“My favorite puzzle game is Darwinian Brain Tease…you identify evolutionary riddles and try to think of solutions.” ~David Stipp, Why Rats Laugh & Jellyfish Sleep: And other Enchanting Stories of Evolution
I recently read this book and loved the idea of this game. We can play it anywhere, alone or with other people, and it doesn’t take any tools other than our imagination.
It reminds me of a meditation game I used to play when I was sick and wanted to be anywhere other than in my body. It was the pandemic so I couldn’t go anywhere and couldn’t see people other than my medical team. I would close my eyes and imagine myself as different animals: a snake shedding their skin, a bat flying at night, a giraffe tall and elegant looking down on the world below, and my favorite – imagining myself with my dog Phineas, able to breathe underwater and exploring the ocean with a whale named Blue as our tour guide.
This game connected me to nature, gave me a place to go when I couldn’t go anywhere, and got me outside of my body that was broken and bruised. Putting my mind into nature, even if my body couldn’t be there, shifted my perspective and helped me rest on many nights of relentless insomnia, worry, fear, and grief. I gave those emotions over to nature, and in return I found that they were fuel for creativity and hope.
Christa Avampato 