Playing Around: Freeze!

Yet another way to pull out your stories is to do so using the same strategies you did when you played games as a child.  Here are just a couple of ideas on how to do that:

• Freeze tag/Musical statues:Remember how you'd get stuck in awkward positions?  They were awkward because you were stuck in them without moving, but actually, they were the positions that you typically used getting from one place to another.  Think about freeze-framing a moment of your life.  It could be that moment on the playground or one from your adulthood.  There's always an awkwardness to the moment because you have been caught in transit.  Use that awkwardness to your advantage.  Where had you been?  Where were you trying to go?  What were the awkward strains of the moment and how were they finally alleviated?
• Musical chairs:Many times in life, we find ourselves forced out of our comfort zone into a new realm, much like that moment you try to lower your bum only to discover that you're out of chairs.  Give an example of growing up/moving on that you perhaps faced with resistance, one you were pushed into.  Tell us why you were hesitant to move on--what was the lure of the group and the music that kept you so keen to stay on the chairs?  And in the end, was the new stage an improvement?
• Hide-and-seek/hot-and-cold:Who hasn't played hide-and-seek or hot-and-cold?  The house suddenly transforms when you begin looking for hiding places, be they for your body or the prized item you will direct others to find.  Think about your life in the same way.  Usually we think of hiding as something dark and negative, but often it is not.  It is something merely off the beaten path, a small compartmentalized piece of your life that may, in fact, be beautiful.  Is there someone, like the mailman or a store clerk, that you joke with every day that isn't a part of your life outside that moment?  Is there a flower garden that you walk past every day that just lightens your heart?  These are the "hidden" moments in your life that speak volumes about your character and the joy you find.