playful1

Play with Others – Try this # 1

November 9th, 2010 | Author: Dennis Kern

Playing with others

Creative work is play. It is free speculation using materials of one’s chosen form.
- Stephen Nachmanovitch

Now you can begin to practice the paths to your playful self in your own social circle by playing with yes…and… in your daily life. Below are some fun and simple experiments you can practice to experience the effect of yes…and… in your perception of the world around you.

Yes…and…
Watching Yourself

You are about to make a discovery. You may think of yourself as a glass-half-full sort of person, and that you react positively in most situations of your life. Now is your chance to put your reactions to a test. Try this little experiment.

Experiment # 1
Watching Yourself Listening

Go over to the radio or TV and switch it on and listen to a news report. As you listen, watch yourself to discover what you are thinking in reaction to the words you hear. Do you find that you take immediate exception to much of what you hear?
After doing this for five or ten minutes, try to evaluate your reactions as positive or negative by percentage. Where they: 50% negative 50% positive? Make your own evaluation.
Now repeat the process, but this time try saying “yes” aloud to everything you hear.
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You are not being encouraged to become some dish rag conformist. You are experimenting with watching yourself listen. As you become attentive to your habitual thought process, you can access the difference in the way you feel by agreeing when holding the intention of yes….

As you watched yourself listening, you became aware of all the immediate, split second, judgments and attitudes that arose. Of course this is normal. We all do this. The big difference is, as you are doing it now, you are actively watching, whereas ordinarily the judgments creep in beneath the surface without the slightest notice.

If you heard a news report regarding a car accident, you most likely formed opinions about the circumstances. You began to react and make judgments as the story unfolded the facts: who was going to fast, the way people drive, etc. You probably made most of these judgments before all the details were known. If our thoughts are continually occupied with judgments and evaluations beneath the surface, are we really hearing all the information being offered? When you disrupt the message with analysis and judgment as the message is unfolding isn’t it clear that you are not hearing the whole message?

As you hold the intention of yes… and… when you do the experiment, you are opening yourself to the full communication before allowing the snippets of judgment and analysis to creep in. You are hearing the details of the whole story without the message being clouded by impulsive habitual judgments.

When you held the intention of agreeing with what you heard , did you tend to listen more fully? Did you feel less strain and heaviness?

Try practicing this little experiment from time to time to notice the difference in how you feel when holding and saying the intention of yes…and…. If you really want to challenge yourself, tune into an interview of someone whose political stance, or view point you strongly oppose.

Most Important Enjoy Yourself!

Meet Your Playful Self