Leisure is the free time one gets in the course of the day or after the work for the day is over. In the busy and hectic life of today, not every body has the time for leisure. Still leisure remains a very important part of life.

You must have heard the saying that all work and no play makes you dull, it is very true in the context of our modern civilization. It seems as if we all are a part of the rat race. It is essential for all of us to get out of this rat race at least for an hour or so and turn our mind towards something else which is quite different from the daily routine of life. Nornal is so boring and hence doing something which is different from the routine is essential to get rid of the boredom that we have in our life.

Leisure provides rest and relaxation to our mind and body. To turn one’s mind to something else that one enjoys doing is a happy end to a day’s work. One can easily forget the tensoin and the pressure at the place of work and divert the mind in a creative and constructive manner.

There are various ways of spending the leisure time. One can engage himself in a hobby which he enjoys such as reading, gardening, stamp collecting, photography, cooking, social work or anything else. Now a days, I am busy with my new found hobby of blogging. Every hobby enlightens the mind as one always keeps learning new things. Reading broadens our outlook and often shows us a side of life that we have never been exposed to. Gardening, not only gives us a lot of physical exercise but also teaches us to appreciate the unique beauty of nature. Stamp collecting arouses our interest in various countries and we also get to learn a lot about them. Photography allows one to be creative and social work gives immence satisfaction as one person helps another person to improve his life. Thus every hobby provides a welcome relief from one’s work. It is the one hour of the day when one can do what one has always wanted to do, but never finds the time to do in one’s busy life. Infact, cleaning up one’s cupboard, kitchen, living room or evrn toilet which one has not done for a long time can be an interesting experience. One comes across things which one had considered lost and forgotten. Those objects might be linked with pleasant or unpleasant experiences of the past and one can just sit and go down the memory lane, which in itself is a very pleasurable experience. We get an immence sence of satisfaction and achievement. Another usually long neglected occupation one can engage in is writing leters to people who have either written and are waiting for a response, or those who one should should have written anyway. Just ask yourself, in todays internet age, how many people write letters to friends and relatives. When was the last time you had written a letter to a friend or a relative? You are not able to recall, right? Isn’t letter writing a great hobby? It helps revive old links and at the same time one feels content of spending one’s leisure time in a profitable manner.

Yet another way to relax is go out of the house – do window shopping or merely walk in a park and watch children play. During evening hours, I often go out to the nearby mall with my friends, do a bit of window shopping and have a cup of coffee or an ice cream or a fountain. Anything waht is different from the daily routine and that one enjoys doing is a good way of spending one’s leisure hours.

The importance of leisure can never be exaggerated. It helps to break all barriers and come out of she shell in which one remains confined. By spending good time at leisure, one can have a healthy mind and spirit. Infact, our forefathers who were free from the work load and tensions of the modern life and had a leisurely way of life, were also free from the problems and diseases caused by the stressful living such as anxiety, High blood pressure, heart problems and so on. We people, who cannot lead a leisurely way of life, can atleast spare an hour of leisure a day. Please consider reading the following poem by William Henry Davies.

LEISURE