There is a huge difference between active relaxation and passive relaxation.
When we play games,sports,go to the gym,swim,work in a garden,walk the dog,or play chess,we are interacting with unexpected,and our mind are responding.
All of these activities increase personal creativity and intellectual motivation.The are all active pursuits.
Active relaxation refreshes and restores the mind.It keeps it flexible and toned for thinking.Great thinkers have known this secret for longtime.Winston Churchill used to paint and relax.Albert Einstein played violin.They could relax one part of the brain-while stimulating another.When they returned to workday pursuits they were fresher and sharper than ever.
Most of us try to deaden the mind in order to relax.We rent mindless videos,read pulp fiction,drink,smoke,and eat until we are foggy and bloated.The problem with this form of relaxation is that it dulls our spirit and makes it hard to come back to consciousness.
“Thinking is the hardest work we do,” said Henry Ford,”Which is why so few people ever do it” But when we find ways to link thinking to recreation,our lives get richer.
We become players in the game of life not just spectators.