113: The Importance Of Play As An Adult w/ Michael Mendizza

Michael Mendizza is an author, documentary filmmaker, social change maker, and thought leader. His work focuses on the intellectual construct of culture, the importance of play, and the balance between possibility and appropriateness. 

When you enter into a state of play, your ego is replaced with passion, commitment, and a willingness to try something more than once. Michael believes that real play is where real learning takes place and is here today to help you tap into the innate intelligence of your heart. 

By focusing on play, you can identify your eases and diseases so that you can remove your identity from your culture and discover who you truly are. Instead of letting intellect, anxiety, or ego get in the way, Michael is here to inspire you to escape your false identity and embrace the power of play and heart bonding.

Full of tips for mentoring your children, getting out of your ego-driven defense structure, and ways that you can start to embrace play on a daily basis, Michael is an expert full of knowledge and insight. What did you enjoy most about Michael’s play-based perspective? Share with us in the comments on the episode page. 

 

In This Episode

• The distinction between conditioning and real learning when it comes to parenting
• Learn about the connection between the thought process and our ability to play
• Why the love of a child is the greatest opportunity for personal transformation on the planet
• Discover the number one skill necessary to transcend your social ego 
• The importance of heart resonance and why it is missing in modern technology 
• Why telepathy is the greatest method of teaching or mentoring

 

Quotes

“You take the innovation that the intellect is capable of, and you blend it with ‘is this an appropriate innovation or action to take?’. And if we listen to the heart, we would change radically what we allow our intellect to do.” (6:27)

“Play is how nature designed us to live, learn, and grow. Play is the way that we do that, at any age and at any stage and in any activity. Play is what athletes call the zone, play is what the research community call flow.” (19:38)

“Culture is basically an intellectual construct, not a heart construct. So most adults are play deprived, most adults have not been allowed to play, don’t know how to play, which means they have these big defensive egos to defend themselves against a world they didn’t trust… all of those are cultural conditioning.” (27:05)

“The hero’s journey does not say you have to have children. The hero’s journey is to basically step out of the conditioning and the identity that you have, going outside of the culture, discovering who you really are. And then the final stage of the hero’s journey is you come back in that transformed state and actually help the rest of the culture realize what a blind box I am in.” (32:20)

“You only want what’s really wonderful for that child, and that means you have to learn and grow and change,