Welcome to Season Four of Inner Warmup! In today’s episode, Taylor and guest Dr. Joanna Fortune explore the importance of play and playfulness in our lives. They discuss how simple activities like blowing bubbles and baking banana bread can bring joy and reduce stress. The conversation also touches on the role of play in personal growth and development and the benefits of taking breaks.
Meet Today's Guest:
Dr. Joanna Fortune is an accredited psychotherapist with a special interest in the role of play throughout the trajectory of our lives. She's the author of the best selling 15 Minute Parenting series of books, and Why We Play. She is the host of the 15-Minute parenting podcast. She founded the Solamh Parent Child Relationship Clinic in Dublin in 2010 where she has worked with families around a variety of issues. She is a recognised supervisor, trainer and conference speaker in her field. In 2017 she delivered a TEDx Talk on the topic 'Social media – the ultimate shame game?' She has a weekly parenting column in the Irish Examiner newspaper. She is also a regular media contributor to a variety of radio and TV shows. She has been the parenting consultant on the weekly parenting slot on Newstalk FM’s Moncrieff Show for over 5 years.
Connect with Dr. Joanna Fortune :
Taylor Morrison
You're listening to Inner Warmup. I'm your host, Taylor Elyse Morrison, founder and author of Inner Workout, ICF certified coach and fellow journeyer. In 2017, I set out to build a life that didn't burn me out. And I found my life's work in the process. On Inner Warmup, we talk about how self care and innerr work show up in your relationships, your career, your schedule, and in the conversations you have with yourself. We get practical, we get nuanced, and we're not afraid to challenge wellness as usual. So take a deep breath, and get curious. This is where your inner work begins.
Welcome to season four of Inner Warmup. Each season we explore a different theme, and this season's theme is playdate. We're talking all about leisure and play. Because play is a critical part of being human. But so often we deprioritize its importance in favor of doing things that we deem to be more productive or more valuable. Even well intentioned inner work can get in the way of us playing. My personal mission for the season is to normalize play and leisure, first for myself, but also for all of you listening. And we're doing it by talking to people I admire about the things they do outside of work. Our first guest is Dr. Joanna Fortune. She's an accredited psychotherapist with a special interest in the role of play throughout the trajectory of our lives. She's the author of the best selling 15 minute parenting series of books, and also the book Why We Play, which is the foundation of our conversation today. I couldn't think of a better gas to kick off the season of the podcast. So keep listening to hear our conversation about play. Well, Joanna, thank you so much for being a guest on the show today.
Dr. Joanna Fortune
I am delighted to be a guest. I'm so thrilled you asked me, I love talking about this.
Taylor Morrison
Yeah. And the theme of the season is play date. We're talking to people about their relationship to hobbies and leisure and really talking to people about what they do outside of work. So for most guests, we're not talking about like their work or their profession in to much depth. With the exception of you, you're actually the person that we are kicking off the season with. And I'm really interested to hear about your work and your research. Before we dive straight into play. Can you tell me first, what drew you to therapy as a career?
Dr. Joanna Fortune
Well, that goes way back. You know, I think I was one of those very precocious teenagers who decided that I would pick up a very well thumbed copy, secondhand copy of Freud's introductory lectures, when I was about 16. I found it in a secondhand bookstore. And honestly didn't understand a single word of it. But it intrigued me enough to go, I'd like to understand this. And when I was young child, and again, as a teenager, I kind of oscillated between journalism and psychotherapy, psychology, that area of things. And I think it could have gone either way. I've always enjoyed writing, I've enjoyed human stories in all guises. And that might be you know, I have a real draw that comes into the playfulness work later as well, is that I have a real draw for stories and how we are stories people, I guess, and how we are living storied lives, all of us, and how those stories grow and develop around us and inform how we live. And I leaned into the therapy route rather than journalism. But actually now in my career where I'm at, I do write a weekly newspaper column, and I am on a weekly radio show. So I feel like I've managed to blend the two. I love the idea of exploring with somebody what is underpinning the overt behaviors, challenges, things that confront us every day, but what's underpinning those of what might the story of that underpinning be? And going with people into that story.
