Summary

Wholehearted people play and rest. Play “fosters empathy, helps us navigate complex social groups, and is at the core of creativity and innovation” (100). Play is apparently purposeless and is something we do because it’s fun and because we want to. It is important, yet difficult, to cultivate in a society where personal value is tied to things like net-worth and productivity. Play is a biological need which combat depression, just like rest. Rest too is difficult to value in our culture for the same reasons that play is difficult to value. Rest and play are essential to emotional, mental, and physical health. Brown argues that “we have to become intentional about cultivating sleep and play, and about letting go of exhaustion as a status symbol and productivity as self-worth” (102). Brown practiced this is her own life with her family...