One of my favorite presentations at AHS11 was Mark Sissons, on “Play” – he talked a ton about playing without being attached to the outcomes. While I was listening to him, I realized, wow – this is something I rarely do (if ever). Everything in my life has an outcome attached to it – work (to get paid), research/read (to learn), workout (to achieve optimal fitness) and the list goes on. I also happen to be a super planner. I am constantly planning everything! So, this concept doesn’t come natural to me. Anyhow, after his lecture I decided to be more conscious of it and try my best to implement it whenever possible.
A couple of weekends ago, Brooke (my husband) and I decided to take a break from “getting stuff done” to go gather wild berries in an open meadow near our house. I know, I know – there is an outcome here – leave house, go berry picking, come home with berries. Although there was an outcome, what changed was my attitude. Usually, I would have already planned how many berries we needed and what I was going to make with them when we get home. This time, I didn’t even think about it. When we got there, the patch had been pretty well picked through. Under normal circumstances, I would have definitely been disappointed because some plan of mine would have just been ruined. Since I didn’t have a plan, I wasn’t concerned – I was just happy to be outside, in the sunshine, strolling around and eating delicious wild blackberries straight from the bush with my husband.
In the end, we did end up gathering some berries. But, I really didn’t care either way – which is so unlike me. Although, this was not completely an experience of playing with no outcomes, it was a step towards it for me.
We froze the berries when we got home, so we could make smoothies later or have them with whipped cream for dessert. Here are a few quick steps on how to freeze berries.
- Lay in a single layer on a cookie sheet (uncovred) & place in freezer without rinsing – If you rinse, the water will ice over the berries.
- Once frozen, place in freezer bags or jars and save for later use.
- Rinse before using.
Try to take a few minutes this weekend to practice Mark’s concept of playing without being attached to the outcomes. I think for me this is something that is going to have to come with practice & I am going to try to do it at least once every weekend.