Taylor Morrison
I'm just picturing a younger you reading Freud's work, just casual light reading for a 16 year old.
Dr. Joanna Fortune
I know it's so ridiculous.
Taylor Morrison
But then it brought you here into this work. And I know a lot of the work that you do is actually with children with regards to therapy, which was why I was really interested in your book Why We Play, which seems like it's your only book that's really explicitly focused on adults, not talking to parents as a way to get them to work with their kids, but really like focusing on adults. So I'm wondering, what inspired you to write this book with this more adult focused audience?
Dr. Joanna Fortune
I've always believed you know, there's a British psychoanalyst, Donald Winnicott always said, you know, whatever I say about children can also be applied to adults. And that really resonates with me. And in my work, I'm primarily an adult psychotherapist, that was my core training. And I went on to do additional trainings to work with children, adolescents, and like you said, I work a lot dyadicly with the parent child relationship from pregnancy, right the way up to, however we're defining young adult of these days, I think that line keeps stretching out of it, but certainly up to that age. But in my very first book, so the first three books are a series 15 minute parenting, and I've broken that into zero to seven years, 8 to 12, and the teenagers, but in the first one, I wrote a piece about keeping playfulness in your relationship with your intimate partner, or your co parent, even if you're not intimate partners anymore, but keeping a playfulness in that relationship and gave examples of how that might be done. Even if you are doing a mundane, everyday tasks, like washing dishes, how you could be playful and start doing like a sports interview or commentary thing on the actions you're doing. And just be jovial and emphasizing that, especially with an intimate partner, this could be a play that is without intimate agenda. This is just playing for fun and play sake. And when I wrote, its a small section in that book, I remember my editor at the time going Oh, gosh, you know, this is quite out there, I don't know, will people do this? And I'm like, Oh, they will, they will. And the very first interview I did on that book, the interviewer said, Oh, I loved the book. And I really got that part about playing with your partner. But I have to tell you, it was a bit cringy reading it, I can't imagine myself doing it. And I thought, okay, it's not the time to really go for this. But it was always there as part of the work. I think if, as the important adults in the lives of children, if we cannot be playful with each other, how do we bring that playfulness to our relationship with our children? I think it starts with us. And that has always been there for me. For five years after that first book. I was asked by my publisher to write a book on play for adults. And I thought in such a short space of time, that is a huge change in the public psyche and people being interested in play. Play for adults has, you know, it seems like it's suddenly become quite trendy, quite topical. People are really, which is fabulous. People are really interested in it. But I guess, you know, again, going back to what's underpinning that, I wonder about the effect of the COVID 19 pandemic increased restrictions on people's lives movement and how we were interacting, connecting and engaging with each other, how our homes space became our workspace and our workspace became our home space and our need to transition between one mode be that working into living and back again. And I think we needed to play. And I do wonder if that's why playfulness for adults has become so relevant, so urgent is the word I want to say it's something I think people really feel a need to get back to, because I think it helped us. And it makes sense to me, the research backs up why it would, why it would be so effective and why we would lean into play at what was such a difficult time, you know, when we make fundamental changes to how a group of people socialize, interact, and live, of course, there's a significant impact to that and play, play will really feel that flexibility, and adaptability. And that's what we needed at a time like that. So I do wonder if that's it. But I'm very passionate about play for adults, I've always done like in corporate organizations, play workshops and play talks. It's something that I've been pushing a door for a really long time that door is now beginning to open and fly open in some places where people are much more open to it than even just five years ago.
Taylor Morrison
Yeah, that's so interesting that you note that shift. And even I can totally see how this came up in the early days of the pandemic. And all of a sudden, everyone's baking sourdough bread or there was a whole trend of like, people getting roller skates and roller blades. And it felt like in many ways people weren't just playing but they were also kind of connecting to some pieces of their inner child in the ways that they chose to play. I'm curious, do you have any thoughts on that or did you kind of notice these trends as well?
