Cat Wisdom (and belated Motivation Monday): Play!

One of the most effective and rebellious things you can do is to waste some time.

One thing kittens and kids have in common is that they play. Kitten play can include play-hunting, play-fighting, and climbing, while children can interact with other kids or simply get lost in hours of their imagination with toys and dolls. There’s no doubt that play plays a vital part in our personal and social development (this goes for both us and cats).

Cats grow up and do grown-up cat things, but they still find time to play — sure, for wild and outdoor cats, it’s often with their prey. But the key is that it’s not the most obviously efficient route, and that the cats seem to enjoy it.

I work with a lot of busy people, and I know how absurd it can sound when I tell them they should play more. There’s work to do, kids to take care of, a body to keep in shape, friend to see, and responsibilities to meet. And playing just seems so irresponsible. But I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen someone experiment with playing and come back to me raving about how it improved everything else in their life. A CEO played hooky for an afternoon and watched Netflix on his couch — and felt recharged for the rest of the week. A writer played video games for the first time in years and felt inspired. An executive took up knitting at the office and felt that it grounded her.

Play works because it comes from our intrinsic motivation, which is to say that we do it for ourselves and only ourselves. We don’t get paid for it and we don’t impress other people by doing it. And because we do it only for ourselves, it is the single greatest expression of our freedom. Furthermore, it helps us get back in touch with our inner child, who is the primary source of wonder and curiosity for the vast majority of us.

I invite you to take a few minutes this week or weekend and find some time to play. Cultivate a play practice just as you would a yoga or meditation practice. Play can look like a lot of things, from games and activities to reading or even just daydreaming. Think of it not as an act of indulgence but as an act of rebellion against a world where moments of freedom are hard to come by. My guess is that you’ll find yourself better equipped to deal with all the other stuff after some moments of play.

And I’ll leave you with a short video of the ballet, Play, choreographed by Alexander Ekman. This was such a hit in Paris in 2017 that it’s now being performed for the third season next year. What is more infectiously joyful than seeing people dive into the biggest ball pit you’ve ever seen?