What's your Play Personality?

Dr. George Sheehan was one of my heroes thirty some odd years ago.  He was a doctor of medicine but that is not why I looked up to him.  Dr. Sheehan was a 70 year old athlete - a long distance runner.  No, more than that; he was a long distance runner and a philosopher.  He wrote sports articles and several books about the joys and rewards of being an athlete.  He was a student of the classics, of Aristotle and Plato, so his writings reflected the wisdom he learned from the old philosophers.  One thing he pointed out to his readers of every book -of which I read them all - was the power and importance of play in ones life.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  No, I don't believe Aristotle ever said that.

Stuart Brown's book about play, Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul is dedicated solely to play.  Brown says there are 8 types of play personalities.  I hadn't thought of it that way, but it does make sense.  I love to play but some play does not interest me at all.  For instance golf is an American favorite but I find it boring and rather tedious.  Just not my cup of tea. But set out my art journal and paints and I'm in Hog Heaven.  I could play all day.

Brown's 8 Play Personalities go like this:

1) The Joker:  Makes people laugh, plays practical jokes.  (My son, Scotty)

2) The Kinesthete:  Loves to move, dance, swim, play sports. 

3) The Explorer:  Goes to new places, meets new people, seeks out new experiences (physically or mentally)

4) The Competitor:  Loves all forms of competition, has fun keeping score.  (My brother, Bruce)

5) The Director:  Enjoys planning and executing events and experiences, likes throwing parties, organizing outing and leading.

6) The Collector:  Loves the thrills of collecting whether it be objects or experiences.

7) The Artist/Creator:  Finds joy in making things, fixing things, decorating, working with his or her hands.  (me)

8) The Story Teller:  Loves to use imagination to create and absorb stories, in novels, movies, plays, and performances.

I had not considered a couple of the categories.  I never thought of collecting or organizing affairs as play but after I read his description I could understand why these things would be playful to some people.  Not me, but that is all right.  I am definitely the artsy/crafty personality but I am also an explorer.  What is your Play Personality?  Want to come over and play with me?

When I worked on this page I was feeling sorry for myself.  Les had been dead for just a few months and I was tossing and turning unable to sleep in the bed we once occupied together.  The background was quickly thrown together by swishing pastel fluid acrylics around on the back.  Once dry I glued on the paper doll images from Mary Engelbriet's magazine.  Quit, easy and effective.