Across the land, on any given day, there are hundreds of people sitting in learning environments called workshops, seminars, courses and classes.   As part of their learning process some will participate in 'role playing' exercises and many will be extremely uncomfortable attempting to play a role which they think is totally alien to them.   And yet life itself is designed to give us all the opportunity to 'role play'. 
 
Shakespeare pointed the way when he said something like, "All the world is a stage and all men and women merely players, with many parts to play".   Have you ever noticed each day is filled with many scenes – the scene of the office, the scene of the kitchen, the scene of the church, the scene of the tennis court, the scene of the seminar etc.   Every scene is an invitation and opportunity to play a different role.  If we do not create and play the appropriate role we will likely find the scene mentally and emotionally difficult.   When we recognise this opportunity it begs the question how many roles can we play in our lives?   The obvious answer is as many as we want!   In fact, not only do we get to play as many roles as we want, we also get to create each role.  Suddenly life becomes playful and creative.   But what do we do?  We take it all far too seriously?  We forget (if we ever remembered) that life is simply a game in which we get the chance to express our self, and in so doing, give of our self, and in so doing, know our self.   This realisation of our unlimited creative potential is an intrinsic possibility for all human beings. 
 
So why do we take it all so seriously?  Why are we not as playful as we could be?   Why do we suppress our creativity?   Why do we not see life as a game?  Here are the seven key reasons why we make the business of life a serious business!
 
1  Position is not a position but just another role .  A manager in an organisation is not just a manager.   Manager is one of many roles.  As they walk through the scenes of their average day if they are seeing themselves as a position the manager is much less likely to see the invitations and opportunities to play many roles including leader, facilitator, teacher, counsellor, coach, motivator etc. etc.   Similarly with a parent.  If the parent sees their role as a position they are likely to become rigid in outlook and attitude and miss the opportunity to be a friend, guide, teacher, advisor, coach, playmate to their children.
 
2  Identifying with the role.   This is the main reason why life becomes awful serious for so many people.   They tend to believe they are the role.   They lose their sense of identity in one particular role.  Then attempt to play that role in all scenes.  And when anything appears to threaten the role, as it must, they become fearful, defensive or aggressive.   Hence the seriousness of the vast majority of people in organisations who are almost trained to identify with their position which they then perceive as 'permanent'.    They forget that nothing is permanent.    This is also why the life of many children is less than the happiest possible when the parent sees themselves as 'the parent' around here, and therefore 'the authority' on everything … around here!   Seldom are parents authorities on 'having fun'!
 
3  The habit of self limitation – I can't act!   If we have learned to limit ourselves in any way, and it seems the vast majority of us have, then we will likely believe we cannot be an actor who plays many roles.   We will justify and disguise our self-limitation by saying things like, "It's unnatural to play many roles, you are not being authentic, you are deceiving others by not being yourself".   Ultimately it's the same as "I can't paint" or "I can't write".  The fatal belief that 'I can't' signifies self-limitation.  Everyone can paint and everyone can write.   Everyone can act because we are all creators of actions.  Roles are simply created sets of mental and physical actions and, like anything else, can be learned.   And when learned they are not aspects of a false persona, they are simply abilities that have been developed to deal creatively, and therefore effectively, and therefore more satisfyingly, with the scenes of life and our immediate relationships in those scenes.
 
4   An education to be productive and not creative .  Our education system prepares us to produce and consume much more than create and innovate.   Many of us never fully realise our creative capacity.   'Possibility thinking' is never fully developed.  We don't learn how to create the appropriate thoughts, attitudes and actions for the many possible roles we can potentially play.    Our creativity is suppressed as we are subtly streamed into a society that requires people to fill a position and not play many roles.
 
5  Games have winners and losers.  When 'game' is mentioned as a possible metaphor for life some of us will automatically run away because game means competition and that means winners and losers.   The fear of losing paralyses our creativity and we shy away from full participation in life.  But life is not a game in the competitive sense but a game in the true sense – an activity filled with fun and creative opportunity.   No one loses.  We may fall asleep occasionally!   We may suffer from diminished self-awareness.   But no one loses … ultimately!   If 'they' do… we all do!   Life as a competition is often one of the hardest perceptions to shake off.
 
6  Someone else is responsible .  When we still believe that life is not a creative process that comes from inside out, but something that happens to us from outside in, we have still not realised our responsibility for our own life.   Only when self-responsibility is realised will the awareness of life as a creative process begin to increase.
 
7  "I don' play games!" If you watch yourself in those more serious moments of life, when other people are involved, you may notice that you have developed a judgemental tendency towards others.   When you interpret their motives and behaviours as political games, games of manipulation and spin, games of attempting to keep others down, games that are designed to exploit and extract your money, games that are then dressed up as normal and part of life, you become disillusioned with life itself.   You lose faith that life is essentially benevolent.  You see it as a threat and perhaps a curse, and not as the joyful adventure it could be.   You are always looking to see how you may be taken advantage of by the 'games' of others.   In so doing you don't even begin to think how you may live more creatively outside the box of this particular mindset.   The very idea of creating and playing many roles is irrelevant, even distasteful.   For you life has become far too serious for that.   And so your creative capacity is suppressed, or at best stunted.  Only a radical overhaul of your perception will fix this.   All cynicism has to go if your creativity and playfulness are to return.   Only then will joy reappear in your heart.
 
Yes of course there many who are suffering, many who have barely enough to eat, with little or no shelter.   It would seem that simply being playful and creative is not going to help them.   But then why are they in those circumstances?  Because sometime, somewhere in the past someone started to take life, for whatever reason (usually fear), far too seriously.   You may decide to make it one of your roles to help such people.   In which case you will need to be very creative (resourceful) and very playful (light) if you are to give them help and hope 
 

Question:  List all the possible roles you think you could play in the current context of your life.   Then rate what you sense is your current ability to play each role well (1 is low 10 is high).

Reflection:  Why are you not as playful/creative in your relationships as you could be

Action:  Profile the skills and abilities you need to learn to play each of the above roles well.
 
(PS  - please don't take all these questions too seriously, play with them, and see what arises in your mind and in your heart?)