Dr. Joanna Fortune
I think there is and you know, when people were, you know, growing their own sourdough starter and baking banana bread 26 different ways, who knew there were so many ways to bake banana bread, right? And you know, I think in that is a very tactile sensory play experience. And one of the most effective ways we have to lower the anxiety that we're holding in our body, the tension is to do something embodied by tactile, sensory, physical, exploratory play. Baking is a really great way for us to access that playfulness as adults. And because, you know, at the end of it, there is an edible product. That's not always the case when children are doing sensory play. But there is for adults. And so bringing in aspects of nurture, nurturing oneself, nurturing those around us. So it's a very warm, cozy containing way to play. That makes complete sense. I think that people were doing that. I love the example of all of the rollerblading. And also I know someone who was teaching herself piano on YouTube, and different types of things that we do with music with movement. Anything that evokes rhythm, synchrony is going to trigger those parts of our brain associated with emotional regulation. So when we feel dysregulated, or it's easiest way to put that is we might feel out of sync. One of the best ways to get back in sync is to get moving, get dancing, swaying, that rhythmic piece is a really effective way. And I think, in those examples, what we see is that at that embodied level, we know what we need to do. We know when our body is screaming, this isn't working for me. Get back to what is working, it's play we go to, and we often see that but you know, when we feel stuck, and that can apply in such a broad way in our lives, we might feel stuck within ourselves within relationships within work within a single project we're doing. But when you reach that stuckness it's usually a sign that you've forgotten to play. And the best thing you could do for yourself in that moment of stuckness is stop what you're doing, move away from it and do something playful.
Taylor Morrison
Yeah, oh, this is so resonant. I'm thinking about a rule that I probably within the past few months made for myself, I have generalized anxiety. And I am thankful that I have a toolkit of many things that I can do. And still I can find myself just like sitting in that anxiety. And so at some point, I was like, You know what, Taylor, whenever you feel anxious, you're either going to make art, or you're going to move your body. And doing one of those two things, helps so much like the other night, I started working on a new art project, which involves me writing something and all of a sudden, it's not like the anxiety disappeared. But there was the sense of me coming back to myself and other times I'm baking, other times I'm going for a walk by the lake or doing yoga, but hearing you say that kind of the biology supports that idea of like, okay, do something with your hands, do something to get back to your body play.
Dr. Joanna Fortune
Absolutely, play. And I think we you know, too much we when somebody says play, and I think anyone listening, just even do this as a quick exercise now that when you hear us say play, what is the image that comes to your mind. And for some people, it's like, you know, a children's entertainer and paint splattered overalls and psychedelic hair, and it's, you know, oh, my goodness that feels so out of reach for me. But that's one form of play. That's that very light hearted, you know, very frivolous type of play. And that's great. But it's one type of play, I think we need to get back to a place where we can challenge our definition of play, and move away from seeing it as a box of toys on the corner of a room or some very typical kind of image and look at it more as a state of mind and a way of being, that if we can get into a playful state of mind, the ways that we play are very much within our choice. So long as we're playing. For example, lots of people got really into doing Wordle, posting their scores online, and I got it into..
Taylor Morrison
I'm a big Wordler
Dr. Joanna Fortune
You see, yeah you were smiling. That's definitely a form of play. No more than doing Sudoku or crossword puzzles. It's intellectual play, but it is play. And I think we're probably all playing more than we're giving ourselves credit for, or actually would find it more accessible to prioritize, oh, I didn't know that was play. I can definitely do that. I think we find the thing that sparks joy for us, that gives us that moment, you know, the minute I mentioned, like your voice was Oh, I do that. I love that. So find the thing that you find easiest to do, most accessible to do and do more of it. Rather than saying I want to be more playful. Let me take the path of greatest resistance where I will feel totally uncomfortable and out of my comfort zone and do that, because you won't sustain that. But start where you feel, Oh, I can that I could do more of that and take it from there. I really think it's about a playful state of mind. And if you're wondering what that is, anytime you've said, I wonder, what if, how about we do it this way, let me try something different. Anytime you are curious. And in a curious state of mind, you're in a playful state of mind, play and curiosity, and creativity. I was so interested when you mentioned your art project, they're so entwined. You know, that's how we find our playful release. So I think get curious, and you will get playful.
