writing and projects that I have yet to share.

Do you come up with creative ideas that don’t see the light of day? or How do you take action so that your creative ideas can be shared with others?

Play is the portal to creativity. When we honor our playful impulse to create we are honoring our playful, creative Self.

Listen to The Art of Playing in the Everyday Part 7: Our Playful Impulse to Create:

Want to learn more or work with me as a mentor and creative coach? I’d love to talk with you!

Sign-up for ‘Play Notes‘, our bi-weekly newsletter and receive a free downloadable copy of  ‘The Art of Playing in the Everyday’ e-book.

Please leave a comment following this post/podcast or post a comment on the Play=Peace Facebook page.

Healing, Life Lessons, Life Transitions, Personal Development, Play and Create, The Art of Playing in the Everyday

Even in Difficult Times There is Joy

2 Comments

Everyone of us experiences life challenges and difficulties, big and small. You might feel irritable or tearful as I do at the moment. Whatever the challenge, choosing to bring a playful attitude and some playful tools into the mix can make a huge difference in the quality of life and help you to move forward and continue to embrace what is important in your life.

Today, I am choosing to write, meditate, utilize what I know about the merits of play breaks and movement to help me stay in the flow as I work on some important projects and writing in my play-based, depth-oriented work.

What are the daily challenges that you face in our life?

Are you currently in the midst of a huge challenge in your life (divorce, death in the family, moving to a new home, graduation, birth or adoption of a new family member, …)?

What are some of the ways that you might play in the everyday with your challenges?

If you need help, please let me know. (see how to contact me below).

 

Want to learn more or work with me as a mentor and creative coach? I’d love to talk with you!

Sign-up for ‘Play Notes‘, our bi-weekly newsletter and receive a free downloadable copy of  ‘The Art of Playing in the Everyday’ e-book.

Please leave a comment following this post/podcast or post a comment on the Play=Peace Facebook page.

 

podcast, The Art of Playing in the Everyday, Writing

A NEW SERIES: The Art of Playing in the Everyday & Writing

Leave a comment

I am starting a new ‘The Art of Playing in the Everyday’ series today. My goal is to help you understand what is meant by ‘the art of playing in the everyday’ and what benefits you will gain by immersing yourself in the practice of playing in the everyday in our own life.

I would love to hear from you! Please leave a comment following this post, contribute a post on the Play-Peace Facebook page, write me at maryalice@playequalspeace.com or call/text me at 206/200-4542

My first podcast is on The Art of Playing in the Everyday & Writing:

Listen to Play=Peace Podcasts:

Want to learn more? Sign-up for ‘Play Notes‘, our bi-weekly newsletter and receive a free downloadable copy of  ‘The Art of Playing in the Everyday’ e-book

Mary Alice Long, PhD is a play-based, depth-oriented mentor, creative coach, and writer. Call me to find out more about how you can work/with me! You can phone me/text at 206/200-4542

Memoir Project, Play in the Everyday, Writing

Play On. Hearts Beat. There is Life. Write from the Heart.

Leave a comment

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~William Wordsworth

Write from the Heart

Inspired by Melodie Ramone’s writing:

Open up. Don’t listen to other people’s opinions. Write in your unique voice. Write standing up. Write when you are sad, depressed, and couldn’t care less. Write when you are feel joyful, hopeful, and willing. Write on torn off pieces of your journal, on paper napkins stained with coffee, in the books you read. Paint on rocks and share them with others. Write and read your writing out loud to yourself, to your best friend, to your dog, to Tree in your backyard. Write down your dreams and listen. Write down what your dreams are telling you and then change your dream by writing some more. Put on costumes and march to a different drummer. Share your writing. Don’t be afraid. It’s all good. Listen to music and write. Dance and write. Take a walk in the woods and sit down on a log and write. Get down on your knees in the sand and write. Write with your children and grandchildren. Write as you are not who others think you should be. Write fearlessly. Write courageously and often. Write because you must. Write it all down and then say some more. Write as if you are writing a letter to your best friend. Write and don’t hold back anything. Write and pulsate as you tap on the words on the computer. Write rhythmically and when you feel like it push the river. Write as if you aren’t afraid of a broken heart. Write with as much of your life force as you can muster. Write as the BEAUTIFULLY BROKEN WIDE OPEN PERSON YOU ARE. ~So Much Love, Mary Alice

WANT A WAY TO ADD 21-DAY ‘START WRITING YOUR MEMOIR’  IMAGES AND PROMPTS TO YOUR JOURNAL WITH EASE?
   $12  Buy Now

I also offer one-on-one mentoring & creative coaching:

WORK/WITH ME—LEARN ‘the ART OF PLAYING IN THE EVERYDAY’

Find out about our MEMOIR PROJECT

Memoir Project, The Art of Playing in the Everyday

Be There: Love It Enough

Leave a comment

 

Focus on the ‘out breath’ while pushing gently and birthing your in-born gifts. ~ inspired by Karen McMillan’s Stillness Meditation

Beginnings happen again and again. We see beginnings in nature. In our waking lives. In our night dreams. In our experiences and the stories that we share.

