Hitting Play and Pause

And how both are crucial to moving (fast) forward

Okay, okay, old school tape deck references (taken way too far) aside... two fun things happened last week: I completed my Lego Serious Play Facilitator training AND I tried out a new lesson in my Designing Your Life class. At face value, these two things seem unrelated, but when I sat down to brainstorm ideas for Healthier Hustle this week, I realized just how incredibly interconnected they actually are.

The center I work for embarked on a journey early this year to infuse Lego Serious Play (LSP) throughout our curriculum. As a result, we all got to participate in facilitator training. LSP methodology has been used in businesses for everything from team building to restructuring and reorganization. The concept is powerful in its simplicity— when participants build their response to prompts with Legos and then share the meaning of their creation with the group, it immediately allows for deeper reflection and honesty. For example, it’s easier to say “this model represents a frustration...” than “I personally am frustrated about...”

Plus, it’s just fun.

It’s pretty hard to sit at a table surrounded by colorful Lego bricks and not smile just a little. Even when the prompts progress into deeper questions, snapping the little bricks together to create something is just tactile and satisfying. One of the most important things about facilitating these sessions is to make sure everyone shares about what they build. This means that by the end of a workshop, you’ve created something, given it meaning, and had a chance to share.

The practical magic of PLAY.

If you had walked into my classroom last Wednesday, you might have thought we were also in the midst of exploring the concept of play. While there were no Legos— there were a number of students with printed coloring pages and crayons. One student was crocheting. Another was reading a mystery novel (as was I!). Someone was building with PlayDough.

While it looked like play, what we were actually exploring was the concept of pausing. One of the absolute best things about the training for educators that I did with Stanford’s Life Design Studio is the ever-evolving library of resources provided. Looking for some new content for my class this semester, I ran across lesson plans and ideas for a class session entitled The Power of the Pause. Group discussion and reflection is at the heart of this class, so this lesson kicks off with students reflecting on what “pausing” means to them and what they think the value (if any) of taking a pause could be.

And then they pause.

They choose something to do that seems enjoyable, resisting the pull to be productive. Meaning this 30 minutes is not about doing homework for another class, it’s not about thinking about the topics that we typically explore in class (i.e., what do you want to do next in life). Instead, it’s about spending a few minutes on something you feel will bring you a bit of joy or calm or a break from the routine.

With no particular care for the outcome.

In wrapping up for the evening, students reflected again, this time on what it was like to take a pause. We talked about how it’s hard to drop into the mindset of not being productive. People who chose to read or listen to a podcast or music on their phones talked about really having to resist the urge to check texts or emails. Someone else talked about it being difficult to allow time to color when there was work to be done for other classes. But overwhelmingly, there was agreement that once they were able to drop into the activity, it had been refreshing to take a break.

And that’s where I see the similarities between these activities— both involve breaking out of our typical patterns and routines to achieve something different. Building our responses out of Legos or pausing to read or color or listen to music both force us to think just a little differently or be just a little more intentional in our actions.

And all this has got me wondering where else in my life is there space for play? For pausing?

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Beautiful Thing of the Week

Just one little think bringing joy this week.

🎨 Speaking of play, Creative Sprint kicked off this week! Full details and sign up are here: but basically a short, fun little prompt will arrive in your inbox each morning, you create the thing and then share on social media. I really enjoyed this last year and am excited to dive in to the prompts again this year. I’m travelling some at the end of the month, so it might not be an everyday thing, but the point isn’t to be perfect— it’s just to intentionally pause and infuse a little creativity where you can. I’ll be posting on Instagram when I do the prompts (@marychris_e). Would love to see what you create, so let me know in the comments if you decide to play along!

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Would love to hear your thoughts— where might there be space for more of these in your life? Do you already have favorite ways you’re bringing these concepts into your world?

Also, if you work with teams or groups and think a Lego Serious Play workshop might be something you’d like to do with them— let me know! I’d be happy to chat about facilitating a session. Feel free to reach out at marychrisescobar@gmail.com