Taylor Morrison
I love this as an entry point. And now this is getting my wheels turning too because something I started doing this year at work was instead of getting so focused on making metrics and goals for the business, which do have their place, I started making these quarterly questions. And so I would have a question like, I published my first book earlier this year. And so one of the questions was, like, what sells books? And it was less about how many books do I need to sell? But more like? What are the actions that I can take that actually lead to book sales? And it did make it more playful, to come from that place of curiosity. Like, where else can I be asking questions in my life and allowing that to lead me into play?
Dr. Joanna Fortune
And I think, you know, I think it belongs everywhere, I think we need to be playful within ourselves, but also, in our relationships, be that intimate partner relationships, but also maybe it's your relationship with adult siblings or relationship with friends or as the grown child of aging parents, you know that our relationships are not static, they are fluid, they move, they change they're supposed to, because we're always growing and developing. And when we make space for play in our lives, we really add fuel to that growth and development. And I think that we need to be playing right throughout the trajectory of our lives, you know, right the way up to our very end years, there should be playfulness. A good old belly laugh, you know, an authentic belly laugh is one of the easiest, cheapest, most accessible ways that we have to release residual tension in our bodies. Finding a reason to laugh and a way of eliciting laughter is such a powerful thing to bring into your life and making sure I laugh every day. And if I have a day, when I'm not laughing, what kind of a day was that and what do I need to do to get back to myself, so that tomorrow, I can find my way to laughter? I like to do those audits on how are we playing and making sure you have to prioritize it, you have to believe in it to say it matters as much as whatever work thing you would prioritize or whatever skincare routine, you would prioritize or whatever else you would do. This matters that much.
Taylor Morrison
Yeah. And that leads me to something I wanted to talk to you about. So I talk a lot about self care. And obviously, you care and talk a lot about play. And I see this framing come up for both of these things, both play and self care, where we like to talk about how they're good for us because they make us more productive. And yes, that's obviously true for both of those things. And also, I wonder what happens when we frame the conversation around play, around self care as a means to being more productive. And so I'm just curious if you have any thoughts on that?
Dr. Joanna Fortune
I do. And I've heard that so much. Because of course there is research that shows that when we make space for playfulness in the workplace, productivity does go up. But I suppose if we reduce play to an outcome, like productivity, we're making it transactional. And that just doesn't work for me because play is not transactional, play is relational. And it strengthens and enhances relationships. And that means relationships, the relationship I have with myself, the relationship I have with people outside of me in my life and the world around me, the relationship I have to my physical environment as well. So I think when we make play about well, I better play for 10 minutes today because then I'm going to earn more or gain this or do, it isn't going to work because you're taking a far too transactional cognitive cerebral approach to play and you're missing the point of it. The point of it is what comes up when we play the sparks of joy, the ideas, the new perceptions, ya know to be able to play is also to be able to consider things from multiple points of view, as small children, that's quite literally a phase of play that we do. You know, anytime you've ever seen small world play, it's often called, but children, they take the little dinos and they have them talk to each other over and back, to be able to play like that, at four and a half years old, requires a capacity to consider the one situation from more than one viewpoint at the same time, because I have to do dino one voice, dino to voice and do the serve and return, I'm beginning to develop a capacity for multiple perspectives on the same thing that's essential as we grow and develop. So play now is about all right, what would it be like to look at this in a different way, rather than, Oh, I'm going to set an alarm on my phone. And when it rings, I will stop what I'm doing and play for 10 minutes, and then I will go back, because I'm actually quite stressed about getting that in. And I'm very much in this and nothing is actually flowing creatively for me. So it doesn't work. I do get why the productivity conversation comes up, though, because I think it legitimizes, bringing play into spaces that traditionally it's been seen as, oh, you're not taking this seriously, you're too light hearted about it, you're, you're the office Joker, or whatever it might be. And that's not the case. You know, it's really, really important that people take play breaks in their day, it strengthens team cooperation, collaborative thinking. Imagine if you had everybody on a team, on a work team able to consider something from multiple perspectives, at the same time, you know, collegial harmony would just go up as well. So there's a huge amount of benefits. So I get it, I totally get the productivity thing. But I would hate to see anyone say, my goal here is productivity, ergo, I will make space for play. I think it should be make space for play and see what happens. And that's when you'll see your productivity go up. I don't think you can prescribe it.
