Leisure-It’s Use and Advise

Essay No. 01

POINTS TO DEVELOP

1. Human beings have always been drawn to a pause in work to carry on some creative activity.
2. Modern times-extremely busy lives, leading to physical and psychological problems, because leisure is a forgotten entity.
3. Distraction from work as necessary as work,
4. Ways to spend leisure time.
5. Advent of television and leisure.
6. Abuses of leisure.
7. Balance between work and leisure essential.

Human beings, ever since they emerged in earth have primarily been occupied with trying to meet their basic needs of food and shelter. Scientific studies have revealed that during prehistoric times humans were mostly engaged in hunting animals for food or in protecting themselves from predators and the elements. But even in those difficult times, whatever free time was available seemed to naturally attract human beings to creative activity, a proof of which are the cave paintings from those days. Once human life became more organised and settlements and civilisations were established, leisure and activities carried out in leisure became a more regular feature of human life. Most of the artefacts, which today give us documentary evidence of past cultures and civilisations, are products of leisure.

In modern times, especially due to industrialisation, life has taken a different turn. While on the one hand life has become extremely busy, at the same time specialised areas of activity and fixed working hours offer the possibility of considerable free time. Leisure implies free or unoccupied time, when there is freedom from the demands of work or duty. The social structure has developed in such a manner that some sections of the society maintain rich lifestyles with plenty of leisure, whereas the majority 0f human beings are preoccupied with the battle for survival. Relaxation and leisure are words that seldom have any relevance to their life. These people live under constant stress and demands of modernity. Consequently, they are prone to physical and psychological problems. It is essential to spare some time from a mechanical routine and spend this time to rejuvenate the mind and the body.

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” Most of us are familiar with this phrase. It stresses the need for engagement in activities other than work for a complete development of human personality. Leisure and free time well spent are as essential as food and sleep.

Free time can be utilised in a variety of ways. Activities to suit all budgets, demands of space, and individual and social needs exist from which one can choose according to one’s inclination and interest. Reading is one of the most popular free time activities. A wide range of subjects and the existence of well-maintained libraries has made reading a very rewarding and affordable activity. From simple entertainment to highly specialised discourses, reading invariably contributes to one’s knowledge and helps widen one’s perspective. It is an inexpensive pastime that can be indulged virtually in any place. Other common activities are music, gardening, carpentry, cooking, etc. One can also choose from activities which are directly relevant to the society, like social work, caring for abandoned and stray animals, caring for the environment, etc. Activities in the areas enumerated above impart a sense of achievement besides giving meaning and purpose to life. Activities like carpentry, painting and clay-modelling help satisfy the creative impulse in many an amateur artist. Socialising is also a healthy activity and promotes goodwill and mutual understanding among people.

The field of sports offers a wide range of activities to choose from. It has the advantage of catering to physical fitness and thus helping to develop a healthy attitude towards life. Games and sports can be chosen according to one’s physical capacity. They encourage sportsmanship and an ability to accept defeat and victory gracefully.

Unfortunately, the advent of television has taken a heavy toll of other hobbies. Two of the worst affected activities are reading and healthy socialising. On the one hand, television has many advantages, but on the other hand it is a medium which can very easily be misused by both the viewers and the producers of programmes.

Leisure can easily be abused too. “An idle mind is a devil’s workshop.” Whiling away time in useless activities is the most common abuse of leisure. People often hang around commercial centers, cinema halls, restaurants and bus stops. Such behaviour can become almost addictive and discourages all creative potential. Idleness can force a person into bad company and even anti-social activities. It is thus essential to impart to children right from their early days the value of leisure and its meaningful use.

A balanced and sensible person will never make work alone an end. Relaxation of the mind and the body, awareness of one’s social responsibilities, and catering to one’s creative needs are traits of a healthy and complete personality. Many problems and crises associated with modern life can be successfully combated by proper utilisation of one’s free time. By coordinating one’s talents and faculties one can break the monotony of modern life and prevent life from becoming a burden.

Essay No. 02

Leisure: Uses and Abuses

The observation that “we must beat the iron when it is hot, but we may polish it at leisure”, best explains the proper relation between work and leisure. Leisure is like the margin on a printed or written page. “Leisure with honour” should be our guiding principle. A leisure is honourable when it is earned with the sweat of the brow. Leisure means free and unoccupied, or spare time for rest, recreation-and pursuits of pleasure. Leisure is a kind of breathing space, or a pause in the long hours of work and labour.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, is a well known saying. After long hours of work and struggle, we need moments of rest, relaxation, respite and a kind of short holiday. A little time devoted to regular diversion of the mind is bound to strengthen and refresh us for better achievements in our respective fields of occupation. With the introduction of scientific gadgets, machines, computers and automation, we are bound to have more and more leisure time. The five-day work a week gives people a lot of spare time to be spent for recreation, rest and intellectual pursuits. The housewife has also now much leisure as there are many labour-saving devices being used in households. Therefore, now all of us can enjoy long hours of leisure.

But many of us do not know how to make proper use of moments of leisure bestowed on us by scientific developments. For many of us leisure time is more boring and monotonous-than the daily routine occupation for our lack of knowledge as how to use free time profitably and productively. Leisure is like a two edged sword which can be either used or misused. Leisure never means idleness or lack of work. We can judge a person by the way he uses his leisure time. It never means frittering away the precious time of leisure in idle talking, gossiping, drinking, gambling or card playing. We should view the leisure time as a golden opportunity and use it for our intellectual, spiritual and aesthetic development. The proper use of spare time can help us a lot in shaping and developing our personality in a desired way. It is really bad if we spend leisure without any definite plan to have purposeful gains. It is, in fact, an abuse of leisure if we use it idly. Leisure time gives us a golden opportunity to satisfy our inner demands. By means of our regular occupations we satisfy our material and physical demands. Now, during leisure we can very well satisfy our social, cultural, aesthetic, intellectual and spiritual’ demands. We can devote our leisure time in reading and writing, in learning and practicing music, or in the pursuit of some creative and social activity.

We must analyse our resources, aptitude and bent of mind and select our leisure time activity. Once we have decided our aim and object to be achieved during these quiet and relaxed hours, we can make our leisure interesting, meaningful and worthwhile. We are cultured and sensible in proportion to the proper use we make of leisure. An idle mind is devil’s workshop. If we are idle in our leisure time, we turn into devil’s disciples. No sensible person would like to be called the Satan’s pupil. For good and intelligent people all cultural improvements arise from leisure. Leisure helps us in becoming whole, integrated and cultured men and women. During these precious golden moments of respite, we can stand and stare at things beautiful, ponder on the meaning of life and turn our life into a real asset and a thing of beauty and joy forever.

Only the unimaginative, dull, unfeeling and insensible person would complain of boredom and monotony during leisure. Leisure is not for mental dissipation, flirtation, idle gossip and killing of time, instead it is time for enrichment of our moral, intellectual and aesthetic sensibilities and energies. The human mind is like a mighty weapon, which can be made more effective by timely rest, polishing and refinement.

Therefore, it is no exaggeration if it is asserted that leisure affords us a golden chance for self-elevation.. self-culture, intellectual pursuits and aesthetics development. Leisure is also a sure guard against overwork, fatigue, monotony and greed of money. Overwork tells both upon mind and body. Those who do not have the healing touch of leisure are found easily irritable, unsocial, churlish and weighed down with the heaviness of their work. Present life is under so many pressure and tensions. In every field there is a cut-throat competition. Therefore, leisure has become all the more important and valuable. Leisure carried infinite advantages for all those who enter its realm in a right spirit and mood.