Our whole life is a game! Basically, we play from birth to death. But we do it, in general, unconsciously. What if we started to play consciously, to create the world as we would like it to be? If the thoughts with which we create our world were turned into actions?
Can you imagine – a person is sick with something. But instead of suffering, getting depressed, feeling powerless anger: “Why me?”-the person simply plays that everything is fine, he is healthy and happy, thanks the Creator for the joy of life … and really gets healthy! And this is not a fairy tale, not a fantasy, such cases have really happened and are happening. It’s just that people really believed it was really like that. It was the game that changed their reality!
Play has always been a part of human life, from primitive communal society to the present day. The savages played various games, dancing around the fire, calling upon spirits and gods, and acting out all kinds of scenes from everyday life, festive and sacred rituals. Even in ancient Egypt, games played a huge role as a means of educating young people.
V.L. Sukhomlinsky wrote: “Let’s take a close look at the place of play in a child’s life… For a child, play is the most serious thing. The game reveals to children the world, reveals the creative abilities of the individual. Without them there is not and can not be a full mental development. Play is a huge bright window through which a life-giving stream of ideas and concepts about the world around us flows into a child’s spiritual world. Play is the spark that lights the fire of inquisitiveness and curiosity.
The creative role of the game is that it develops the imagination of man, helps him realize his dreams. When an actor enters a role, he becomes a different person, the one he plays. His voice, gait, gestures change, and as he gets into character, his face even changes slightly.
That is, in principle, the game kind of touches on two dimensions – the present and the future. The game shows our future state, charging us with energy and joy. If we know how to change our state through play, it is the first step in bringing our desires to life, it is a climb up the spiritual ladder.
What is the game? Let us use the definition given by D.B. Elkonin.
“Human play is such a re-creation of human activity in which the social, proper human essence of its task and norms of relations between people are distinguished from it.”
Business games have recently been actively used in educational institutions. They compare favorably with other methods of training because they allow students to be involved in this or that production situation, to visit the role of a person of a certain profession, to learn the elements of operational activity in a certain area. They give you an opportunity to “live” for a while in a situation where organizational or managerial decisions are made, to get a “taste” for this business. To try on the functions of a person of this or that profession in order to further decide whether this is your business, whether this profession is interesting to you, whether it gives you satisfaction and the opportunity to prove yourself in this field.
Business games give the joy of communication, develop imagination, creative initiative and imagination, develop strategies for behavior, determination, make extraordinary decisions in different situations.
Researchers have found that in a lecture presentation material is absorbed no more than 20% of the information, while in a business game – about 90%.
So, the game is a relaxed activity in an imaginary situation according to certain rules. And if the subjective purpose of play, its motive is in the very process of activity, delivering pleasure, the objective value of play activity is the formation and training of physical and spiritual abilities necessary for other activities and personal life in society.
Among other things, the game brings joy. Remember yourself as a child – how much joy was given by any, even the simplest game. We ran home with flushed faces, eyes ablaze, energy boiling over. As we get older, we’ve forgotten how to truly enjoy life, taking it too seriously.
Therefore, a very useful skill is to discover and love your inner child, develop your imagination and the ability to “get into character,” genuinely enjoy every little thing, as children do.
So let’s play! Let the game become our reality and change us and the world around us into a beautiful good fairy tale! May this new year of 2021 be the beginning of a game that will change our reality!
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