Taylor Morrison
Yeah. And that really gets back to what you were talking about, with curiosity leading into this playful mindset. And even being curious about, well, what happens if I spend a little bit of time playing in the afternoon? Or what happens if I wind down in the evening with something that feels joyful and interesting and playful for me? So I like that, because yes, it does make sense that it would make us more productive. And also, life isn't just about being productive, there are so many things that play gives us.
Dr. Joanna Fortune
And I think we have to give ourselves permission for play is the thing, nothing comes out of it. And sometimes people say that to me, I play and you know, what's the point there is no results. And I'm like, but that is the point. Because it's about the doing, you know, and I think we don't give ourselves enough time to just be in the moment in the right here, right now, in whatever is happening, be it is on a page in front of me that I happen to be doodling on, or you know that I'm reading a magazine, and I decide I'm going to redesign some of the photos that are in it and add features or I'm having fun with whatever I'm doing. That's the point. There is no other reason to do it than that. And I think we and I, you know, again, the work thing is really interesting, because at a certain point, you know, I'm thinking of what you were saying about you know, metrics and having, you're right, that has to happen, because I think it's at a certain point of our careers in particular, ambition is what drives us. And we are very job focused and career focused. And we might drop the playfulness, we might even stop playing for a period of time. And for a small period of time, that might be okay, you know, nothing detrimental is going to happen there. It's when we stop playing for prolonged periods of time, and we don't find our way back to it, then we're in trouble. Because then the job that we gave everything to, that we devoted all of our focus and attention and energy to is no longer meeting that need for me. And I've become stale and flat and ugh this thing again, and it's so repetitive and I feel and I'm dragging. And it's all come out of me. That's not because the job has gotten dull. It's because I forgot to play
Taylor Morrison
And something that was just sparked, as you're saying that, Joanna, is that so many of us when we, and I am a pretty ambitious person. But a lot of times when I'm doing things, it's because I think that when I get to this point, I will feel this way about myself and I will I'll be more confident or I'll be more whatever it is. And I'm wondering I'm like, how much of that could I have access to right now, if I was willing to engage in play. And I find this so much when we talk about topics related to inner work and personal development. We have access to a lot of the things that we are striving and working so hard for, but they come from things like play, rather than getting the next promotion. And maybe you get the next promotion because you're willing to play.
Dr. Joanna Fortune
That's what I think I think, actually, that when you are focused in a more holistic sense on fueling yourself and making sure that all of your needs are met, and your career goals are part of you. But they're not all of you. And they're important. I don't want to make out like they're not, it's really, it's healthy, to be ambitious. It's important to have goals for yourself. But you get to those goals, not by you know, relentlessly, just pushing and pushing the goal, you get there by saying, what else can I bring into my life? How can I lighten the load for myself on this journey? And I think you're right, I think you get those goals because you make space for play. And when we don't make space for play, it just seems like it's always ever so slightly out of reach for us.
Taylor Morrison
I want to pivot the conversation just slightly. You mentioned your first set of books that were this trio on 15 minute parenting, and I'm not a parent, I actually don't think I ever want to be a parent. I love kids, just not for me personally. But what I was curious about and Jennie, our producer was curious to hear from you. Do you ever use any of the things that you talk about either in those 15 minute parenting books? Or in the rest of your work to parent your own inner child?
