Hike the Trail !

"RAILS TO TRAILS" has been one of the best land development programs to occur across the United States in recent years in our increasingly health-conscious society. In this program, old abandoned railroad beds are converted into trails for walking, running, skating, and biking. Some have parallel paths for horseback riding. Outdoor enthusiasts, nature lovers, and those advocating health, fitness, and wellness couldn't be happier.

Individuals, couples, and families are taking advantage of the opportunities to become more physically fit, and at the same time to see a portion of nature's beauty generally only seen by railroad passengers of yesteryear. In addition to offering a chance for great exercise, being on a trail can be a wonderful way to spend free time. Deciding to utilize leisure on a trail is a good choice!

In the state of Missouri, the Katy Trail is the longest "rails to trails" development. Already it stretches nearly the entire width of the state. And, plans are underway to complete the trail all the way from eastern to western borders. The newest of the "rails to trails" programs is the Ozark Greenways Frisco Highline Trail in southwest Missouri. The 35-mile route runs from Springfield, the state's third largest city, to Bolivar. The new trail was officially opened on September 24, 2005 when the mayors of towns and cities along the route met at the trail's mid-point for a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
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The photo above shows the Frisco Highline Trail just south of the trailhead in Bolivar, Mo.

Spectator Sports

MILLIONS OF US across the country love to watch our favorite teams compete on the court or on the athletic field. While hundreds of thousands cheer from the comfort of their family room recliner as they view the action on television, there is nothing that can replace the feeling of being in the stands. Many fans even purchase authentic replica team clothing and become so-called "bleacher bums." Baseball, football, basketball, hockey, soccer, volleyball, softball - all these and other sports teams have their loyal followers.

Spectators themselves come in all sizes and at all ages - from children, youth, young adults, middle-aged adults, and all the way to grandmas and grandpas. And, these spectators observe players and teams who compete at all levels of play - from instructional leagues all the way to the professional leagues, and everything in-between. In addition to team sports, individual and dual sports are also enjoyed by spectators.

What would life be like in the United States without Friday night high school football in thousands of small towns and cities? What about Little League, or major league baseball, or college football, or bowl games? What about life without the NFL, the NBA, or the WNBA? Wouldn't life be strange with no tennis, golf, or bowling at any level? Thankfully, we have all of these - and more!

Sports are good! They are good for the players, the coaches, and the managers. Generally speaking, sports are good for our society. Sports are good for spectators - and spectators are good for sports.

Being a spectator at a sports event is a great way to spend leisure hours. However, watching others participate in a sport should not replace our own participation in sports, games, recreation, and other leisure activities. We need a balance between being in our easy chairs or in the bleachers as a spectator, and being involved in the action ourselves!
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Perhaps minor league baseball is one of the best spectator sports across the nation. The photo above is of Hammons Field, home of the Springfield (Mo.) Cardinals, the Double-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Leisure - or a Coronary?

STOP RUNNING AND START LIVING! After all, death may be nature's way of telling you to slow down.

Life style and the creative use of leisure can be more important than diet or exercise in preventing heart attack. This startling conclusion emerged several years ago from a mass of research accumulated by Dr. Meyer Friedman and his team at the Harold Brunn Institute, Mount Zion Hospital and Medical Center in San Francisco.

According to Friedman, one of the most lethal of the suspected causes of coronary artery disease is a behavior pattern he calls Type A, which is characterized by "an overwhelming sense of time urgency and competitive drive." Nothing, he contends, can forestall the disease - not cholesterol-lowering drugs, not diet control, not exercise, nor even non-smoking - unless the Type A behavior pattern is altered.

A rehabilitated "Cannonball" (his youthful nickname), cardiologist Friedman suffered a heart attack long after having already diagnosed himself as a Type A. He is now a studiously relaxed man who is oblivious to the dust on his desk or the unraveled seams on his loafers.

Friedman and the members of his laboratory group first began to suspect that it was not just diet, smoking, or lack of exercise that accounted for the enormous increase in coronary disease in this country. Convinced that the accelerated pace at which we live had introduced a new kind of stress, they began to investigate the connection between behavior pattern and susceptibility to heart attack. Their findings - which, after much initial resistance from the medical profession - show that the excessively driven, excessively competitive Type A person is from two to three times more likely than others to get heart disease. According to Friedman, almost all men under 60 who have heart attacks are Type A's.

