Do you remember as a child laying in the grass on a hot summer day, gazing at the clouds overhead as they changed shapes to transform into a dragon, a butterfly, a bird, a castle in the sky?

Do you remember as a child playing dress up, where you would become the famous actor, a queen/king, dragon slayer, princess or other such character?

When my children were young, I would tell them “go outside and play”. They would often times grumble that there was nothing to do out there. I would simply smile and say “that’s ok, you can just go outside and walk around or go sit on a rock, but you still need to go outside”.

As I watched from the window, I would see them walk up the driveway, head down, as they kicked a rock in their path… and then they would kick the same rock again, and before long they would pick up the rock and examine it. Often times this same rock would end up balanced on the branch of a tree, or tucked safely into a pocket. They would do the same with sticks or other objects they came across. The rock balanced on the branch of a tree had become a nugget of gold, and the stick a horse… and soon they were absorbed in the world they were creating…. The world of childhood dreams, childhood magic. Before long their reluctance to going outside was replaced with, ”Awww do I have to come in now? I haven’t had any time to play!”

So what happens to us that we forget to play?

As adults we buy a lottery ticket, and think about all the things we will do with the money we win. Designing our dream homes, paying off our bills, thinking about how wonderful life will be. We look forward to special occasions, and think through the event from start to finish. What we will wear, what we will do, how the event will play out.

Day Dreams – Imagination - call it what you want, as adults it does seem to serve a purpose. It allows us to escape the stress of the moment, and gives us hope for the tomorrows. Fleeting thoughts that run through our brains give us a few minutes to catch our breath and continue on with our day.

However many times when we have these fleeting thoughts, we push them away, our day much too busy to explore them further, and later in a quieter moment when we try to revisit them, they are gone.

So as we encourage our children to “Go Play”, let’s not forget about ourselves in the process. We as adults also need to learn to “Go Play”

So my challenge for you is to Imagin(e) a Tion – think about it, talk about it, draw it, take a picture of it, post about it on your blog, post about it in your discussion boards, twitter it, facebook it… then leave a comment here letting me know where it is so I can go see.

Go Play and Show me your Tion!