Dr. Joanna Fortune
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And I think some of I'm gonna say some of them actually, it's possibly a great deal of what's in those books, is things that I have found really helpful in my life. And it always starts with me, I don't mean myself as a parent. I mean, as a professional, because I actually wrote my first book, while I was on maternity leave. So I was very new to the parenting game while writing that first book. So it doesn't come from a place of, here's my parenting story. It comes from a place of, you know, what can we bring into our lives that enhances us as people, and that's going to strengthen how we parent, how we experience parenting and how we are experienced as a parent. And there's a, 15 minute parenting makes sound by the way, like we can parent a children in 15 minutes a day. I honestly wish I'd invented that, I think I could retire. But that's not how it works. It's a 24/7 job. But in my work with parents and often busy parents working outside of home, putting in a full day in whatever office sitting in traffic, trying desperately to make the childcare pickup deadline, getting everyone in home frazzled and tired and overwhelmed looking at what kind of a meal can I pull together just in time to get children ready for bed? They would often say to me, I'm lucky if I have 15 minutes a day, what can you do in that? And I heard that phrase often enough to go well hang on, what can you do in 15 minutes day? Let's answer that question. I'm a big believer in that if you ask yourself a question, answer it, you get curious and explore an answer to that question. Don't just let it hang there. And so I developed these pockets of play and ring fencing time, every day, that you will turn off the phone and shut out distractions and be completely mindfully present. And that's not just a gift to your children. That's a gift to yourself, to show yourself that you can be 100% present bearing witness with somebody else is a gift to yourself, because it shows us we can slow down, we can pause. We can sit on the floor. We can play with plasticine, or whatever it might be, we can do those things. In a way you thought, well, I have no time. I'm so busy. I'm so busy. You can do it. If you can do it for 15 minutes. Super, if you can do it for 20, 30, go wild. But 15 minutes every day is manageable. Because what I don't want somebody doing with the play, be it with 15 minute parenting or be it with play as adults. I really don't want you thinking well, I played really hard on Monday for two hours. So that covers me for the next two weeks. And I don't need to do anything. Because play is a practice. And we have to flex our play muscles and stay play fit. And that means I'd rather somebody do a very small amount. But do it every day predictably, in a very structured and organized way because that's very regulating, then do it, you know, front load your week with a load of play and then don't do anything for the rest of the week. You won't make it to the and you'll run out of steam, so little and often is better than nothing at all.
Taylor Morrison
Yes, I like this reminder of yeah, these small doses over time, that can build up and it sounds like have compounding effects rather than these big links of time, chunks of time and then depriving ourselves of play for a long while.
Dr. Joanna Fortune
I do believe firmly in taking those pauses. If I'm in the middle of be it a writing deadline, you know yourself having written a book, and you're at that stage where the words are beginning to swim on the screen, you're pretty sure you've just said this two pages ago, and here you are repeating yourself, I am a big fan of saying, oh, play break, I will take 15 minutes, I'll take five if that's all I've got. But I will take 15 minutes. And I will do something even at my desk, I may turn, orient myself to the window because I'm changing my field of vision. And that's a very effective way to reset an over wraught brain, is to change your field of vision, I might do a sensory countdown and look and name five things I can see, four things I could hear and so on, all the way down doing engaging the senses. But I'm just as likely, if I'm honest, to take out a little party bag of bubbles, you know, the little bubbles, you can get that go in party bags, take a deep breath in through my nose and exhale and blow out. And then pop the bubbles with my index finger or my pinky or my thumbs or grab them. I just decide to do it different ways. What you're doing when you blow bubbles is taking a deep breath and exhaling. But you're doing it through bubbles and it's immediately more playful. And you can do this in your office because you think oh, people are going to think I have lost the plot. And what am I doing over there blowing bubbles, but you know what, you'll blow the second time. And somebody's going to come over and start clapping those bubbles with you. Because play is relational. It fuels connection, it will bring people into you. And so what if everybody's looking over and laughing Look at the gift you're giving them you're giving them their belly laugh of the day. So I think we have to get comfortable doing things a little outside of our comfort zone. But if anyone's listening and saying I can't do that. The other thing I do for my own inner child is I doodle. I love art, you mentioned about an art project, I am not in any way gifted at art. And that's not me being modest, I really recognize my limitations. And that's one of them. But I enjoy the process of moving paint around a canvas, the catharsis of that, the sensory aspect. And I will often just take a piece of paper out of my printer, and I will lay it landscape in front of me take a pen, move it to my non dominant hand and close my eyes and count 15 to one as I just scribble all over the page, then I open my eyes, put the pen back in my dominant hand, turn the page 180 degrees, so the other way. And then I set a timer, maybe 15 minutes five again is fine. If that's all you have, work with what you have, I will add features into that doodle to try and create order out of the disorder to try and create structure out of the chaos. I'll add in maybe a house or a garden or trees or eyes or a mouth, I will create something out of the scribble. Then I'll put it to one side and I'll get back to what I was doing. So I will often give myself that gift of a play break because it helps to soothe and regulate me,
Taylor Morrison
Man I love those ideas. And I'm like, do we have any bubbles around here? I think I need to get some bubbles for my office that sounds like such a..
