Source
The Essence of Alan Watts
A collection based on Alan Watts's 1971 television series, published in 1977, a few years after his death, and later reissued as 'You Are the Universe in Motion'. The quotation shown here was checked in the Internet Archive scan of The Essential Alan Watts (Celestial Arts), a reissue of the 1977 edition; the 1977 Millbrae edition reads "realize that it is play" where the reissue reads "realize it is play".
Little is known for certain here; this background is thin and may be revised.
References
Quotes (1)
“This is the real secret of life — to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.”
— Alan Watts, The Essential Alan Watts (Celestial Arts, Berkeley), reissue of The Essence of Alan Watts (1977); checked in the Internet Archive scan of that edition. The 1977 Millbrae edition reads "realize that it is play"Watch on YouTube (0:36–1:01) ↗Spoken as a close paraphrase