I stood and watched was a group of young people with their teachers making these gigantic, dramatic, loud, enthusiastic and inspiring noises and movements – every time I think of it I start crying. There was so much energy that I wanted to go play with them.
It happened when I was leaving my kids school today having spent time playing math games with several of the kids.
I was walking past the playground and the 4th and 5th graders were on the playground. They were playing a game those of you in the cooperative game world might know as “Zoom, Mooz”. Basically they were standing in a circle passing an imaginary ball around the circle and when they pass it they say “Zoom”; anyone who wants to can change the direction of the ball, by putting up a big “stop sign”; then the Zoom gets turned around and becomes “Mooz”. There are a couple other tricks in the game, like throwing the ball across the circle, but these details are unnecessary for this story.
You might imagine a group of 25 nine and ten year olds and their 2 teachers playing this game and they unenthusiastically pass the ball around the circle. The energy in the game probably is dependant on the buy-in and safety level of the kids. And it would not be very hard to imagine a group of kids not making much of an effort (or even paying attention).
“I watch these gigantic, inspiring movements…and I start crying.”
To watch a group of young people playing and laughing and risking is absolutely amazing. It moves and inspires me. It gives me hope. It makes me feel grateful for the education these kids (and my kids) are getting.
What would happen if we all were as zestful, enthusiastic, creative and courageous as this group of people on this playground?
If the story ended her it would be a miracle, but I have not even shared the part of the story that is the most unbelievable to me.
Beyond the miracle into the unbelievable…
As I was watching, I noticed an inner circle that formed. And the kids in the inner circle were playing also. So now, there are 2 circles Zooming and Moozing. Every once in a while a kid from the outside would walk in and join the inner circle, and I wondered why.
Typically in these games when you make a mistake you are eliminated and go do something else, so I figured that there was some rule those in the inner circle had violated. But the rule was not obvious to me.
I stood and took in this gift…trying to absorb the joy and aliveness radiating from this group of people. Before I left, I snuck over to the teacher and said:
“I have played this game many times and watched it many times, and never have I see this amount of enthusiasm and energy.”
And her response was:
“Thank you. We are self-assessing ourselves.”
Wow.
“We are self-assessing ourselves…”
Now think about this for a second. Here is a group of 9 and 10 year olds being challenged to completely go for it, be outrageous, creative, involved, and energetic. And they were doing it. At school!
But every once in a while one of them would do their movement, make their noise, and then reflect “Was that my full zestful expression?” And when it wasn’t, they simply took a step into the inner circle and kept playing; all while the huge game continued around them.
If they were not satisfied with their effort, their expression, they moved to a place where they could practice, surrounded by others who were still playing huge. And when they were ready they could re-join the outside game.
It is amazing. The whole thing.
How would you assess yourself? Are you playing with full, zestful expression?
Would you move yourself to the inner circle?
What would happen, if like this group of young people, we totally went for it? If we were given the opportunity to be fully 100% fully expressed…
And to learn what it feels like and what to do when we did not meet our own standards?
I want to know where we are on this one…so here is a survey. It is simple. It will take you less than 2 minutes (unless you want it to take longer).