When was the last time you truly played? As adults, we often get so wrapped up in responsibilities that playfulness falls by the wayside. But restoring childlike fun and lightheartedness is essential for happiness, creativity, connection, and reducing stress. Play nourishes our spirit and reminds us not to take life so seriously.

In this post, I’ll explore the benefits of play, signs you need more of it, and tips to inject more fun and laughter into your days. Join me in remembering your inner child – the world needs your unique brand of joy!

Why Playfulness Matters

Play may seem frivolous, but it offers profound cognitive, emotional, and social benefits:

• Relieves stress – Laughing and having fun releases endorphins that counteract the effects of cortisol and worry. This protects your health and immune system.
• Sparks creativity – Unstructured play allows free association and opens new neural pathways that enhance imagination and problem-solving.
• Enhances relationships – Shared humor and playfulness strengthen bonds, compatibility, intimacy, trust, and communication between partners, coworkers, families, and friends.
• Improves brain function – Play stimulates norepinephrine production which sharpens focus and boosts memory, learning, and cognitive flexibility. It makes work and study more effective.
• Provides joy – Play’s inherent pleasure, silliness, and laughter are simply fun. Pure joy itself needs no purpose other than lifting your spirits.

As adults, we mistakenly see play as disappearing once we “grow up.” But humans have an innate need for play across our entire lifespan. Make adding more fun and humor a priority for your mental and relational health.

Signs You Need More Playfulness

How can you tell if you’re too serious and play-deprived? Ask yourself:

• Are you often stressed, irritable, or quick to anger?
• Do you feel bored, depressed, or that life lacks meaning?
• Are you too rigid about rules and procedures?
• Do you struggle to come up with new ideas?
• Do relationships, hobbies, or work feel stale?
• Is your laughter rare and your default mode serious?
• Do you constantly feel rushed through obligations?
• Have you lost touch with your younger, freer self?

If you feel weighed down by responsibilities, disconnected from your childlike spirit, or struggle to recall your last belly laugh, you need a playfulness boost! Re-discovering lightheartedness will rejuvenate all areas of your life.

Tips to Inject More Play into Your Days

1. Schedule playtime – Make fun and laughter a priority by setting aside regular time devoted just to play. Protect that time rigorously like other obligations. Start small – even 10-15 minutes makes a difference.
2. Engage your playful side at work – Find appropriate ways to incorporate playfulness among colleagues through humor, games, decorating shared spaces, and embracing creativity. This breaks up stressful routines.
3. Adopt a pet – Pets keep us playful through silly antics. Sharing your home with an animal companion provides daily moments of mirth.
4. Learn through play – Replace boring workouts with fun active hobbies like dance classes. Study or reinforce skills through games, puzzles, and friendly competition.
5. Seek out playmates – Surround yourself with people who share your playful perspective on life. Their energy will rub off on you.
6. Welcome silliness – Give yourself permission to be silly and foolish without harsh self-judgment. Sing in the shower, dance like nobody’s watching, and tell bad jokes.
7. Turn tasks into games – Challenge yourself to make boring chores more fun, like racing to put away laundry or setting a timer to wash dishes faster.
8. Laugh at yourself – When you make mistakes or seem “unprofessional,” shrug it off with self-deprecating humor rather than getting upset. We all goof sometimes.
9. Surround yourself with reminders to take life lightly – Post silly cartoons, lighthearted quotes, or photos from childhood. Keep playful props around like bubbles, sidewalk chalk, hula hoops, and costumes.

Bringing more lightness of spirit to your days is simple when you prioritize it. Remember, play is not frivolous – it’s an essential nutrient for your well-being. Access your inner child!

Establishing a Playful Mindset

More than specific activities, cultivating a playful mindset allows you to find humor, fun, and joy in all kinds of ordinary moments. Try adopting these attitudes:

• Give yourself permission to play – Banish inner critics or beliefs that play is only for kids or that you must always be serious. Embrace fun!
• Stay present – Fully engage your senses in whatever you’re doing to appreciate small pleasures. Feel aliveness in your body. Bring an attitude of curiosity.
• Focus on enjoyment, not achievement – Relax the need to accomplish goals during play. Just revel in the process. Play is the goal.
• Don’t harshly judge yourself or others – Mistakes will happen. Laugh them off instead of getting angry. People enjoy playing more when they feel psychologically safe being imperfect.
• Take healthy risks – Play often involves uncertainty, discovery, and testing boundaries. Leap enthusiastically into the unknown! Then pick yourself back up if you stumble.
• Improvise – Make up songs, and invent new rules for games as you go. Allow spontaneity instead of rigidly planning play.
• Connect play to values – Remind yourself regularly that play brings you joy, strengthens relationships, and relieves stress. Align it with your goals.

Choose to define yourself as someone with a playful spirit – then look for opportunities to express it. Your inner child awaits!

The Surprising Benefits of Laughter

As part of a playful life, make laughter a priority. Even simulated, deliberate laughter has proven mental and physical benefits:

• Releases mood-boosting hormones like dopamine and endorphins
• Activates circulation and digestion
• Improves lung capacity and oxygenation
• Strengthens immune response
• Soothes tension from stress
• Helps maintain a positive mindset during hardship

Laughter also reduces pain, improves mood for those with depression, helps couples bond, and enhances workplace engagement and creativity. Our bodies and brains can’t distinguish between fake and real laughter – we benefit either way.

So laugh freely and frequently. Tell jokes, watch funny videos, learn to giggle at your own foibles, and surround yourself with humorous people. Find the comedy in life. Let go and let your belly laughs uplift your spirit!

Key Takeaways on Bringing Out Your Playful Side

• Make time for play a priority – schedule unstructured fun and laughter daily.
• Cultivate a lighthearted mindset that embraces humor, curiosity, and imperfection.
• Incorporate appropriate playfulness at work and in relationships.
• Play relieves stress, spurs creativity, strengthens bonds, and simply provides joy.
• Laughter offers positive effects on both mental and physical well-being.
• Give yourself permission to be silly, laugh at yourself, and take healthy risks.
• Reconnect with your inner child – playfulness has benefits across your lifespan.

In Summary

As adults, we all too easily leave play and laughter behind, thinking they’re only for kids or that we must always be serious. But renewing your playful spirit is essential for health, happiness, connection, and innovation.

Make play a priority, infuse humor into your days, give yourself permission to be foolish, and laugh often and heartily. Play is not a luxury – it’s nourishment for your soul. Reclaim this precious source of joy today!