What is the Type A person like? Ambitious, competitive, impatient, and aggressive, he is involved in an incessant struggle against time and/or other people. His sense of time urgency is perhaps his most predominant trait. The Type A person generally strives frantically for things worth having at the expense of things worth being. Most Type A's tend to judge life by number values.

Contrary to popular belief, the Type A person is not more likely to be successful than the Type B (unhurried, relaxed, able to enjoy life and other people). No correlation has been found between job or position and any one behavior pattern. The president of a large corporation might just as readily be a Type B, as a machinist or truck driver might be a Type A.

Friedman is emphatic about the need for changing the destructive Type A behavior pattern. He offers these suggestions.

• Discontinue Polyphasic Thinking - Break the habit of thinking about several things at one time.
• Listen Without Interrupting - Concentrate on listening to another person's conversation without interrupting, no matter how long it goes on.
• Read Books that Demand Concentration - This is, especially at first, a great struggle for the preoccupied mind.
• Learn to Savor Food - As often as possible, dining should be a pleasurable, delightful experience.
• Have a Retreat at Home - Every person should have a place for privacy, a space of his own.
• Avoid People Who are Irritating - As much as possible, stay away from people who make you feel competitive or raise your hackles. If they are merely social acquaintances, eradicate them from your life like poison.
• Plan Some Idleness in Every Day - Take a new look at the world; walk in the park, go into a church and listen to the organ, walk through a museum.
• Restructure Trips and Vacations - Avoid jam-packed, hectic trips and too much traveling in one day. Vacations, too, should be relaxed, unhurried, and non-competitive.

Friedman's philosophy is this: (1) things worth being are better than things worth having; (2) live by the calendar rather than the stopwatch; and (3) consider any day that does not contain something of "memory value" a lost day.

No one has been a greater example of the "stop running and start living" school than Friedman himself. He learned to leave his lab for a leisurely two-hour lunch (always with a Type B friend), followed by a look at the city's steepest hills, a drive through Golden Gate Park or a stroll through the magnificent St. Mary's Cathedral. All was executed in the most unhurried fashion, in keeping with the Friedman dictum: for the sake of his heart - and his life - the coronary-prone Type A person must learn to rejoice in the world about him, rather than race against it. Consider this a new prescription for an old disease.

Problems of Leisure

THE MAJOR PROBLEM connected to leisure is not using it wisely. During the time in our lives when we are sleeping, most of us will not get ourselves in trouble. While we are showering, dressing, eating, and doing other necessary things, most of us can manage to stay trouble-free. Even during the time when we are working - when we have duties, responsibilities, and obligations - most of us will be able to stay out of trouble. However, during the time when we are totally free - our leisure - problems may begin to arise.

There are some symptoms which become noticeable with regard to having problems during our free time. Here are some possibilities: (1) boredom - being bored, and not knowing what to do, during most of our leisure hours; (2) simple "busy-ness" - flitting from one thing to another, but not enjoying anything; not really knowing how to play; (3) "spectatoritis" - never having a desire for participation in an activity, but rather always wanting to watch others at play; and (4) non-living - just existing; becoming totally depressed and not wanting to be involved in a recreation activity or even watch others participating in games or fun activities.

A number of causes connected to leisure problems might be pointed out. Consider the following. Many people now have more leisure available because of a shorter work week. In more recent years, there has been a shift in working hours. In many cases, the home and the family has been restructured. The flight to the suburbs, and now the return to the center city, has perhaps contributed to leisure problems. Simply put, the increase in population has, no doubt, constituted a cause relating to problems of leisure. Developing industries and technology have also been contributing causes. Even our economy and transportation could be causes related to problems in our free time.

Several groups in our society have shown concern relating to the problems of leisure. Among these groups are the following: civic organizations, law enforcement agencies, educational institutions, Boys and Girls Clubs, the YMCA/YWCA/Family Y organizations, Boy Scout and Girl Scout organizations, recreation departments and organizations, the military, businesses and corporations, hospitals, and churches.

The good news is, the problems of leisure can be overcome. Leisure - free time - is not a bad thing. It is a wonderful thing! Even what perhaps seems to be too much free time can be a good thing - if it is channeled wisely! The secret is in how leisure is used. An appropriate question for each one of us might be this: "How do you spend your free time?"

