Refresh Yourself !

GETTING AWAY from the pressures of the job to play golf or tennis, to go fishing, or to do a favorite hobby, is not a deviation nor a departure from a main purpose in life. Actually, it is a refreshing experience that will help you better achieve your main purpose.

Work is necessary it seems. Meaningful employment - and even fatigue - is good. Having a career that is enjoyable is wonderful. But, all of us need to get away from the obligations and pressures of responsibility by the refreshment of body, mind, and spirit.

Sustained tension on a rubber band will eventually break it. The rubber band will expand and perform its work, then when the pressure is removed, it can once again be stretched to "hold on" to its responsibilities. The same thing is true of people.

All of us need to get away from main tasks for re-creative activity. Recreation, whatever its form, like a clean wind, can sweep the cobwebs from our minds. It can help us return to our usual functions much better than before we engaged in recreative activities.

Whatever your age - whatever your stage in life - refresh yourself and be a more "balanced" person. Learn the values of wholesome leisure activities, and discover the joys that a change of pace can make through some type of enjoyable recreation experience.

Benefits of Recreation to Communities

Recreation should be available for all the people of a community. Opportunities for a wide variety of leisure and recreation pursuits should abound regardless of age, sex, or condition in life. Expanded parks and recreation programs and facilities in our cities and towns across America will provide many benefits immediately - and in the years ahead. Consider the following benefits.

1. Enrichment of the quality of life - People need meaningful ways to make contact with each other. By providing pleasurable and constructive leisure opportunities for residents of all ages, backgrounds and socioeconomic classes, the quality of life in the community is enhanced.
2. Contribution to personal development - Recreation does far more than simply providing fun or pleasure for participants; it also makes important contributions to physical, social, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual growth and development.
3. Making communities more attractive places to live - By providing parks and open spaces, and by fostering positive environmental attitudes, the community can be a better place to live. We need neighborhood playgrounds, sitting areas, and "green space" for both passive and active uses of leisure.
4. Preventing antisocial uses of leisure - By providing challenging programs that offer people constructive and enjoyable recreation opportunities, we can help prevent destructive uses of leisure and reduce crime and juvenile delinquency.
5. Meeting needs of special populations - Through community-based programs of recreation activities aimed at serving the disabled, the needs of special populations like the mentally or physically handicapped may be met more adequately.
6. Maintaining economic health and community stability - It is estimated that for every hour spent in the involvement with recreation activities as a participant or as a spectator, dollars are also spent for food, gasoline, and other goods and services in the community. Thus money is "turned over" a number of times within the local economy because of parks and recreation programs.
7. Attracting new business and industry - Companies are most interested in locating in communities offering a wide variety of recreation activities, plus beautiful parks and attractive recreation facilities. Management desires employees and their families who are happy and healthy. If this goal is achieved, the company benefits in many ways.
8. Promoting health and safety - A significant value of a varied program of sports and other physical activities is promoting safety, wellness, and fitness. A wealth of recent studies have shown the value of systematic exercise in combating stress, cardiovascular disease, obesity and even various forms of cancer. Community sponsored recreation programs even reduce the rate of accidental injuries and death. Swimming lessons and other instructional programs supervised by qualified parks and recreation personnel help in this effort.

Cities need parks! Cities need recreation! Cities need expanded programs of activities and services for all: children, youth, young adults, middle adults, and senior adults. Citizens should strongly consider the possibilities of new or expanded parks, aquatic facilities, sports complexes, and community centers with areas for a wide variety of indoor activities.

Do yourself a favor. Remember your children and your grandchildren. Make an investment in the future of your community. Say YES to parks and recreation!

Recreation is for Everyone

Man, woman, boy, girl, young, old - every individual needs recreation! In addition to the responsibilities of the workplace; in addition to the duties around the house; in addition to classwork and assignments from school; in addition to the other obligations of life; each one of us is in need of the refreshment and restoration which recreation can bring to our weary body, mind, or spirit. Each of our individual needs may be different. But, recreation has it all: something for everyone!

Some of us may lean toward some active form of recreation, such as vigorous competition on the tennis court. Others of us might like to get our creative juices flowing by sitting with brush in hand in front of a canvas attempting to paint a beautiful seascape. Still others might enjoy a more passive form of recreation, such as a quiet game of chess seated across a table from a family member while feeling the warmth of a fireplace on a cold winter evening. Or, our choice might be golf, or camping-out, or singing around the piano, or knitting, or enjoying a walk through a presidential museum, or playing a pick-up game of hoops, or most anything that brings us the relief we need from the regular routine. Recreation is like a medicine when it comes to stress relief. Recreation activity can clear our mind of anxieties, worries, and all the things on our "to do" list because we find that we focus on the fun (the tasks at hand) instead of our problems.

