Healing Hobbies to Reduce Stress

Remembering Childhood

Healing Hobbies by Beth Irvine

HealthCentral
http://www.healthcentral.com


Recall the memory of a childhood afternoon…simple, carefree, and with no concept of the meaning of time - perhaps riding your bike, lying in the backyard making a clover daisy-chain, or lost in a make-believe world of fort building or playing dress-up. Remember how naturally relaxed you felt? Take this memory and notice how you feel right now. Does just the thought of those relaxed times begin to make you feel more at ease? 

Lose track of time

When you spend time doing something you really enjoy, you tend to lose track of time on the clock. Spending time in this way moves you into a detached space from your day-to-day situations or issues. In this free place, you can be at your best, and feel happy for no real reason except that you are enjoying whatever activity you are presently focused on. Remember the child-like feeling of creating fun, simple and effortless? This same type of feeling brings a powerful punch to addressing your current-day stress and health problems. 

Tapping into natural healing

When you can spend periods of time in a stress-free place, your body instinctively responds. It begins to find a healthy balance, just like a heavy ended teeter-totter finds its way back into balance. It’s a naturally tension and worry-free place, which brings equilibrium and steadiness back into play. It gives you a fighting chance to “catch up.” In this place of calm balance, you can begin to heal effortlessly and naturally.

Liberating you from the every-day

“Many women feel guilty taking time for themselves, but for happiness and good health, you need an inspiring purpose,” says Andrea Pennington, an integrative medicine physician and wellness coach. “A good hobby makes you lose all sense of time and self, liberating you from the every­day.”

Taking time-out to lose yourself in a favorite pastime provides a break from the constant wear-and-tear of day-to-day living. It’s like stepping out of a loud, crowded, smoke-filled room and taking a long, deep inhalation of fresh air.

Let’s look at some fun ways to bring healthy balance into your everyday:

*  Think like a kid. Why not take up playing an instrument, scrap booking or painting?

*  Join a group. Try out a ballroom dancing, bowling or maybe a bicycling club.

*  Include the family. Get a good, old-fashioned card or board game going, or shoot some hoops with your child, or take a family walk or hike.

*  Get out in nature. Try your hand at creating an outdoor living space to enjoy, fill up some bird feeders, or take in the naturally healing effects of digging in the dirt with gardening. 

These ideas are just a few to inspire you. Let them guide you in creating some fun that naturally heals you and lets you enjoy being a kid all over again.