My Experiments in the Practice of Everyday Life

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August 4, 2012
19 Comment

“Man Is So Made That He Can Only Find Relaxation From One Kind of Labour By Taking Up Another.”

“Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labour by taking up another.”

– Anatole France, The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard

Agree, disagree? What kind of labour do you take up, in order to relax?

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  • http://jcosmonewbery2.blogspot.com.au/ J Cosmo Newbery

    Poetry. But it’s not labour.

  • http://twitter.com/Wiktor_K Wiktor Kostrzewski

    “He who seeks rest finds boredom. He who seeks work finds rest.” Dylan Thomas
    Definitely agree. I usually have one or two projects or ideas going on apart from my work. These feed into one another: I get good ideas from work whilst tinkering away on my blog, and I get good blog ideas at work. Result!

  • Anne

    Doesn’t apply to me. I’m happy just walking around the yard and daydreaming, or reading a book. It does apply to my husband. If he takes up a hobby, it quickly turns into a second (or third!) profession. I’d hate this, but he appears to thrive on it, so I “let it be.”

    Maybe each of us nurtures the other’s unrealized wish for exploration of one end of the “peaceful/aspiring” continuum.

    • Veronique

      Nor to me but my husband is the exact same. I used to have your attitude you do but I have found recently that I am get frustrated by his apparent inability to just chill out with me. I feel mean because i am beginning to feel resentful. In order to spend time with him I will join him in one of his hobbies but I just wish sometimes that now that our child is older and we have time that he would opt to do things with me that we both enjoy. I’m not asking for a lot of time just a bit more. I actually enjoy spending a lot of time on my own but I like his company too! i am happy to have read your comment. It makes me wonder if I need to remind myself to ‘let it be’ also.

      • Veronique

        Argh sticky keys meant to say ‘the’ attitude you have and ‘getting’ frustrated…

  • katc

    knitting! or I take up baking a “stress cake” when I am upset which usually means throwing everything I have on hand together and trying to make a beautiful dessert out of it. The catch is I can’t go out to buy any ingredients…I have to get creative.

  • 423

    I am an art historian. When I want to relax I visit Google Art Project or do web searches on my various in-progress topics.

  • Renu Zaretsky

    When I want to relax, I clean. I find it to be a nice distraction, it gives me a sense of accomplishment, and a sense of order.

  • Rabba jabba

    I boogie down with a phantom dance partner

  • Reneka

    Gardening…I used to despise it. When my grandfather passed away two years ago I decide to make a tulip bed in his honor. He always had these amazing tulip beds. Then, I remembered my grandmother liked Impatience, and mt mom likes Day Lillies. So began my love of gardening.. But boy am I tired (yet relaxed) after a day of that!!

  • Peace Freedom

    Cleaning and organizing.

  • Dalon Gage

    scrapbooking – organizing photos and documenting life – doing this relieves a little stress and accomplishes something for my family as well as gives me an overall sense of accomplishment ;-)

  • Kristine

    This is a guy who never stared into a fire for an hour or so. No labor there – and very relaxing!

  • Joe Hobbs

    I enjoy carpentry, really relaxes me a lot working with wood. I love to make furniture and refurbish old furniture, stairs, doors, etc.. The smell of the wood I really like, both when working and when I walk into my house and it smells like wood. It’s a job that I enjoy and recommend them to everyone.
    Regards,
    Joe Hobbs – Recetas Faciles

  • Marabeth D.

    laundry is really relaxing for me, and always has been.

  • Laura Vanderkam

    Agree. It’s like cross-training, active recovery. Running rejuvenates me for writing far more than staring into space.

  • Britt

    So true. I *must* have an “after-the-semester,” fun-but-absorbing project ready to go for the day after final grades are due, or I can’t relax and end up winding myself up into a terrible state.

  • Kim Dalmaijer

    My most relaxing state is drinking a glass of wine while casually cooking and washing up dishes in my kitchen. The chopping, stirring, tasting and general sway and rhythm to kitchen life suits me and I take up the enormous task of making a delicious meal, wiping the kitchen down, and polishing up the dishes. Life is a lot easier with a dishwasher. Happiness is a sink full of dirty dishes to remind me of all my riches.

  • Jenny

    This is true for me. I transition from several ongoing projects, beginning with home education in the morning, clean-up and meal prep, sewing and writing poetry or blogging. I wish I was the kind of person who could sit and meditate on consciousness, but I need a constructive task to work through emotions, events, and the ordinary day. I also run, hike, kayak and engage in long conversations with my husband. My middle age state of rest is a state of gentle, ongoing labor.

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