Today, we kick off the series on PLAYFULNESS, a quality that can help us to elevate not only joy and connection, but also learning.

Stanford Prof. Andrew Huberman, explains in his podcast episode “Using play to rewire & improve your brain” that: 

• Play is THE portal to neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to change in response to the environment. 
• Play has the power to change our nervous system for the better. 
• This change helps us perform many activities better, not just play activities.

How?

Play connects different brain areas and creates a chemical state that allows us to explore and test possibilities under safe conditions. 

This exploration state leads to meaningful learning. For example, we learn how we interact with our environment, with others, and in the roles that we took upon ourselves (leader or follower, creator or helper, etc.). 

In that exploration, we also learn to figure out new possibilities and make predictions about what is going to happen next. 

As a result, the prefrontal cortex, the area responsible for executive functions like learning and concentration, gets smarter and more malleable. 

Because play allows us to engage in creative and dynamic thinking, it helps us to become better leaders, more effective learners, and happier people. ✨

I’m beyond excited to explore together how play can help us do better as parents and I hope you are too 🙂

Let’s start with clarifying how we think about play and developing awareness of our playful mindset.

Becomers’ weekly challenge – Explore Playfulness

Reflect:

• How do you define play? 
• How does your playfulness come to life in your day-to-day?
• Think about childhood memories of play. What memories come to mind? 

Play:

Imagine you enter an art studio and the teacher told you “today, you need to create something ugly. Choose any materials you want, any medium, just make it ugly.” 

• Make time this weekend to create something ugly with materials you collect or have in your house.
• If you feel uncomfortable, consider doing so with the understanding that it’s increasing your prefrontal cortex plasticity 🧠
• Tip: if you plan to do this activity while your kids are around, just share that you are creating art. Avoid mentioning the word ugly. 
   

We will unpack the definition of play, play mindset, and how it’s all related to parenting in the next newsletter editions (sign up below).   

Stay tuned and keep playing, 🤩
Liz

Become the change 🙌

Join the Becomers community around the world to receive new editions of the newsletter, sent to you every Thursday. Sign up here 👉  JOIN