play is the work
go into the mess, feel the heavy and the light, and let loose your roar to play
I’ve said it many times, and I’ll say it now again: We are closer than we think to a more beautiful world.
What we know is growing vivid—each of us, a crystalline song rooted in breath. We are more than moths emerging from imaginal goo. We are dandelion fields immersed in webs of hum and pathways of light.
We see the dreams. We hear our inner wisdoms. We have the ideas for what’s needed. We know what we long to experience, and what we want for our children. We feel our hopes and prayers for all beings throughout the world.
We see and hear and know what we’re creating. We also feel the ache and horror of what’s collapsing and screaming right in front of us.
The paths of lightness and delight are emerging alongside the heavy, murky, festering density of what’s decomposing in the compost heap.
It was always going to be this way, that we’d be creating amidst the collapsing.
Yet, to know this is coming is different than to be inside it. At least this is true for me. This year so far has required me to be flexible and nimble and humble in new and surprising ways. I’ve felt significant gravity and density in the turbulence and tug of this time. I’ve also found the most beautiful, resonant threads of light and delight to follow.
Our aperture matters. Our frequency matters. And the unique imprint of our hum—our inner voice, wisdom, and creativity—matters.
When I connect with the collective consciousness, I feel the pulse of either-or, us-them, here-there. It is strong and gripping tight. I also hear a gurgling rumble for more play. As someone who has focused on play and playful learning for three decades, I have always heard this rumble, true.
But this is different—this vibration is primal. It is more than a beckoning or request. This rumble for play is primordial roar.
Within a narrow aperture of late-stage capitalism or the pulse of either-or/us-them, play can feel separate from “addressing” the significant challenges of our time.
But nothing is separate. And we are living inside a world (and consciousness) that is much more vast and exquisite than what reels across our screens.
I know this to be true: Play is a bridge to where we are (going).
Play is not separate from our work to create a more beautiful world.
Play is the work.
We must play with the density in the compost heap. We must play through the too hard and too daunting. We must play with the mindsets we bring to how we see ourselves, other beings, and the world. We must play with how we name things and the stories we tell.
Our play is a rattle.
A perfect and essential rattle to dislodge the gunk of old logics held in our bodies and minds. A perfect and essential rattle to ignite and open pathways for new questions and creativity.
This requires an expanded experience of play. Not play on the side or as escape or outside of our “important” work. Play is rigor and commitment to curiosity. Play allows us to go more deeply inside the mess of things, muck around, tease out contradictions, try new perspectives, fall and roll, be wrong and not-know, feel raw and vulnerable, and stretch into new forms and ways of being.
As I write this to you on 3 July 2025, I am amidst significant play and playful emergence myself. Play is calling me to speak about play with more clarity and share through more tangible forms and pathways.
I am currently inside a process of writing a new book full of playful practice. As I’m writing this book, I’ve been nudged (strongly) to create new offerings for humans to engage with now. I want to share one of these here with you. The container for this offering will open this coming week (as Uranus moves into Gemini). I invite you to take a peek and see if you are called to join.
As playful delight, Melissa
Seed Weaver Song
You are the seed. You are the weaver. You are the song.
There are seeds within you—sensations of what you want to create, wisps of vision or idea, tugs to try another way, dreams that you can feel in the palm of your hand. They are beckoning for your attention and care. They are closer than ever before. You feel them bubbling. You hear their call.
You know who you are and why you’re here. And you know you’re here for more than seeing and knowing. You are here to weave. You are a weaver of songs for the world we’re living into.
This is a time for our collective weaving—for us to bring forth new patterns, grammars, architectures, and ways of being. A time to create new communities, businesses, gardens, schools, currencies, and creative forms. There’s no more waiting. It’s time to stretch our deepest knowings into threads and spell them into flighted forms.
What new forms might emerge if you devoted yourself to the seeds within you and offered the truth of your unique hum?
What might you create if you allowed the innate play and wisdom of your seeds to guide you?
What are you called to share with other beings as we co-create a beautiful world?
Uranus, planet of creativity and invention, enters Gemini, constellation of communication, play, and curiosity on 7 July. There is a toroidal wildflower field between 7 July and 8 August—a potent passage for our collective weaving of new creative forms.
Bring more bees to the playground, I hear. Deepen the hums and spell the seeds.
If you, too, are called to the playground and are ready to deepen your hum and create forms from the seeds within you, I invite you to join Seed Weaver Song, a 5-week vessel devoted to nurturing your creative-somatic practice so you can boldly weave the magic you are here to share.
What you can expect:
Weekly (on Wednesdays):
Seed Song Transmission—an audio message from me to you, to support your creative weaving, for you to listen to when the time feels right
Practice Invitations—suggestions of simple creative-somatic practices to support you to trust, connect, listen, play, and stretch your seeds into tangible forms
Reflection Prompts—questions to support you to remember, revise, dream, and integrate your weaving wisdoms with your everyday life
Ongoing:
Private webpage where you can find all audio transmissions, invitations, prompts, and additional supportive resources
One-time:
Opportunity to schedule a 1:1 zoom or phone conversation with me to share your unique seed song and receive individualized support to nourish your creative process (40-minutes; scheduled at a time that works for us both; during July-August 2025)
This 5-week container will hold us together energetically in our collective weaving. All content is asynchronous and designed for you to engage at a time that’s best for you. You may choose to listen to the audio recordings or focus only on the written invitations and prompts each week. The one (optional) zoom/phone session will be a 1:1 connection between you and me.
All materials will be housed on a private webpage and you will have access to this for one year.
Learn more and register
Let’s play together!
I give talks, create workshops, lead protocol conversations, design experiences, facilitate communities of practice, and consult on matters of learning… through and about playful process attuned to wonder, delight, listening, and love.
Reach out if you’d like to discuss a speaking engagement, workshop session, or long-term scope of work for your context.
Learn more: melissaabutler.com | Contact me: contact@melissaabutler.com
Support Noticing Matters
Noticing Matters is supported by readers who value the content I share and appreciate wonder, delight, and the immensity of what’s simple and small. I am grateful to write for other humans attuning to what it means to be human and how we might be better humans for each other and the wider more-than-human world.
You can support my writing work and receive access to the weekly playful content I share through becoming a paid subscriber. Thank you!
Note: paid subscribers receive a 25% discount on registration to Seed Weaver Song (check your email for the discount code or message me)
