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My father died of heart failure
at 53. For years, I watched him leave the house every morning, never excited,
never eager, never inspired. He walked silently through the door, a look
of resignation on his face. He did not go to work with his heart, and
his heart failed him through neglect. My feeling is that he let his work
co-opt the songs within his heart.
I have tried to live differently.
Rather than work for a living, I prefer to say that I play for a living.
I do not say this as a matter of semantics. I loved my father and I was
heartbroken that he died the way he did. Though he does not know this,
he inspired me towards those things that nourish my heart and invigorate
my soul. This is his legacy to me.
As I analyze the nature of
work-as-play, I find four distinct elements.
The first element of work-as-play
is enthusiasm: we have to want to do the work we do. It has to ignite
our deep love for living. We have to reach out with our full presence—with
a full yes!—and do our chosen work with our whole fiery spirit. We must
know in our heart, in the truth-knowing fluid of our soul's arteries,
that it is right. We may not be able to explain or justify our choice,
but we know intuitively that we are on the right path, doing the right
thing, breathing the oxygen that our soul's lungs need to live.
The second element is freedom.
We do not serve any master other than our innate freedom of being. We
work from our heart, with devotion. Where there is devotion, there is
freedom. We love our work because our work reveals who we are. We become
intimate with our work and those with whom we work, because the revelations
of our soul in what we do has a depth of feeling which exposes our inside
to the outside. As the poet Rumi suggests, what we do is the beauty that
we love. Beauty, love, and work, when blended together, can be called
play.
When we are free, we can tell
the truth, and this is the third element. In freedom, there is no fear,
no controlling mechanism to intimidate or coerce us. So, we can let what
is inside come outside. We can give full expression to our artistic pulse,
our soaring energy, our bold declarations, and our daring inventions.
We let our full artistry and passion pour out and over everything we touch.
Sharing the truth of our deep love and joy is another hallmark of work-as-play.
Work-as-play is part enthusiasm,
part freedom, part authentic self-expression.
The fourth element is commitment.
Commitment is a state of being in which the life force rushes madly from
lover to beloved. How could we not give ourselves fully, totally, absolutely
to what we most love? Commitment is thus effortless, because it is natural
to live at the farthest edge of giving when one is in love. We must do
what we do; our heart demands it, our soul craves it—we will not ever
hold back one ounce. Commitment is a state of being whose aura is devotion,
freedom, and self-expression.
Perhaps there are other elements
contained within this notion of work-as-play, but they will start to turn
back onto themselves. They will become mirrored images of each other.
We can say that work-as-play involves a sense of meaning. But meaning
will always be wordlessly present when we choose and accept what moves
from deeply within us.
We can say there must be a
feeling of purpose, but there is no higher purpose than letting our love
dance in all that we do. It is purpose enough. We might say that work-as-play
should serve and benefit others. Work-as-play inevitably serves and benefits
others, touching them as it does with caring, beauty, love, and freedom.
My father's legacy to me is
this: grab hold of your soul and do not let go. Follow it. Do not hesitate.
Do not negotiate. Do not equivocate. Follow, and be free. 
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