​“This is the real secret of life -- to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.”
-Alan Watts, The Essence of Alan Watts
           
Our souls speak to us softly and we can easily ignore the suggestions offered, but if we’re willing to listen that’s when the alchemy happens. Lead turns into gold and work transforms into play.
 
If I am in a mood, like today, I will ignore the suggestions of my soul, and I’ll grump along, wondering what it is I could be doing that would cheer me up. Finally, like today, I will accept one gentle suggestion. I will do whatever it is and I will feel a little better. Then, I will think of the next thing and do that, and I will feel even better.
 
Today, the back yard called to me and I came out to find a dry place to sit amidst the ice and snow on the patio. The sun felt wonderfully warm on my back. A gentle breeze whispered, “Spring,” and whiffled my hair softly. I sat for a bit, still feeling grumpy, and at first ignored the tiny suggestion to brush my dog, Goldie. Then, I realized it was my soul speaking to me of what comes next and I got the brush.
 
Feeling more energetic afterward I got the broom and shovel and spent an energetic time clearing off the steps and patio. I was fully involved with what I was doing and stopped thinking about other concerns. It felt good to be active. It felt good to be focused. While clearing snow and ice off the patio I kept trying to tell myself that this was a job that nature would shortly take care. But it felt so good to be outside, moving, shoveling and sweeping, that I ignored that critical voice and kept right on.
 
It reminded me of the kind of thing I might have done as a child, action purely for the sake of the process. I would normally think of shoveling the snow and ice off the patio as work, but it had all the elements of play about it. It just felt good and there was nothing else I would rather have been doing at that moment. There was no schedule, no agenda, I could do as much or as little as I wanted. I did it because I enjoyed the process.
 
My father-in-law used to make Christmas presents for his seven children and ever-increasing numbers of grandchildren every year. Starting in September he worked in his tiny woodshop making wooden toys and small household objects. His work was beautiful and he was often asked to make his toys for sale. He refused. “Then it would be work,” was his reply.
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How can this be? The woodworking that he loved would be the same. Yet his attitude would be different. To sell his creations would be to take the joy out of the process and force him to be focused solely upon the product.
 
Play is engaged in because the process itself is enjoyable, it is fun. The process is the point, engaging in an activity for the love of it, because it feels good, because it makes you happy.
 
Work is engaged in for the product. Work is something you do not necessarily because you enjoy it but because you want the product of that activity, the outcome.
 
It is possible to spend all our lives working and never play. It is also possible to make all our work into play. It is a matter of attitude. Anything you engage in can be enjoyable given the right attitude.
 
When asked to wash his hands before lunch, my four-year-old grandson often balks. He’ll find anything else to do on his way to the bathroom. Everything between the table and the bathroom becomes fascinating. Eventually though, hunger will win out for a time, and he will make his way to the sink and turn on the water. Then the magic happens. What previously felt like hard work to him, becomes play. The combination of water, soap and his hands becomes something new, more than the sum of their parts. He is entranced. Work becomes play.
 
Of course experiencing work as play is the ideal. Though I know better, I often forget and spend time grumbling through what needs to be done, looking forward to finishing so I can get to doing what I want to do.
 
At the grocery store, I asked a sales clerk, “How are you?” She replied, “I’ll be just fine in an hour.”
 
I laughed, understanding, “That’s when you get to go home, right?”
 
“Right!” she answered. That sales clerk was working, physically and mentally. I’ll bet her next hour was a long one.
 
Is this how we want to live our lives, wishing them away, working now so that we can play later? Many of us believe we have to work hard in order to live well. It is an accepted attitude in our society.
 
Yet, one person’s work is another’s play. If I had hired a neighboring teenager to clear snow and ice off the patio it might have felt like hard work to her. On the other hand, perhaps she too would have responded to the warm air and sunshine. Maybe she would have taken off her jacket, pushed up her sleeves and feel the spring breezes caressing her skin. Maybe she would have listened to the chickadees and titmice singing their spring songs. Maybe she would have loved what she was doing and gotten paid for it to boot!
 
Is it work or is it play? It is all a matter of attitude.