Mahalagang Maglaro: Coming back home to oneself through play
How might play give you the permission to find joy in the exploration?
Editor’s note: Join our upcoming events in La Union, Baguio and Quezon City this April.
Hello, mga ka-Ugnayan!
I’m Kookie, co-creator of Ugnayan: Cards for Connection, and your friendly neighborhood kalaro (Tagalog for playmate). Which is why I decided to volunteer to write about this month’s theme, Laro or Play.
laro
v. engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose
v. take part in
n. activity engaged in for enjoyment and recreation, especially by children
When we think about play, we typically think about it as something that children mostly take part in. There seems to be a belief that as we grow older, there is no longer the space and permission to play. There is truth to it though, that growing up can be harsh, rigid and serious. Life does have the tendency to become more complicated and more nuanced.
All the more we need play to hold some space in our lives.
Play gives us the opportunity to explore.
While exploration comes with the mystery of the unknown, it is also in that uncertainty that new pathways and possibilities are discovered. Like a map that has yet to be unlocked, the expanse of who we think we are or could be goes beyond what we can imagine.
Play expands possibilities gently, lightly and openly.
I talk about play within my creative process in this episode of A Better Normal with Carl Javier.
Yet, as fun and light as play sounds like, it’s okay to admit that play can feel scary too.
To play with an open heart requires vulnerability and courage to embrace the imperfections of the journey and the outcome.
Creating our own personal playgrounds can offer a gentler training ground for us to navigate ourselves and our lives.
Play as a safe space to fail
Sometimes, by surprise, it’s in getting things wrong that we eventually discover what feels right and light. In a state of play, we allow ourselves to lean into the bad, the ugly, the imperfect, the messy, the chaotic. Rather than focus on getting it right, what does it look like to get it wrong?
What does it feel like for you to be bad at something?
What feelings or situations have held you back from being in a state of playfulness?
Play as a safe space to explore
When we allow ourselves to have the headspace and heartspace for outcomes beyond what we expect and desire, we also allow ourselves to pave new and unexplored pathways. To create a safe space to explore is to know that the map is not predetermined, but instead, the map is something that we create and expand on as we go.
What is something that you have been wanting to do lately but haven’t done yet?
What small step can you take to dip your toes into what you’ve been wanting to do?
Play as a safe space to connect
When we offer ourselves the grace of getting to know ourselves, we also learn how to extend that grace to others too. When we lean into our interests unapologetically, embrace the cringe, allow ourselves to feel silly and clumsy, we get to explore what makes us interesting, unique and human.
Thinking about what you’ve been wanting to do lately, what do you think has sparked your interest in doing that in this time of your life?
Who is someone you can feel safe to play with? What qualities do they embody?
In the Ugnayan deck, Laro or Play is symbolized by the imagery of a turtle. I recently learned that sea turtles eventually go back to the beach where they hatched on when it is their time to breed and hatch a new batch of eggs.
It is said that sea turtles have the ability to use the Earth’s magnetic field, somewhat like an internal compass, as a way to navigate their way throughout their life. I process this information with awe and wonder, admiring how courageous it is for them to swim towards the vast open sea as vulnerable hatchlings and to trust that they will know their way back home at the right time.1
Perhaps sea turtles can teach us to lean into unknown spaces with a little bit more joy and curiosity, knowing that it’s in this venturing out that we find our connection back to ourselves and to others. To play is to open up to uncertainty, trusting that joy is found within the journey of just doing and being. How can we stay in tune with our own internal compass so that we can allow ourselves to be pulled by the forces that tell us to explore?
Tara, laro tayo,
Kookie | IG:@kookiesantos
In other news, check out our @ugnayancards Instagram for more immediate updates on our upcoming events. Here’s a list of meetups we’ll be having this April. We’re excited to be holding Likha Ginhawa, a creative wellbeing workshop, in La Union and Baguio.
We’ve also announced special rates for folks in the education and non-profit sectors, and you can learn more about why we chose to that via this Instagram post.
I learned more about sea turtles from How Do Sea Turtles Navigate in the the Ocean? and How Do Sea Turtles Find the Exact Beach Where They Were Born?