Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Courting Uncertainty: A Paradox for Growth
#play #paradox #courtinguncertainty
Julian Kiverstein in conversation with Andrea Hiott

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• Play requires safety yet involves taking risks—a paradoxical relationship that enables personal growth
• Adults often lose the curious openness of childhood as we become fixated on seriousness and habitual patterns
• Love shares qualities with play as both involve transcendence beyond the self and openness to fresh experiences
• Active inference and predictive processing provide frameworks for understanding both mental illness and flourishing
• Breaking out of "attractor states" or fixed patterns requires disruption that playful activities can provide
• Creating safe spaces for play becomes essential for development, creativity, and meaning-making