Therefore, recreation is for . . .

• ALL AGES (from the basket to the casket; from the womb to the tomb; it is not just for teens)
• BOTH SEXES (boys and girls; men and women; it is not just a guys' thing)
• PEOPLE WITH WIDE SPANS OF INTEREST (from pick-up-sticks to city-league fast pitch softball)

So, get involved in recreation! There is something for YOU. Check out the city parks and recreation department, your local YMCA or Family Y, or a church in your community. Go the the library, discover a beautiful lake, attend a concert, dig out an old fishing pole, take your kids to the zoo or to a circus, play some putt-putt golf, take a dip in the community pool. Do something! Don't just sit around doing nothing. Use your leisure wisely. Let yourself discover the wonderful world of recreation. You will be very glad to did.

RECREATION is not an end in itself - but rather, it is a means to a greater end.

Types of Recreation

Breaking recreation down into various areas, classifications, or types might be done in numerous ways. The listing below represents one of the ways that recreation could be categorized for individuals, groups, or leaders planning programs. The listing is shown in random order and does not indicate any order of importance.

• Physical activities (sports, games, fitness, etc.)
• Social activities (parties, banquets, picnics, etc.)
• Camping and outdoor activities (day camps, resident camps, backpacking, float trips, etc.)
• Arts and crafts activities (painting, scrapbooking, ceramics, woodworking, etc.)
• Dramatic activities (plays, puppetry, skits, etc.)
• Musical activities (singing, bands, etc.)
• Cultural activities (art appreciation, music appreciation, panels, discussion groups, etc.)
• Service activities (fun in doing things for others)

Recreation also, of course, includes activities for all age groups (children, senior adults, etc.), as well as various special populations (physically handicapped, mentally retarded, etc.). However, most people in these groups could still relate to many of the types of activities mentioned in the list above.

Spin-off Values of Recreation

RECREATION brings refreshment to body, mind, or spirit to individuals who choose be involved. Therefore, recreation has great value in and of itself. However, there are several secondary values available to those who decide to become participants. Those listed below are in random order. Some are perhaps more obvious than others.

• Provides for physical fitness
• Enables more social adaptability
• Gives greater appreciation of competition
• Stimulates toward creativity
• Helps in the development of a better self-concept
• Aids in the building of character
• Enhances the learning process

There are three basic learnings that take place as a result of an individual's participation in recreation: 1- primary learnings; this is the area where skills may be developed (shooting the basketball; performing as an actor, etc.); 2- associate learnings; this is the area where knowledge may be developed (learning the rules of the game; learning about a historical character in a drama, etc.); and 3- marginal learnings; this is the area where attitudes may be developed (understanding team play and sportsmanship; understanding that the director of the drama is the leader and the one in charge, etc.). While all of these are important, marginal learnings may be found to be the most important. And, all of these learnings will go way beyond a specific recreation activity on one particular occasion. They will CARRY OVER to all areas of life for an entire lifetime.

There is strong evidence to support the idea that recreation does indeed have extreme value!

Participation in recreation is the only way an individual will be able to run away from life - and yet run toward real life - at the same time.

Characteristics of Recreation

• Recreation occurs during leisure
• Recreation is as different as people are different; it is extremely wide and varied
• Recreation is activity; it is some sort of action as distinguished from rest
• Recreation must be voluntary; it cannot be ordered, imposed, or forced
• Recreation has no single form; it offers a variety of choices with endless possibilities
• Recreation is flexible; it can be organized or unorganized; it can be enjoyed in a group or alone
• Recreation to one individual may be work to another
• Recreation involves an individual's attitude, motive, and incentive
• Recreation may occur or not occur; a specific activity may be recreation for an individual at one time, but not at another time
• Recreation is necessary in order for an individual to have balanced growth
• Recreation and work are not the same thing; although an individual may be very happy in his job, it is not possible for that individual's work to be his recreation

Definitions of Recreation

• Any activity must give refreshment to body, mind, or spirit to deserve the name "recreation."
• Recreation means doing things which are renewing, refreshing, or rejuvenating.
• Recreation is something interesting to do in leisure which is done simply for the enjoyment of it.
• The word "recreation" might best be spelled "re-Creation."
• Recreation is play or amusement.
• The term "recreation" means some worthwhile, socially accepted, leisure experience which provides immediate satisfactions to the individual who voluntarily participates in an activity.

