When it comes to happiness, says Elisha Goldstein, there’s a simple but important tool we often forget: play.
For years now, I have been studying what helps create more resilience and happiness within us. I looked at my own life, the lives of my clients and students, and psychological and neuroscience research. What I found is that within each of us is a core set of natural antidepressants. When we intentionally tap into these resources, it changes our brain activity in ways that can help shape an anti-depressant brain. One of the natural antidepressants that I have found helpful Break a bad mood Creating positive neural activity is play!
in Uncovering Happiness: Overcoming Depression with Mindfulness and Self-Compassion I describe play as “a flexible state of mind in which you currently engage in some freely chosen, potentially aimless activity that you find interesting, enjoyable, and satisfying.”
Here’s a great video showing the adults playing and the results. Take a look and see what you notice.
When adults were placed in an enriching environment where cues elicited play, they became more engaged and open, and most seemed to really enjoy themselves.
Search from Marion Diamond from the University of California at Berkeley found that mice that had an environment richer in toys and playmates showed growth in the cerebral cortex. This is the part of the brain that is involved in cognitive processing and these mice actually ran the mazes faster than others that had less enriched environments. This type of research has been repeated over and over again with similar results. (Note: Rats who had a draining environment devoid of toys and playmates showed a reduction in the thickness of their cerebral cortex.)
The truth is that engaging play reduces stress, enhances creativity, productivity, and openness, and revitalizes our sense of vitality. It’s literally a natural antidepressant.
The question for us is how can we create more enriching environments?
One answer lies in understanding how our brain responds to signals. Most of the time, our brain makes decisions automatically under our awareness, and cues in our environment influence those decisions. If we are often alone and there is a shortage or shortage of nurturing things and people in our environment, this is likely to lead to depression and anxiety. On the other hand, if our environments are more attractive and we have access to more playmates, this creates more flexibility. So we need to consider: Do the environments we currently live in, at home and at work, trigger play signals?
If so, it is good practice to be aware of these signs. If not, how can you create more cues in your environment that elicit a more playful neural response?
Encourage play at home and at work
Many companies are starting to create more enriching environments because research is clear that they lead to happier, less stressed, more loyal and more productive employees. If your workplace isn’t a good fit, you can take matters into your own hands, create a joke board, or take mini breaks where you intentionally watch a short video like the one above or spend time with people who nurture you as a source of connection.
Can you think about what play means to you at home? This is usually what you were thinking of doing but your mind said it didn’t matter. Maybe you want to pick up the camera more, reconnect with old friends, read an interesting book, or take a couple of hours a week with yourself and do something outside of your routine that nourishes you. That’s how I started.
In our culture, we see this as a luxury because we prefer work to play, and our minds often say that “play is unproductive.” This is one of the biggest lies our brain tells us. The research is clear, those who incorporate play into their lives are more likely to run mazes faster and more efficiently.
There are other tricks to discovering a more playful life and even finding playmates, but the first step is to look at your cues and start creating more enriching playful environments. Then we need to actively create this for ourselves even in the face of the voices in our heads that say “I don’t deserve this” or “There are more important things to do.” in detect happiness, I call these “Negative Unconscious Thoughts” or NUTs because we often feel crazy when they are around them.
The message here is:
Interest and involvement in play in your life can act as a natural anti-depressant, creating positive neurological shifts that when practiced and repeated can contribute to an anti-depressant brain.
Take a moment and share with us, what does gaming mean to you? How do you bring it into your life? Your interaction creates living wisdom for all of us to benefit from.
Adapted from Mindfulness and psychotherapy
