Leisure is not for all, it is meant for those who are busy mentally or physically. Take a holiday at least once a year. If there is no money, never mind, borrow, enjoy the holiday and pay later. This is most prevalent in the west among the affluent or economically independent. They do not have to collect huge sums for their house, marriage of their daughters and old age. Children leave their homes early in life as they grow up. They can buy a house or a car immediately as soon as they get a job and pay for it by instalments.
Our tradition of leisure is much older than that of the west, our religious and social set up is such that we are geared to taking several holidays. Poets have written abundantly about pleasure to be derived from leisure. They have written about the changing life during the 12 months of the year and have studied deeply the changes taking place in the nature during all the seasons. Singers have developed ragas which are sung in different seasons.
They have also evolved ragas which are sung at different hours of the day. Indian princes and noblemen have spent hours in the garden of their palaces watching dances and listening to music. They woke up to the grandeur of the music of sahnai in the morning. The kirtan and ajan of the mulla in sonorous Arabic words was meant to renew the body-soul. Village folks walked around the well every morning singing while collecting the water. Mothers have been singing to their babies throughout the ages putting them to sleep. Women folk sings while walking, to the river to take their bath.
Rock-a-Bye baby tapes that soothe restless infants and induce sleep may soon offer new hope to drug addicts. There tapes combine the relaxing music of Bach and Laurie Anderson with nature’s own special sounds, the sort herd by unborn babies in the womb. This music is being developed for restless babies by a research organisation. It has been noticed that adults also become much more calm and relaxed when the baby tapes are played.
The field of therapeutic sound is immense and offers exciting possibilities. “So we decided to develop tapes for adults,” said psychologist Clifford Olds. Mr. Olds of Runwell Hospital, Wickford, Essex, says that sound we hear in our sub-conscious has potentially a huge therapeutic effect. Hear some soothing music for half an hour before you go to bed, you will sleep better.
Go back to nature see how much it can make you feel relaxed. Listen to your body when you are tensed up from long months of a routine existence. When the body seems not to be obeying the mind, you feel tired and irritable. This is the time for a holiday. Come out of the rut of the daily routine. Force yourself out of a dull environment. When you come back from a week’s holiday you will be rejuvenated. The body mind will be more alert. The spirit will be more alive and the speed of work much enhanced. The ethos of the life philosophy, since ages, had been that our existence is not been given to us merely to earn money, to survive, on a physical plane. Life is to live and to search for happiness for body and soul.