Does your life feel out of balance or not as meaningful as you would like? The choices you make in how you spend your leisure time can increase your level of happiness and enrich your participation in the flow of life. According to Martin Seligman, a leading authority on happiness research, it can also make your life more meaningful.
Having time for leisure is a basic human need. Leisure can be defined as an opportunity for engagement and/or meaning in personally satisfying activities outside of your work or career. These activities:
? Recharge your body. ? Stimulate your mind. ? Enrich your spirit.
Life without leisure depletes you quickly because the rhythm of life is broken. When you are in a "crunch" time, you have to stick with something to meet a deadline. Whether this time period is short (a few days) or long (several months), it takes perseverance and good self-management skills to get through it. During crunch times, you look forward to the time you can balance work and leisure again to re-establish the rhythm which is necessary for good health.
It is assumed that it takes no skill to enjoy free time. However, evidence suggests that free time is more difficult to enjoy than work. Being able to use leisure effectively can be stressful. Some people get anxious when there is unstructured time to fill. If this happens to you, give yourself permission to learn how to enjoy your free time. Break the time into smaller time frames at first until you are more comfortable.
The benefits of leisure are many:
? Allows you to connect with others and reflect on the meaning of your life. ? Helps you to live your dreams and make important contributions which make your life meaningful. ? Helps you appreciate the present moment and beauty around you. ? Increases motivation, concentration, self-confidence, and creativity. ? Increases happiness, gratefulness, and serenity.
All leisure activities are not the same. Some are active and increase flow, i.e. games, sports, hobbies, socializing, and reading an interesting book. Other leisure activities are passive and can create apathy and depression because they do not require much skill and are not challenging, i.e. routinely watching television more than four hours a day and negative thinking.
The choices you make in how to spend your leisure time can have the potential to recharge you. It can mean: ? Active social interaction and/or spectator participation. ? Finding ways for creative expression. ? Intentional intellectual stimulation. ? Appropriate physical activity. ? Learning activities which expand your perspective.
The choice is yours. Enjoy.
Copyright (c) 2007 Maurine Patten
Many people have not created balance in their lives between work and play, so when it comes to leisure time or retirement, they don't know what to do with their time.
If you no longer have to work, or you are working less, here are five areas that you can attend to regarding how you spend your time.
PHYSICAL HEALTH
Consider joining a gym, getting on a regular exercise program, taking up a sport, taking dance lessons, and/or learning yoga or tai chi. Leisure years can be filled with aliveness if you take excellent care of your health.
Do some research on nutrition and learn how to create healthy meals. There are many excellent books on achieving a high level of health, even in your later years. You might have years to live so you might as well learn how to live them in a vital and healthy way!
EMOTIONAL AND SPIRITUAL GROWTH
If you had not given much attention to your emotional and spiritual health - to the journey of your soul - now is a good time to do it. Now you have the time to read the excellent and inspiring books on achieving inner peace and joy. You have the time to attend lectures, workshop and seminars on healing the beliefs that may be limiting you, on connecting with your personal spiritual Guidance, and on taking loving care of yourself and sharing your love with others.
If you have never been introspective and taken the time to get to know your self on the inner level, now is a great time!
GIVING TO OTHERS
The most fulfilled people in life are those who find ways of giving to others and to the planet. If you have had to work hard all your life, you might not have had the time to volunteer or find other ways of helping. Now you have the time to explore what ways of giving really bring you joy. Would you enjoy volunteering at a day care center, sharing your love with little ones? Would you enjoy becoming part of a peer counseling group, supporting others in being all they can be? Would you receive satisfaction from becoming involved with groups that are helping the environment, helping the homeless, helping battered women and battered families, or helping abused children? Perhaps you would love to be involved with supporting the arts?
There are many fulfilling ways of giving and now you have an opportunity to discover which ways bring you joy.
CREATIVITY
Being involved in creative activities is one of the most fulfilling ways of spending time. What have you always wanted to learn to do? Do you want to learn to draw, paint, or make ceramic pots? Do you want to learn to work in wood, carving or making furniture? Have you always wanted to try your hand at writing, perhaps writing poetry, a novel, or a screenplay? Do you want to become an excellent chef? Maybe you want to learn more about interior design and home decorating? Perhaps you want to create a beautiful garden or learn about flower arranging? Have you always wanted to learn more about jewelry making, weaving, needlepoint, sewing or knitting?
Now is a great time to discover what creative activities being you inner peace and joy.
PLAY
You might find that your physical activities - golf, bowling, and so on are the ways you play. Or your creative activities may be the ways you play. You might also want to find other ways to play, such as playing board games, card games, or doing puzzles. You might enjoy computer games or the many games that are available through TV.
Don't let your leisure years be boring and unfulfilling. If you do not have to work, you have great opportunities to develop yourself in so many ways!
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Both Maurine Patten & Margaret Paul, Ph.d. are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Margaret Paul, Ph.d. has sinced written about articles on various topics from Parenting, Divorce and Infidelity and Cure Anxiety. Margaret Paul, Ph.D. is the best-selling author and co-author of eight books, including "Do I Have To Give Up Me To Be Loved By You?" and ?Healing Your Aloneness.? She is the co-creator of the powerful Inner Bonding? healing process. Learn Inner Bonding n. Margaret Paul, Ph.d.'s top article generates over 90500 views. to your Favourites.