Every year my family and I set goals we want to achieve during the coming year. We review the degree to which we succeeded in reaching the ending year's goals, and set new goals for the new year. I noticed that the goals I had set in 2011 that I was the least successful at achieving were goals involving pleasure and relaxation. So, my focus for 2012 is to be more dedicated to my hobbies and to guarding my free time! Our society is so production oriented that our agendas are quickly filled with obligations. Yet, play time is necessary for health. While we play, we reenergize and space is created in our minds for new ideas. An increase in creativity is one of the rewards of play.
An exercise that can help you connect with what it is that gives you pleasure is to write down anything that has ever given you pleasure during your lifetime. Maybe you loved to walk on the wet grass after it had rained when you were a kid. Maybe you loved to colour as a young child. Maybe you always sang, everywhere you went as a teenager. Spend a few days remembering anything, big, or small, that has ever given you pleasure. Once you have your list, sit down and note the last time you actually did any of the activities on your list. (Unfortunately, for many adults, it has been a long time since small pleasures have been indulged in.) Now, get your agenda, and schedule in one or two of the things on your list. Commit to play!