I gave birth to my surrogate son, Bobby, 30 years ago in March. I haven’t heard a word from his adoptive mom or dad in those 30 years. Until now. This year, his birth year, he’s gently pushing me toward a re-union with him and with my Self.

He called me about a week ago and we talked for a couple of hours on the phone. After our conversation I realize there are so many opportunities for new beginnings. So many opportunities for healing and writing new stories.

  • I am at the start of….
  • I am writing a new story and…
  • I see so many opportunities to create and…
  • I notice that….

Breathe in and breathe out gently. Its snowing here and I’m reminded that,

Snow is a blank slate.

Stillness is not only a stopping or slowing down. Stillness happens as we move through our day if we are open to its quality and beauty.

As you play and create, as you write, and as you move ahead through your day and into evening remain open to love and new beginnings.

When she was there, she did not love it enough. ~inspired by Monday morning story

WANT A WAY TO ADD 21-DAY ‘START WRITING YOUR MEMOIR’  IMAGES AND PROMPTS TO YOUR JOURNAL WITH EASE?

PURCHASE A COPY OF THE ‘START YOUR MEMOIR E-BOOK’   $12  Buy Now

WORK/WITH ME—LEARN ‘the ART OF PLAYING IN THE EVERYDAY’

Art-Making, Play and Create, Play in the Everyday

Saying YES to my KID + Ready to GO!

Leave a comment

Slow Down, Kids at Play–

that’s YOU and ME!

Lets say YES to our KID and Play on…FullSizeRender

Bailey’s Cold: Came home from my week with three of my grandchildren blessed with Bailey’s cold. Body Time. Stopping and Listening…

Labyrinth

On Labyrinth Day I walked my playful journey at Pam’s Labyrinth in Sequim. I noticed that I had the impulse to leave my path again and again. I heard a voice say, If you leave the path you won’t complete your journey. Aha! BIG STUFF!

I returned to where I began my walk focused on fully moving in the Experience and Completion.

Going Analog: I’m playing with slowly weaning myself of what no longer serves me. I’m not going to throw out as much as re-arrange, put aside, and shape what has importance & meaning…

Parents often tell me they have a hard time playing…These parents inspire me to keep sharing the importance of play to help parents, grandparents, and their children create lives that are heart-based and en-JOY-able.

What are or could be your playful inspirations today?

[contact-form][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Comment’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][/contact-form]

Play and Create, Play in the Everyday, vulnerability

Saying No, Means Saying YES!

1 Comment

Saying no to one opportunity

brings open space and creativity.

Saying no to some one else’s want

brings flexibility and self-respect.

Image

Saying no to fear

brings en-couragement, openness

vulnerability.

Saying no to judgment and criticism

brings playfulness and receptivity.

Saying YES to my Swing! Nature

Playing in the Everyday with some New Things and Growing what I’ve already started:

  • Global Play & Local Collaborations
  • Contra Dance, Learning to Play the Fiddle
  • Musical Inspiration with Army Jazz Band, Janiva Magness, Juan de Fuca Foundation for the Arts, PoetryMusic
  • Playing with my Grandchildren at the Beach & Pool, always a De-Light!
  • Creativity Calls, New Creative Adventures
  • Spending time with Friends
  • Producing–Arranging a Special Showing of Michael’s Watercolors
  • Bird Watching
  • Facilitating Full Moon Earth Day Ritual with our Drumming Circle
  • Soul Motion
  • North Olympic Land Trust Crew
  • Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge Volunteering
  • Hiking and Nature Photography
  • Drawing & Painting
  • Writing with a Partner, Singing, and Recording Children’s Songs
  • Singing out of Key
  • Swing!

Are you saying NO, so you can say YES?

I’d love to hear about it ALL! Comment or write to me, share your story! (its been proven beyond a doubt that when you SHARE your story you GAIN BEYOND MEASURE!)

[contact-form][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Comment’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][/contact-form]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Archival Memoir Project, Play and Create, Play in the Everyday

Moving Slowly To See What’s At Stake

Leave a comment

If we could allow the pace of our meetings to slow down to the pace of our hearts, we might find genuine understanding.”
― Marion Woodman, Coming Home to Myself: Reflections for Nurturing a Woman’s Body and Soul

twitter_ac7161ce6b

I was moving fast dropping stakes by the newly planted trees. Suddenly I realized that if I were to slow down I would see better and avoid missing some of the newly planted trees that needed protection.

FullSizeRender

I’m shaping my life with greater ease. Putting things in place. Gaining more with less work.

When I go back to re-trace my steps,

I find paths that wander in many different directions.

No matter what path I’ve taken

I walked that path one playful-step-at-a-time.

Re-Solution

What steps do I need to take to complete and publish my written memoir?

I’m moving slowly knowing that there is a lot at stake. To complete the manuscript and send off a version of my story to be published…

I’m exploring the package I am holding onto so tightly…

I’m re-defining what Completion means…

Comple-ment seems softer to me. about Relationship…

a companion or a thing that completes

I know the beginning and middle

the in-between and betwixt is easier for me.

