Have you ever focused so hard on something that you stopped breathing? Focus (especially when learning) is a great attribute, but not at the expense of well-being. With all of the time we spend online, screen apnea is on the rise. This is the temporary stopping of breathing or shallow breathing that can happen while working in front of a screen. 

Time to step away from the computer and focus on your breath for a few moments. Why? When we take deep breaths, it activates our parasympathetic nervous system which calms our body down and helps manage our stress responses. 

Stand up and flop to get blood flowing and start breathing from your abdomen. Try flopping slowly and taking deep breaths with each toss to get into a soothing, rhythmic pattern. How does that feel?

We’re meant to play at all ages and in fact it’s healthy for us to play. But at some point we learn that we’re supposed to stop playing and “get to work.” But as play theorist Brian Sutton Smith observed, “The opposite of play isn’t work. It’s depression.” 

Not sure where to start? Look at children. Spend time with your kids, nieces, nephews, or friends’ kids and play. Or think about the ways you liked to play when you were younger. Was it physical, creative, building things, puzzles? Try different things until you find what you enjoy doing just for the sake of doing it - that’s play.

Pick up the Flop Ball and invent a trick. You don’t need a lot of skill to do this. Try moving it from one part of your body to another in a new way. Or add a fun sound effect. It doesn’t matter what you do - just make it fun and unique to you.

Before playing with the Flop Ball, I learned to juggle. And it wasn’t pretty. Any time I started to get frustrated, I would put the juggling balls down. I preferred to neatly watch from the sidelines than feel awkward and messy as I literally dropped the ball.

Then one day, I watched someone else learning. She dropped...and laughed. She dropped again and laughed more. Confused at first, I eventually got curious and picked up a few juggling balls and tried it myself. Laughing when I dropped shifted everything for me. 

It gave me permission to have fun with the process - and not to put pressure on myself about the end “perfect” result. That day, I juggled for the first time.

Try learning a new skill with your Flop Balls. Maybe it’s a new flip like the front flip or the in flip. Watch a video on-line and then try it yourself. Know ahead of time that you’re going to drop and be ready to laugh. How does that shift the experience for you?

For me, not challenging myself to stretch and grow in new ways definitely correlates to that languishing feeling of “muddling through your days, looking at your life through a foggy windshield.”

So I start paying attention to what makes me curious. What do I want to learn more about, what skills I wanted to develop for work, and what might just be fun? Those are the directions I start stretching.

What are you curious about? What would be a stretch for you?

Use your Flop Ball as a reminder to stretch out of your comfort zone. Take a trick that you can already do (your comfort zone) and go higher or wider. Maybe add more flips or use your other hand. Be curious, play with it, and create something new.

Flopping is a great way to get out of your own head and reconnect with your body. By focusing in on the learning of new tricks happening in your hand, the whirling thoughts in your head often clear away. Allowing you to be more present in the moment.

It’s also a great way to connect with others. Find a friend or colleague and pass the flop ball back and forth on the back of your hands. Start standing close together and then move further apart. For added challenge, try passing two at a time. 

When playing, our authentic, childlike selves come to the service. We are more present with each other. As Plato once said, “You discover more about a person in an hour of play than a year of conversation.” From there, stronger connections can build. 

*Note - when you start passing with a friend, pay attention to if/when you apologize. When you’re learning a new skill and passing with a friend, there’s no reason to apologize for dropping. It’s part of the process of playing and everybody drops! We suggest saying “I’m awesome!” instead :)