A BROAD CONCEPT OF RECREATION

Recreation is more than the playing of games. It includes reading, music, art, drama, the chance to converse with friends, the thrill of a hobby, hearing the song of a cardinal, the enjoyment of a lovely sunset, a quiet moment of worship, working in a garden, a trip through the woods, the fellowship of a friendly game, the fun of a sports program, and a thousand other joys! (E. O. Harbin)

RECREATION is like a clean wind which blows through a person's total being and sweeps the cobwebs from the mind; and in that process totally refreshes to the extent that the individual is enabled to return to his regular routine ready, willing, happy, and able. (Agnes Durant Pylant)

The Challenge of Leisure

At this point in history when opposing political ideologies, backed by weapons which can annihilate all civilization, compete for the minds and hearts of men, we may be more sensitive to, if not more skillful in, preserving our freedoms. But once freedom is won, what are we to do with it? What does it hold for us? The advantages of freedom from want and fear, the freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom of assembly, and freedom of the press are all clear enough and we know what to do when they are ours. But having achieved all the these (with time to spare), will we know how to use this time to nourish and cultivate rather than to undermine individual freedom?

The individual can make his life daring, zestful, exciting, and adventuresome. He, with the help of God, can put his life together in new patterns and new images. The enthusiasms, the aspirations, and the intensities of purpose come at high tide when they come from within. Somebody else can teach us how to address the golf ball, but we have to hit it.

The road to happiness which is many things, must be, at least to some extent, along the route of affection given and service rendered in using our capacities to grow, in knowing and preserving beauty, and in not abusing our bodies and minds or using up our energies. A key might also be found in the feeling of kinship toward all living things - including other human beings.

Leisure ought to be the time for cultivating ourselves in the whole of creation. It is the life characterized more by simplicity than by luxury - more by understanding than by monetary gain. Someone has said, "Latent in leisure are forces for good." Re-creative living in leisure is living life at the top of the hill and to the fullest. It should concern everyone. It is the great proposition made to mankind and society - neither of which have any other choice except to use it well, or parish. The ultimate challenge of leisure is in the uncertainty which exists with its use.

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Adapted from thoughts by Charles Brightbill

Approaches to the Use of Leisure

For those who choose to use leisure in a wholesome and constructive manner, several approaches may be considered for spending free-time wisely. They are listed below in random order.

(1) Involvement in self-directed activities; or involvement in activities programmed by someone else
(2) Participating directly in activities; or participating as a spectator
(3) Participating in activities alone; or participating with others
(4) Involvement in activities as a service to others; or involvement for personal pleasure
(5) Doing things for which there is a cost; or doing things which are totally free of any cost
(6) Taking part in new activities; or taking part in activities which have been done before
(7) Involvement in activities which are active; or involvement in activities which are passive

Obviously, an individual might choose an activity which includes more than one of the approaches mentioned above. For example, deciding to play tennis with a friend after work would include the following: the activity is self-directed; the activity involves direct participation; the activity involves participating with someone else; the activity will be done for personal pleasure; there is no ticket to buy in order to do the activity; taking part in tennis is an activity that both participants have done previously; and involvement in the activity is - by all means - active participation.

The important thing for us to remember is to make wise choices with the free time which comes to us. Leisure is a gift of time! We need to use it wisely.

Life's Three Parts

LIFE is made up of three parts: existence - those things we do in order to stay alive (sleeping, eating, etc.); subsistence - those things we find necessary or have obligations to do (grooming, working, preparing for work, etc.); and leisure - the time we have which is left over after meeting existence and subsistence needs.

Looking back at the past week, every person alive had exactly the same amount of time to live. Each one of us, young or old, rich or poor, married or single, high school dropout or PhD, had exactly 168 hours to spend. Each individual spent some of those hours sleeping, grooming, eating, perhaps going to work or school, and doing all of the things determined to be necessary in order to live life. All of us will spend varying amounts of time engaged in existence and subsistence activities. However, all of us will also discover that after all of these needs are met, there is some time (in varying amounts) left over - and that is leisure!

Perhaps a good question for every individual would be, "How did you spend your time this past week?" More specifically, "How did you spend your free time - your leisure - this past week?" Hopefully most individuals filled their leisure hours with good, wholesome, constructive, or enriching experiences. However, we do understand that some individuals made bad choices and spent their free time involved in unwholesome and sometimes even dangerous activities.

