the promise of play

just heard stuart brown, director of the national institute of play on "fresh air" on npr with terri gross. he was talking about the promise of play. he was saying that human beings are kind of permanent adolescents and that we need play, but that our culture only emphasizes work. he says now that in biology we have discovered neurogenesis, the regeneration of the brain through aerobic exercise, we see that play (or in that case exercise) is essential to our health. however, it needs to be non-competitive to truly be play. he and terri were talking about how for many adults playing is hard because our culture teaches that adulthood means workaholism. and some people have a hard time learning what play can be for them. brown referenced joseph campbell about "following your bliss." he recommended starting with movement, like dance (or even yoga). very interesting and important stuff... i think this line of thinking has a lot to offer the pursuit of happiness.

i guess brown has a pbs series i'd love to see, and there's a link on npr's blog about him. looking forward to getting a tv and the internet in my place.