Particularly during intense or challenging times, play can be the first thing to go. Giving ourselves permission to play is critical to living and thriving. It might feel hard or invalidating to the pain of life to play. When there is heaviness in our world it is even more important to play and connect and to fill up our cup and our hearts with joy. How and when might you give yourself permission to play with others? Sending love to you today. 

References in this episode:

Chalres "Chuck" Sams III, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, is the first Native American to lead the National Parks Service as its Director. 

David Treuer is an Ojibwe author and historian. I reference his latest book "The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee," in this episode. 

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's research on Play and Flow. The book I reference in this episode is "flow," and the chart I discuss you can find versions of if you search his name and "flow chart."