Dr. Joanna Fortune
Everybody needs bubbles, handbags, pockets, glove boxes of your car, put bubbles everywhere.
Taylor Morrison
Yeah, I love that. And I'm like sometimes we give gifts to clients at Inner Workout too. And now I'm like do I need to start adding bubbles into the kit? So you got my mind spinning. As we wind down this conversation, for most of the other guests in this season, all we're talking to them about or 90% of what we're talking to them about is how they play and their hobbies and what leisure looks like for them. But for you, we focused so much on work. So you've mentioned a few ways that you like to play. But I just wanted to hold a little space if there's anything else that you'd like to do, just for fun because it lights you up.
Dr. Joanna Fortune
Oh, I think anything that lights you up is always worth doing. I like to practice tracking my glimmers. You know, we're in a world where you know, everything has a trigger warning, but we forget that we should also be promoting glimmers. And that's the opposite of a trigger. It's that spark of joy, micro moments of joy. So that's a challenge I set myself I think I had fallen into a trap of you know, the play experience has been quite big and planning something and going somewhere special. And about two years ago, I started to set myself a challenge of the micro moments of joy and they would become my play focus something like a collector. I'm quite, in terms of play personality, I lean into frivolous play quite a lot. I like to do silly things. I like to dance around the kitchen as if nobody's watching. Usually, nobody is watching. But you know, I'm dancing around. I like to do things. I do a little fun thing. If anyone ever sees me out for a walk then they'll know what I'm doing. But I might decide if I see a bicycle. I'll do a little hop. And if I see a red car, I'll turn around. And if I see a blue car I'll salute, I'll do, you know little things that I'm having a little inner giggle as I do it, no one else is really going to notice what I'm doing. But I do that. But with the glimmers I've been tracking things like that first sip of coffee and the micro moment of joy that it gives me you know, really savoring that and sitting in that moment. The same with like an ice cold drink first thing when you really parched in the morning or the blast of the shower when it hits your skin, and it's been so hard to get out of bed and get into it. And that Oh, I love that any I love that moment. That's become my new play hobby is finding the tiny micro moments and celebrating them.
Taylor Morrison
What a lovely note to end on. You have shared so much wisdom and a lot of joy and a lot of inspiration for me personally on how I can play. If people want to stay connected with you, where can they find you?
Dr. Joanna Fortune
In terms of socials, the one I'm probably most active on is Instagram and you'll find me at Dr. Joanna Fortune. That's Dr. Joanna Fortune, on all of the socials, I am there on most of them. But Instagram is where I get to post some play videos and things like that. So I'm more interactive there. And my books, as you mentioned, and Why We Play is for everyone. It's not a parenting focus book. If you're a parent, you'll find something in it, by the way, but it's very much about bringing play to your own life. But you'll get those in bookstores or online platforms, whatever your preferred choice is as well.
Taylor Morrison
Lovely. Well, we'll make sure to link to all of that in the show notes. And thank you so much for kicking off this season of the podcast with me.
Dr. Joanna Fortune
Thank you for having me. I knew it would be such a gorgeous chat and I was right.
Taylor Morrison
I love hearing that. Inner Warmup is a collaborative effort. It's hosted by me, Taylor Elyse Morrison, produced by Jennie Kerns and edited by Carolina Luca. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend. And if you're looking to continue your inner work, our free Take Care Assessment is a great place to start. On that note, take care.