Set the phasers to stun

Topic du jour: Playing. I don't remember which conversations triggered this, but I realized a couple days ago that I don't play well. Not that I don't play well with others, although that could be a totally different topic worth considering. Just that I'm not good at playing in the "being playful" sense of the word.

I haven't researched this or read anything about it, but I suspect that there are different types of playing:

• mental, like playing with ideas;
  
• spiritual, like having a playful spirit, being lighthearted;
  
• social, for instance, being a fun person to interact with; and
  
• physical, which would not imply being athletic or playing serious, necessarily. This is hard to explain, but people who get amused and have fun doing physical things....and yeah, I know you're giggling.

What I realized is that I'm strong at playing with ideas, not just thinking, but having fun putting together unexpected ideas, looking for interesting and amusing kernals of info to process and putt around. To be honest, I know that's why almost all of you keep me around: to see what I'm likely to be thinking about. I give good conversation. (or so I think. maybe I'm kept around because if I'm around, you know a pop machine won't be far behind. I'm like an early warning system for soda)

Spiritual playfulness--probably not. I think too much. If you want theological play, like arguing over which disciple could have been replaced by a female or whether Job was real, I'm in. But lightness of soul...not me. I like my soul heavy, Marvin Gaye style.

I'm socially adept enough, no worries--but I'm not the socially playful one, either. People don't throw sheep at me and giggle very often, and the basic miliue of female interaction--flirting--is... I don't need to go on, I'm sure. I give good conversation. That's almost antithetical to being socially playful, I suspect.

And then....physically playful. If you hop in the Way Back Machine, I was perfectly finely coordinated, could do all the usual physical tasks, even wanted to be in Little League, but girls weren't allowed (I could be a catcher. Really) But just playing,...enjoying moving around, goofing off, physical humor--I'm baffled and self-conscious and...just amused by others, but I like to watch. I say I want to learn to dance, I'd seriously like to (note that I instinctively used the word "serious" while discussing play....that's not a good sign...), but I feel way too stupid dancing to do it anymore. (Of course, trying to follow a dance/ exercise dvd in my bedroom alone may not be optimal dance situation, I know.)

If there were a rubric for assessing the abillity to play, I think I'd score pretty high on 1 out of 4 categories, but tank on the other 3. I'm still thinking about this...not sure that's awful, but it is interesting. I think I'll play with this idea a bit more...