The Gift of Play: Why Adult Women Stop Playing And How To Start Again.

by Barbara Brannen

"Find your 'Heart Play' and everything else you want in life will come along." -Barbara BrannenIn this charming book, Barbara Brannen, takes a look at how life can be better when we find and honor our "heart Play." This is not just a trip to the movies or swinging on a swing, but finding that thing that will give us so much joy that we approach everything we do with more passion and delight.Barbara will show you how to reclaim the joy of play in your life by taking you through how you played as a child and what was magic for you. Next, you will see when you stopeed or slowed down your play. Finally, you will embark on a journey to see how you can have your "Heart Play" in your life again.The Gift of Play also gives you a chance to see how you might finally find the time to play. With all the demands of our current lives, sometimes play is the last thing we make time for and Barbara takes us through a series of wonderful exercises to reclaim the time and start playing again!You will find this book a delightful series of stories that women shared with Barbara about how their play disappeared from their lives and how many not only reclaimed their play, but used it to help them create a better life.Play can be magic in so many ways, and it is not something reserved just for children. Step up and enjoy, The Gift of Play.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology

Paperback

First published September 1, 2002

Reviews

[Céline des Ligneris (Carole) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Play has a crucial role in our lives that is usually really ignored, especially by women until we are burn out. This book gives you the tools to rekindle with your Heat Play, and give it the place it requires in your life. The only disagreement I had with the author was on the reason so many women abandon playing in the first place, my feminist side wanted a statement about the cultural expectations placed on women to do so to take care of everyone else... Barbara nonetheless helps us find what play is and how to incorporate it in our lives.

[Izzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately this fell into the category of books about play that don't feel very playful. She tried.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tye typos/grammatical errors annoyed me, the wording was repetitive, and overall it felt longer than it needed to be. There were some useful reminders & ideas, but it seems like some of these gender ideas would have been outdated even when it was written (and definitely are now).