Ever experienced the frustration of finishing up a day off work even less relaxed than you were at the start of it? Ever set aside a day to relax and then experienced mounting internal pressure rather than relaxation? You may even have given up taking time to relax because it seems so counter-productive.
A formula I know many of my chums have found to be beneficial is, take 2 days; one to physically exert yourself, one to relax.
Day 1. Rise early and do something enjoyable and physically taxing; something different to your same-old and something that engages your concentration and musculature in a wide a range of activity. If you’re an achievement motivated person build in some sort of reward through attainment, e.g. set yourself the targets of becoming the first person from your golf club to a) complete a naturist round of your course and b) have done it in under an hour. Try to make your plan creative to give yourself something enduring to enjoy, e.g. build a nest in the tallest tree in your neighbourhood and spend some time in it loudly calling for a mate (if you haven’t already got one). The further you can get away from your normal environment (without wrecking yourself with travel) the better. Eat and drink well and retire early.
Once upon a time day 1 would probably not have been needed. Formerly our labours would have involved physical and mental exercise in healthy proportions. We would not have suffered the emotional constipation that physical stasis accompanied by mental hyperactivity causes. Neither would we have disengaged our body’s capacity to aid our thinking. Even our tendency to consider ourselves in this way – separate mental and physical creatures - indicates the degree to which we have disintegrated. Anyway, having done something to redress this self abuse and having given ourselves the opportunity for our complex and wonderful selves to work out those thoughts and emotions we can now move into…
Day 2. Rise early and relax. Don’t vegetate but exercise lightly. Do some stretching. Take a jacuzzi, a Belgian massage, a garlic foot sauna or whatever helps you relax. Read, chat with relaxing people, laugh… Ask other people what aids their relaxation. Avoid the overstimulation of action movies, shark petting, armpit waxing and the like. Enjoy letting things go. Eat and drink well and retire early.
The advantage of following the day 1 plan with the day 2 plan is that day 2 can be enjoyed from within the security of a custodial cell.
The problem with our work-centred sense of value is that we do more and become less. Day 2 is all about doing less and becoming more. This may be our greatest challenge – so driven are we to do.
Day 3. By day 3 you will have a clearer mind and a revised perspective. Before you crack on with whatever you left on day 0 it’s worth capitalising on your recreation by taking a big picture view of your patch and plans and making some decisions from this vantage point.
For a really good time of relaxation more physical exercise and reintegration may be necessary. For example, your imagination may be so estranged from your toes that a good few days of gymnastics may be necessary to get them reacquainted and to have you relaxing as a whole person.
The Take 2 idea, nice but unrealistic? This is where hard, thorough, creative coaching comes in. A good challenger, questioner and encourager can make all the difference between us sucking on our self pity and us getting to grips with the important choices between us and our ongoing recreation.
Invest 2 days at a time in your recreation.
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