Not all leisure is created equal—some of it feels good in the moment (pleasure) but leaves you depleted afterward. Other forms of leisure actually restore you (enjoyment). They lift you up, deepen your sense of meaning, and make you more fully alive. The difference matters, and leisure well used is a skill—and it’s one you can cultivate.
In this episode of Office Hours, I explore what leisure truly is and why it’s essential to happiness. Drawing on both philosophy and modern behavioral science, I explain why contemplation, art, time in nature, learning, and deep connection with others feed you in ways that passive diversion can’t.
The goal is not to squeeze more activity into your life. It’s to live more deliberately, in ways that genuinely support your happiness. And if you’re not sure where you stand, take The Happiness Scale to see whether enjoyment is an area that needs strengthening.
Referenced:
• The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness
• Leisure the Basis of Culture
• The Three Macronutrients of Happiness, and How to Measure Yours
• Routine and Project-Based Leisure, Happiness, and Meaning in Life
• Lateralization of brain function
• Measuring the Evolution of Contemporary Western Popular Music
• Creativity and art therapies to promote healthy aging: A scoping review
• Music beats improve walking in Parkinson’s rehabilitation: Study
• Walking
• ‘Indoor generation’: Here’s how much time we spend indoors
• Creativity in the Wild: Improving Creative Reasoning through Immersion in Natural Settings