How we live our lives does make a difference! Choices of good or bad activities are most often made with regard to the time which we have free from necessary duties, responsibilities, and obligations. Make the best choice. Use the extra time you find in your life - your leisure - in the very best manner possible!

Life Without Leisure?

What would life be like for the child without moments of play? What would it be like for all human beings to be without any leisure at all and for the chance for its reCreative use? Leisure is a permanently fertile ground for self-realization. It is a perpetual fountain for discovering new interests and for uncovering hidden talents. Leisure is the pasture for self cultivation. The joy of originating, the pleasure of doing, and the satisfaction of accomplishment - all of these await us in our leisure.
_____
Adapted from thoughts by Charles Brightbill

Spending Free Time

It is possible for people to spend their free time (use their leisure) doing things which are good, or involving themselves in things which are bad. Jay B. Nash took this idea a step further. He thought that some good activities are better than others, and that some bad activities are worse than others. According to Nash, here is how people use their leisure.

1. In creative participation (maker of the model, the inventor, the painter, the composer, etc.)
2. In active participation (copying the model, playing the part, following someone else's lead)
3. In emotional participation (appreciation for music, the arts, nature, etc.)
4. As an antidote to boredom (entertainment, amusement, escape from monotony)
5. Engaging in excesses (activities which bring injury or detriment to self)
6. Performing acts against society (engaging in delinquency, crime, or criminal type activities)

Nash believed that the highest or best use of leisure was in creative participation, and that the lowest and most destructive use of leisure was performing acts against society. Whether you totally agree with Nash's philosophy or not, most individuals can understand that it is possible to use unobligated hours (free time) in a manner which is good, or in a manner which is bad.

Leisure is pregnant with potential. As individuals, and as a society, let us hope that all of us will learn to spend our free time in wholesome and constructive ways.

I Would Pick More Daisies

If I had my life to live over, I'd dare to make more mistakes next time. I'd relax. I'd limber up. I would be sillier than I've been this trip. I would take fewer things seriously, take more chances, take more trips. I'd climb more mountains, and swim more rivers. I would eat more ice cream and less beans. I would, perhaps, have more actual troubles, but I'd have fewer imaginary ones. You see, I'm one of those people who lived seriously, sanely, hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I've had my moments, and if I had it to do over again, I'd have more of them. In fact, I'd try to have nothing else, just moments, one after another - instead of living so many years ahead of each day. I've been one of those persons who never goes anywhere without a thermometer, hot water bottle, a raincoat, and a parachute. If I had to do it again, I would travel lighter this trip. If I had my life to live over, I would start going barefoot earlier in the spring, and stay that way later into fall. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry-go-rounds. I would pick more daisies.

- selected

Mirror of Personality

Tell me what you do when you're FREE - free to choose anything you desire to do - and then, if you are totally honest with me, I will tell you what kind of person you really are!

As a mirror for reflecting our personality, leisure is unsurpassed. What we do in our working lives is only a part of us, and not always the most important part. If we depend upon our work alone to reflect and develop our personalities, we realize only a portion of our potential. We cannot over-emphasize the importance of wholeness in our lives - the relationship between the individual organism and its environment, among the parts within and the things outside of us. It may be difficult to assess the extent to which leisure serves as a shaper of personality, but its influence must be considerable.

Considerations Concerning Leisure

• A civilization that creates a leisure which it cannot rationally use may well be in greater danger of destruction than one that has no leisure at all.
• How people use their leisure will be the determining factor in its effect upon the individual and upon society.
• Whether leisure in America becomes an asset or a liability depends, in large degree, upon the quality of leadership in the leisure services field.

Describing Leisure

Leisure is uncommitted time when people are free to choose what they do; it is time free from necessary activities and survival needs including sleep and work. Leisure presents a time for choices and a consideration of alternatives. Leisure is the key which unlocks the best or the worst in a person. It possesses tremendous possibilities for good, but also equal potentialities for evil. The challenge of leisure lies in the uncertainty which exists.

Leisure Defined

The term "leisure" is taken from the Latin word "licere" which means "to be permitted" or "to be set free." The most common definition in our society sees leisure as a block of free time. It is time when we are free from the obligations and necessities of life. It is time which we can use according to our own judgements. It is time beyond the duties and responsibilities of life. Leisure is neither good nor bad. What matters is what use is made of it.