Your word found you.

It is: PLAY

Quick practices and insights await below

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Cover of 'The RIPPLE Practice' with a background of water ripples, showing a logo of three wavy lines in blue, light blue, and black, and text that reads 'Your Word Found You. It is: PLAY.' The bottom indicates it is by MANSI, 'The Ripple Maker'.

Complete practices, journaling space, and gentle tools to carry with you—whenever you need to return. Or simply keep scrolling to review some insights.

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Why Play Matters

Play reminds your nervous system that creativity is safe, fun, and allowed to exist without justification. When you harness that three-year-old’s fun-laden spirit to simply play in the moment with unspecialized, imperfect tools, you will quickly realize your creativity never needed to feel overcomplicated.

Play gets rid of the overwhelm. Play banishes judgment. Play dissolves perfectionism. Play is the heart and soul of your self-expression.

Please note: This is how I practice playing—your way might look completely different, and that’s exactly as it should be.

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Take a moment

A young child with curly hair is laughing joyfully, covered in colorful paint on their face and hands, with splashes of paint all around. The child is sitting at a table with paint on a piece of paper in front of them.

Remember your 3-year-old joy:

  • Close your eyes and think back to age 3—what brought you pure delight?

  • If the memory feels distant, think of a grandchild or young child you know: What makes them belly laugh? Drawing with fingers in sand? Jumping in puddles? Smooshing ice cream on their cheeks?

  • Feel that simple pleasure again

  • Now ask: “How can I bring that same feeling into something I create today?”

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Nurture Your Practice

A watercolor painting of a young girl with long brown hair holding a dandelion and blowing its seeds into the air.

Tools for reclaiming creative freedom this week:

  • Use finger paints, crayons, playdough—anything that feels like “non-artist” materials

  • Make something with absolutely no purpose. It doesn’t have to be elaborate or hard

  • Let yourself create without cleaning up as you go

  • Do a playful creative activity with a child or grandchild in your life—let them lead

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Let it Bloom

A girl with brown hair wearing a blue shirt creates a rainbow painting with watercolors, smiling contentedly. There are flowers and the word 'BLOOM' in the background, with a palette of watercolors and a jar of water on the table.

Questions for deeper reflection:

  • When did I start believing everything I create needs to have a purpose?

  • What would I make if nobody ever had to see it?

  • How does my body feel different when I create for joy versus creating to prove something?

  • How would I want to play like a 3-year-old if there were no rules to follow?

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Explore The RIPPLE Practice™ in action at one of these events.

No matter where you are in your creative journey, there is room for you.

Featured
Ripple Room: Unrushed
Aug 15
September Ripple Room: Nurture
Sep 12
October Ripple Room: The Colors of Fall
Oct 15
November Ripple Room: Making Space for Gratitude
Nov 14

A Gentle Reminder

Your creative needs shift with life's rhythms. The word that found you today is simply a reflection of where you are right now—not where you'll always be. If you took this quiz next week, next month, or next year, you might discover a completely different word calling to you. That's not inconsistency—that's being human.

Your creative spirit is allowed to need different things in different seasons.