Happy Days: True play may seem pointless-it is done for its own sake, because it’s fun- but ultimately it is useful.

For an evolutionary perspective, the smarter the animal, the more it plays. For humans, play reinvigorates not because it is down time, but because it gets us in touch with our core selves and the joy of life.

The difference in levels of playfulness when adulthood arrives validates this importance. Play-deprived adults are often rigid, humorless, inflexible and closed to trying new opinions. Playfulness enhances the capacity to innovate, adapt and master changing circumstances. It is not just an escape. It can help us integrate and reconcile difficult or contradictory circumstances. And often, it can show us a way out of our problems.

There are numerous examples of difficult, deadlocked negotiation that were broken open by a joke or humorous incident. Many people have had the experience of coming back from vacation brimming with new ideas for work. But that sort of refreshed thinking comes not from “rest” for the brain. Play is not just a time-out from life. It is an active process that reshapes our rigid views of the world”. Stuart Brown, “Let the Children Play”