We had Christopher Phillips in as a speaker at the library this week. Chris is the author of Socrates Cafe and Democracy Cafe which we used to model some of our programs at the library. Chris is an interesting, engaging, fun guy so we asked him back to talk about his latest book, A Child at Heart: Unlocking Your Creativity, Curiosity, and Reason at Every Age and Stage of Life. 

Here are some of my favorite take-aways from Chris’s talk:

• Whatever you do, do it with passion. Even if it’s just rolling out of bed in the morning!
• Bring “philia” to your work – a feeling of love and affection “thicker than anything else.”
• Socrates promoted debate as a way to explore and inquire, and to use that to build a connection with others –  even if you disagree.
• “We’re all storytellers” looking for a place to tell our stories. We want people to listen. In turn, we need to practice “heart-felt listening” ourselves.
• Adopt a child’s stance as you go about your day. “Look at this. Look at THIS!” Seeing the world as a child does makes you more open to new ideas.
• Any group you’re in needs to have an element of fun to it or you’ll stop going and/or stop participating. What can you do to add a fun element to groups you’re part of?
• At our core, humans are playful. How do you play now? What do you play? At Chris’s talk, we heard from participants about golf, tennis, pickle ball, theater, singing, painting, learning the ukelele, taking up low-bow shooting… Hearing these fun bits from our attendees definitely helped us “see” each other in a new way. And wasn’t it nice to think of everyone having fun. One woman said she had just retired and after a grueling career is determined that she is only going to do joyous things from here on out. Nice.
• “The whole world is a playhouse.”

Chris is a joyous person. I’m a deep believer that joyous people get a lot done and they have fun doing it. Chris is just one example; I can’t wait to read his newest work!

Wishing you a joyous day and a joyous long weekend!! Are you going to play this weekend? Our Trout Lilies are making our hiking paths playful :). 

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