Neighborhood Parks

PARKS IN NEIGHBORHOODS have become commonplace in many villages, towns, and cities across the United States. Neighborhood parks are smaller in land area than most city parks, but offer some of the same features. The general purpose of neighborhood parks is to provide green space, and a place for play and fun activities, for the people in a specific "neighborhood." It has been found that the neighborhood park helps provide a feeling of community. Ideally, neighborhood parks are developed to serve people within an area of several blocks surrounding the park.

Often, neighborhood parks are geared especially to appeal to families with younger children. Such things as swings, slides, teeter-totters, climbing apparatus, sandboxes, picnic tables, and food preparation areas are oftentimes included. Some parks, of course, may be more elaborate and provide other special features.

The neighborhood park pictured above is located near the center of Bolivar, a small city of approximately 9,000 in southwest Missouri.

A Workaholic's Prayer

IF I WORK with the strength of men and machines, but have not leisure, I am a noisy brute or a clumsy clod. And, if I have skills for operating complex technology, or powers to move mountains of bureaucracy, or knowledge to understand great problems, but have not leisure, I am nothing. If I give of myself to everyone, and if I sacrifice my own bodily needs for the sake of my job, but have no leisure, I gain nothing.

Leisure is found in being patient and kind; it is not in striving or competing, or conquering. Leisure does not insist upon progress or success. It is not angry when someone fails nor resentful when someone else does better. Leisure abhors violence; it never applauds manipulation; but it rejoices when things come out alright. Leisure is most fully experienced when we are able to bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, and enjoy all things.

Leisure never ends. As for our work, it will pass away. As for our skills and powers, they will cease. As for our knowledge, it will fade. For our knowledge is imperfect and our work is imperfect; but when the perfect life comes, our imperfections will all disappear. When I was a slave, I worked like a slave, I spoke like a slave, I thought like a slave; but when I became a free person, I gave up slavish ways. Now we see this dimly, but someday we will see it clearly. Now we know in part; then we will understand fully, for we have already been fully accepted for life in a new age.

So time, work, and leisure abide - these three, but the greatest of these is leisure. Amen.

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Gordon J. Dahl, 1976

Refresh by Visiting a Park

PARKS are places of natural beauty. They provide for refreshment, relaxation, and a rejuvenation of the human spirit. They offer green space for quiet solitude and the restoration of the soul. Among the trees, flowers, and grass, we have the opportunity to meet ourselves once again by slowing down long enough to soak in the gifts of nature. Our own senses of sight, hearing, smell, and touch can be stimulated in a refreshing manner.

In addition to what is mentioned above, some parks, of course, offer space for more active forms of leisure activities and recreation. These spaces may include playgounds, athletic fields, swimming pools, lakes, picnic tables, places for cooking food, amphitheaters, campsites, and more!

Parks are located in villages, towns, cities, and counties. State parks are located in every state in the U.S. National parks may be found in various locations across the country. They are often considered our nation's crown jewels - our country's natural masterpieces. For a wonderful and delightful leisure experience, visit a park!

The photo above is a view in Dunnegan Park, located in Southwest Missouri in the city of Bolivar.

Influences Upon Leisure Behavior

LEISURE BEHAVIOR is influenced by several factors. First, demographic and socioeconomic variables must be considered. These would include such things as age, gender, place of residence, education, occupation, income, and race.

Second, activity related variables must be considered. These variables would include those listed below.

• Inflexibility - the number of people required, or special equipment needed in order to participate
• Rigidity - the time of day, or the season of the year when participation can occur; or the time block necessary for completion
• Skill level - the degree of specialization necessary for enjoyable participation

Third, an individual's immediate needs must be considered. Needs which may be met through leisure activities fall under these categories: (1) the need for something to do; (2) the need for social interaction with others; (3) the need for diversion; and (4) the need for fulfillment and/or satisfaction.

Lastly, an individual's personal interests must also be considered. Everyone does not like to do the same thing. Likes and dislikes are not identical among people. Every teenager does not enjoy playing basketball. All adults do not enjoy participating in a campout. Every senior citizen does not enjoy creating a flower vase in a ceramics class. Personal interests differ widely!

The best advice for leaders of organized recreation and leisure activities is to become aware of these factors and to plan programs accordingly!