Until recently it was believed that our brains stopped developing at a specific point in our lives (quite a young age, between 9 and 27 according to which research you use).

Current research into recovery from head injuries and physical brain damage has shown that this is incorrect. Our brains are capable of continual development. When or  why this ceases is not yet known but its a considerable change in perspective.

This research is now being extended into discovering methods of recovering from psychological trauma. It is showing that entering into a variety of “altered states” such as meditation and meditative prayer allows the brain not just to physically heal but, excitingly to develop totally new pathways; to increase its capacity.

Just as walking through a field of corn creates paths through it,  which if reused become stronger; so it is with the pathways in our brains.

Repeated actions, even to the degree of a repeated expectation of a particular result (which is then proved or disproved, or shown to be right or wrong) cause those pathways to become stronger; to become ingrained behaviours or beliefs. This is how our expectations can cause us to close down possibilities.

I’m undertaking groundbreaking research for my forthcoming book looking at how returning to the childlike state of wonder and discovery, suspending expectation of any particular results through playing can have beneficial effects for all adults.

As children we don’t know what to expect from the world. We’re in a constant state of exploration and wonder. We literally believe that anything can happen.

As adults we know (or believe we know) what the results of our actions will be a lot of the time, in fact mostly we are more comfortable when we know what to expect.

We lose the true childlike ability to explore, even research has to have a hypothesis to prove or disprove. Explorers have a goal they believe they can achieve or “fail in the attempt”.

All our actions become guided by our expectation of a particular result.

What we refer to as “negative” or “limiting” beliefs come out of these expectations, just as our “positive” or more “helpful” beliefs do ~ the things we don’t want to change, that serve us in our goals.

When seen from this perspective, everything we do is guided by what we expect to happen but those expectations or beliefs are simply the paths in the cornfields of our brain which are the strongest and widest; the ones we travel down most often.

What would happen if we created new pathways where none have ever existed?

What if our field of corn was forever new, if the corn sprang up and no old paths or expectations ever existed?

Obviously, it’s convenient and time saving for this not to always happen. We need to be able to predict, but what if sometimes we didn’t, if sometimes we allowed totally new paths to spring up, if we went down uncharted territory even when repeating experiences we’ve already had?

What if we gave ourselves the opportunity to be open to new possibilities?

Play can give us the opportunity to be open in this way, to be in an environment where we are free to explore and discover anew, to suspend our expectations and simply be fully in the now, totally in touch with all our senses and not judging what we experience.

To enable us to do this, to step outside of our every day life and really experience and explore like a child we need an environment which feels very safe (we’re our own harshest judges, to pause this we need to feel that others aren’t going to judge or condemn us for “being childish”). Rules of the play space are simple:

No competition, No role plays, No expectations.

What I’m referring to as play here is not something any of us usually do once we’re past the age of around 5, although we’d never learn to walk or talk in the state we exist in as adults considering that the average baby falls over 11,000 times before it learns to even stand!

The play I’m referring to is beyond right and wrong, winning or losing, it is an exploration that enables us to open up our brain and ourselves to everything being different. A place of pure potential where we are once again open to the magic of discovery.

An easier route to being fully in the “Now”.

Research in this field is being carried out into using this state to heal severe stress and trauma but it’s my belief that we can all benefit from accessing more possibilities, from expanding our brains in this way.

In past times people had the opportunity to drift off; staring into the fire, gazing at clouds, even to be bored; for their brains to unfocus.

There’s no time for that now. The fast pace of life, the demands on us, our belief that we’re wasting time if we’re not multi-tasking constantly, mean we are driven by goals and measurements. There is an expectation that even children will be always busy.

Our children, our jobs, our phones and mobile internet mean we’re never away from the demands of other people.

As entrepreneurs we’re constantly on duty. We’ve made doing what we love into the way we make money, meaning that this now is driven by the stressful demands of deadlines and expectation.

Pure play gives us the chance to stop all these demands. To turn off the phone and not be available, to be free for a moment.

In itself this relieves stress but using this time, this empty space to feed our brains, our creativity:- knowing the effect of this time and freedom fulfils our need for every moment to be fruitful, it gives us permission to switch off the phone and not be actively working towards a “result”, but to step into a child’s world of wonder, magic and exploration.

Yes, I realise I am giving a conflicted message here, but we’re all a product of the age we live in. To exist totally outside of time, expectations and accountability is not realistic (even Eckhardt Tolle has deadlines from his publishers and has to be on the couch at the right time for Oprah).

We need to know our time is actually being fruitfully spent in order to let go of the demands, to allow ourselves the freedom of true play and to be fully free of expectation and to give ourselves this gift of stepping outside of time, the demands of our lives and even of expectation and meaning.

Play with no specific function, no winning or losing, no goals gives us the chance to enter into this child’s world of discovery and wonder; of magic.

Will you join me and participate in this exciting research?