“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
Life is busy. Work obligations, family needs, community activities, household chores–there is no shortage of things to do. With so many demands on our time, it’s hard not to feel a twinge of guilt when we take a break or do something just for fun.
We have become a society of “doers.” The message of the work ethic is deeply ingrained in American culture and our sense of right and wrong. We find a sense of personal value in accomplishment, and can often cite a long list of things we’ve gotten done. When someone asks what we’ve been up to, that’s what we talk about. If we weren’t doing anything, we don’t like to admit it.
The down side of this ‘all work and no play attitude,’ is that we miss out on the life-enhancing benefits of leisure.
Many of us have been so busy “doing,” that we’ve forgotten how to relax. Play is seen as childish and silly. Fun is an abstract concept. When we get some free time, we often don’t know what to do with it–it is uncomfortable not to be busy. So we either spend our time in “busy work”, or, at the other extreme, we shut down, silencing the on-going mind chatter by zoning out with TV, Facebook, or computer games. It can be difficult to just “be.”
More and more scientists and researchers are recognizing the benefits of leisure and fun. Many countries and corporations are beginning to offer a variety of programs for their employees–everything from Tai Chi and meditation to required vacation time and mental health days. Yet, in the U.S., production remains the ideal and less than half of the workforce takes their full vacation.
On an individual basis, we are becoming much more conscious of our overall wellbeing. We are realizing the need to find balance–mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. We are actively designing lives that reflect this through good nutrition, stress management, and planned leisure, exercise, and recreation. Rejuvenating and revitalizing play, rest, and laughter is essential to wellness.
Leisure and relaxation offer life-enhancing benefits in the following ways:
- Creating space for silence. Leisure and relaxation offers space to focus on our internal activity. When the external world gets quiet, we can more clearly hear our inner voice. This is the voice of our soul, our intuition, which, when we hear it, keeps our life on course.
- Keeping our mind sharp. Problem-solving abilities and memory are improved. Switching off and stepping away from the constant mind chatter helps us reboot. Our ability to learn is super-charged and our work is more productive. We return to our daily tasks with more clarity, focus, and enthusiasm.
- Keeping our body fit. Moving is important to overall physical health. We stay strong, flexible, graceful, and energized. Leisure activity lowers blood pressure, enhances sleep, helps to maintain healthier weight, and improves resistance to disease. Laughter increases the activity of antibodies in the body by 20%, helping destroy viruses and tumor cells.
- Reducing stress. Levels of stress hormones in the body are reduced, providing enjoyment, and promoting a sense of calm. Endorphins to improve mood and overall wellbeing are released.
- Creating connections. Through play and relaxation activities we strengthen the connection with our self, our family and friends, our spiritual connection, and with the world around us. It creates social opportunities and encourages interaction, which ward off stress and depression. Sharing laughter and fun can foster empathy, compassion, trust, and intimacy. Developing a playful nature can help break the ice with strangers, make new friends, and form new relationships. Playing with your kids makes them smarter, better adjusted, and less stressed.
- Strengthening imagination and creativity. Play releases us from the constraints of logical thinking, allowing us to access new ideas and inspiration.
- Releasing emotional energy. Whether we’re trying to manage anger, depression, anxiety, sadness, or any challenging emotion, physical activity and leisure provides positive outlets for release. The build up of dense negative energy is prevented, keeping the body from disease and distress.
- Enhances pleasure and positivity. People who spend more time in leisure activities report more life satisfaction and find more meaning in life. Their joy set-point is increased and the neurological ability to experience pleasure is strengthened.
- Recalibrating Life Force energy. Laughter, joy, peace, pleasure–qualities we experience most often experience in leisure moments, reconnect us to our core–to our Soul and to Spirit, the essential energy of life. Experiencing joy puts us at the vibrational level healing.
So go ahead, add a dash of fun and a heap full of laughter. Giggle a bit, or take a nap. Goof off with friends, tell a joke, be silly, build a sandcastle at the beach, play fetch with the dog, host a game of charades, or go for a bike ride with no destination in mind.
Release yourself to the joyful abandon of childhood and reap the benefits.
