![]() Research shows us that leisure is essential to bridge neuropsychological deficits, for example, after a traumatic brain injury. The apple falling on Newton’s head needed him to spend some time underneath the tree. However, it is in play, exploration, and experimentation that we stumble into the things that can then acquire meaning and purpose. In the set schedule, logged by dedicated apps and smart watches and fitness trackers that will record your pulse and heart rate and steps, every movement is imputed with purpose. Sometimes vacations aren’t about seeing every tourist spot and clocking it with a selfie, but a wandering through the streets and finding an unexpected dive bar or a local restaurant. Sometimes, you are not being punished or rewarded, you just got unlucky or lucky. Sometimes you don’t know why that friend and you drifted away, and it doesn’t actually have a deep-rooted lesson about who you are. While it’s good to have goals, having them in specific set ways deprives us of the joy of living and we forget in this quest for meaning that life isn’t a solution to a problem. It must be closing, ending, sorting, or solving something concrete. Therapy must make us more efficient, or functionally equipped to handle a stated life problem. A walk in the park must contribute a specific number of steps to our daily total, and a swim must burn calories, and a meditation course or workshop must make us teachers. We want to know ‘what will I gain from this?’, before we venture out to do it. We set goals of optimum weights, body fat percentage, or certification and monetize skills and learnings. We use what are essentially instruments of joy and freedom, whether it is exercise, yoga, running, meditation, or sport, leisure, even travel and food, often in punishing ways. ![]() We may frequent beaches and parks and pools, but we have largely forgotten how to use them in ways that free our repressed impulses. ![]() How many times do you jog past a playground and think you should go in and have a go on the swing? If you swim, have you stopped in the middle of your laps to float on your back and gaze at the clouds? Or just dive to touch the floor of the pool? On the beach, have you covered your legs in sand and waited for the waves to come and free you? Note to readers: Healing Space is a weekly series that helps you dive into your mental health and take charge of your wellbeing through practical DIY self-care methods. ![]()
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