Your word is PLAY

Creating was never supposed to feel heavy.

Play is what happens when you pick something up just to see what happens — no destination, no justification, no one watching.

You’ve probably had moments like this already. A doodle in the margins. A recipe you improvised. A sentence you wrote for no reason.

This word is inviting you to do that on purpose.

This is how I practice it. Your way will look different.

Sit with it

Mansi smiling with painted hands at an indoor art event, Live Painting Art Battle at State Street Market in Los Altos, colorful abstract artwork behind her, blurred crowd in background.

Try this

Pick up something you don’t consider your medium — crayons if you’re a writer, a voice memo if you’re a painter, a recipe if you’re a musician. Make something with no purpose.

I keep things around that have nothing to do with my “real” work — a monster truck in my studio, a kalimba next to my journal. The things that feel unrelated have started more honest projects than any plan ever has.

Sit with these:

  • When did I start believing everything I create needs to have a point?

  • What would I make if I knew no one would ever see it?

  • What did play feel like before I learned the word “productive”?

Carry this

The thing I make for no reason is the thing that reminds me why I make anything at all.

If you want to go further, you can

This is one word in a practice with six. If you want to sit with all of them — the prompts, the questions, the space to write — the RIPPLE Practice Workbook is the companion I made for that.

Get the RIPPLE Practice Workbook →

It's free. I just ask for your email so I can stay in touch.

A Gentle Reminder

Your creative needs shift with life’s rhythms. The word that found you today is simply a reflection of where you are right now — not where you’ll always be.

If you took this quiz next week, next month, or next year, you might discover a completely different word calling to you. That’s not inconsistency — that’s being human.

Your creative spirit is allowed to need different things in different seasons.

Take the quiz again →

Handpainted leaves forming a repeat pattern divider.

The Practice Deepens in Community

There are many ways into this work. Where you go next depends on how you process — not on what your word was.

Mansi, holding a colorful abstract painting, standing in a room with bookshelves in the background. The image has text that reads: "Be with Mansi. Once a month. Live on Zoom. No recordings," with a background of hearts and a faint musical score.

Be With Mansi is a monthly live gathering on Zoom.

No agenda. No performance.

Just a space to sit, create, reflect, or simply be—together.

If you’ve been craving connection without pressure, this is where we meet. Come when it calls to you. No need to commit.

$10/sliding scale

Text saying 'join me' in white cursive font on a blue brushstroke background.
Inside an art studio with watercolor paints, brushes, and paper, overlaid with text promoting weekly updates, videos, reflections, and a membership-based community.

Inside the Studio is where the work between the work happens.

The beginnings, the experiments, the things that don’t quite work—but matter anyway.

If you want to stay close to my creative practice, you’re invited in.

$10/month or $108/year

Text that says "come inside" on a blue brushstroke background.