play is the work
go into the mess, feel the heavy and the light, and let loose your roar to play
I’ve said it many times, and I’ll say it now again: We are closer than we think to a more beautiful world.
What we know is growing vivid—each of us, a crystalline song rooted in breath. We are more than moths emerging from imaginal goo. We are dandelion fields immersed in webs of hum and pathways of light.
We see the dreams. We hear our inner wisdoms. We have the ideas for what’s needed. We know what we long to experience, and what we want for our children. We feel our hopes and prayers for all beings throughout the world.
We see and hear and know what we’re creating. We also feel the ache and horror of what’s collapsing and screaming right in front of us.
The paths of lightness and delight are emerging alongside the heavy, murky, festering density of what’s decomposing in the compost heap.
It was always going to be this way, that we’d be creating amidst the collapsing. Yet, to know this is coming is different than to be inside it. At least this is true for me. This year so far has required me to be flexible and nimble and humble in new and surprising ways. I’ve felt significant gravity and density in the turbulence and tug of this time. I’ve also found the most beautiful, resonant threads of light and delight to follow.
Our aperture matters. Our frequency matters. And the unique imprint of our hum—our inner voice, wisdom, and creativity—matters.
When I connect with the collective consciousness, I feel the pulse of either-or, us-them, here-there. It is strong and gripping tight. I also hear a gurgling rumble for more play. As someone who has focused on play and playful learning for three decades, I have always heard this rumble, true.
But this is different—this vibration is primal. It is more than a beckoning or request. This rumble for play is primordial roar.
Within a narrow aperture of late-stage capitalism or the pulse of either-or/us-them, play can feel separate from “addressing” the significant challenges of our time.
But nothing is separate. And we are living inside a world (and consciousness) that is much more vast and exquisite than what reels across our screens.
I know this to be true: Play is a bridge to where we are (going).
Play is not separate from our work to create a more beautiful world. Play is the work.
We must play with the density in the compost heap. We must play through the too hard and too daunting. We must play with the mindsets we bring to how we see ourselves, other beings, and the world. We must play with how we name things and the stories we tell.
Our play is a rattle. A perfect and essential rattle to dislodge the gunk of old logics held in our bodies and minds. A perfect and essential rattle to ignite and open pathways for new questions and creativity.
This requires an expanded experience of play. Not play on the side or as escape or outside of our “important” work. Play is rigor and commitment to curiosity. Play allows us to go more deeply inside the mess of things, muck around, tease out contradictions, try new perspectives, fall and roll, be wrong and not-know, feel raw and vulnerable, and stretch into new forms and ways of being.
As I write this to you on 3 July 2025, I am amidst significant play and playful emergence myself. Play is calling me to speak about play with more clarity and share through more tangible forms and pathways.
I am currently inside a process of writing a new book full of playful practice. As I am writing this book, I’ve been nudged (strongly) to create offerings for humans to engage with now. I want to share two of them here with you. One will open this coming week (as Uranus moves into Gemini) and the other is a course that will take place in the Fall. I invite you to take a peek and see if you are called to join one or both.
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As playful delight, Melissa
Play is a rattle.
Seed Weaver Song
a 5-week playful, asynchronous course for those who hear an inner calling to create
You are the seed. You are the weaver. You are the song.
There are seeds within you—sensations of what you want to create, wisps of vision or idea, tugs to try another way, dreams that you can feel in the palm of your hand. They are beckoning for your attention and care. They are closer than ever before. You feel them bubbling. You hear their call.
You know who you are and why you’re here. And you know you’re here for more than seeing and knowing. You are here to weave. You are a weaver of songs for the world we’re living into.
Resee School
an online course for those who are ready to dislodge old logics of learning held inside their bodies and minds, and cultivate new questions and possibilities to live into
More information coming soon.
Send me an email if you’d like to receive information on how to apply when it’s available.
Let’s play!
I give talks, create workshops, lead protocol conversations, design experiences, facilitate communities of practice, and consult on matters of learning… through playful process attuned to wonder, delight, listening, and love.