How about you? How do you respond to COMPLETION?

[contact-form][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Comment’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][/contact-form]

 

Art-Making, Music, Play and Create, Play in the Everyday

The Child Within My Heart: I Did It!

Leave a comment

Can the child within my heart rise above and feel at home with herself?

It took a while for me to rise to the occasion. I sent an email to a musician who I have collaborated with during ‘archival memoir project‘ performances and recordings.

Ken, would you like to explore a possible collaboration?

I did it! [I love when kids say that!]

I reached out, asked for help, and it turns out Ken is enthusiastic about the idea as well…he’s in!

Joy!

We are now planning to record songs  that I have been creating while taking my daily walks and playing in my studio. I’ve recorded some of the melodies and lyrics on a small tape recorder. Other lyrics are saved as notes in my journals. There are many more melodies and lyrics that keep popping out. Plus+ I would like to add bits of where I play on keyboard, guitar, and fiddle *as I learn. Ken is versed as a string and keyboard musician and plays with a number of improvisational groups. I can’t wait to see what the combination of Ken’s musicality + Mary Alice’s playing will sound like!

As Ken and I talked by phone a recognition came over me that he understands that my collection of melodies and lyrics [both recorded on tape and stored in my body] are additional chapters of the postpartum of my story and will be included in my ongoing archival memoir project.

Sounding Bowls

A place that is natural

Last night I was playing with sounding bowls at our local healer’s circle gathering. The throat chakra bowl seemed to play even more vibrantly when I sang. As I chanted and sang a word came to me

authentic

The last sounding bowl I played was the solar plexus bowl. It sounded a bit off to me and I really didn’t want to play it. What I resist, insists…

so I started to play and realized that this bowl represents my Shadow and my resistance. It’s the bowl I need to play first before I play the throat chakra bowl or the root bowl…both of these bowls sang for and with me.

Similarly, I’m moving past my resistance to sharing the melodies and words that I have stored for so long. Moving ahead and sharing my stories with others. Stepping up and giving it up!

singing, writing, painting, fiddling around….

I’d love to hear what you have stored away in your drawers, computer files, cupboards. What do you resist sharing?

[contact-form][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Comment’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][/contact-form]

 

 

Nature Play, Play and Create, Play in the Everyday

Playing with Our Natural Habits

Leave a comment

Up in the air and over the top of the tree til I can see so far. ~Mary Alice, age 5

Play in the Everyday: Natural Habits

Each day I take a nature walk. Going back to the same place again and again may seem boring to some. For me, it is a reflective practice that helps me deepen my relationship with the natural world and the place I call home.

Daily Nature Walks

There is nothing usual about my daily walks. I walk for miles some days. Other days I walk with Lila, now almost 10-months-old and we stop to sniff and take in the smells all around us.

Right now there is a great deal of pollen in the air. Living in the Northwest we have a good bit of rain or we have overcast skies so musty and damp are common smells to whiff.

I frequently see quail and deer and a variety or roaming dogs and cats. Lila is always eager to play with all of the friends she sees on our walks together whether four-legged, winged, or two-legged but they are not always so eager to play with her!

When I look up and out I see mountains and water just about at every turn. What I see changes quickly. There is nothing static about our relationship. Mountain, Water, Tree, Four-Legged, Winged Ones, and many others along the way converse with me and I listen. I don’t always hear or I don’t know their language–I am always eager to hear what they have to say. I know very little in comparison to what Nature knows and can share with me at every turn.

Its Really Good For Me

There are days when I am involved with writing or have something else to do–

once I am out the door

there is no going back, movement takes over and I’m totally in! realizing just how much I en-joy each and every moment of my walks. I’m re-energized when I return to my writing or whatever I was involved in before leaving home. AND I haven’t missed out on all the wonder and awe I experience as I walk–create deepening, soulful relationships with place and the natural world.

Sometimes I see evidence of broken relationships with nature. Trees cut down, garbage haphazardly thrown on the side of the road and scattered in fields. Animals mistreated. When I witness brokenness of this sort I remember,

Since we are inclined to care and protect who and what we love, ‘falling in love’ with the natural world…is a key ingredient for creating a peaceful, healthy and just world…it’s critical to find those places that stir our awe and wonder. ~Zoe Weil, Institute for Humane Education President

Playing Outdoors is a Priority

It is now my playful habit to walk daily. Often I take my camera along. Being the photographer places me in the position of witness and recorder. 

Sometimes I take a small notebook with me or carry along a portable watercolor kit so I can paint. You might see me recording some of my thoughts as an audio file or creating a small video to share. Talking with another walker or stopping to share a treat with one of the dogs or horses along the way.

Some ‘play notes’ from my journal:

I don’t feel as safe here as I use to

I’m out of breath. Can I outlast them? Outrun them?

Oh, I can move past that obstacle easily

I’m all for greater play-diversity in my habit-[at].

Want to create some new playful habits of your own?

THE PLAYFUL JOURNEY RETREAT is a half-day gathering that can be accessed by phone from wherever you are.The Playful…

Posted by Play=Peace on Tuesday, March 8, 2016