How to enjoy your holidays and free time

Long live calm. Long live the long haul, in this age of perpetual, self-destructive haste. Long time and long breath: everything that leads to calm, precisely, and therefore to enjoying life's pleasures, to not wasting one's time and health with unnecessary and counterproductive stress, to making the right decisions at the right time. Enjoying free time means first of all having it and finding it, always carving out space for ourselves. Enjoying the free time It's a way to free yourself from any thoughts that create shadows and worries, and leave your head in the clouds. Perhaps even chase a dream.

A major American research project, which involved three universities (Stanford, San Francisco and Chicago), published on Science, tells us clearly and strongly what we should have already understood and metabolised in our lifestyles: calm is a precious asset, to be cultivated, according to American scientists, also with relaxation techniques, meditation exercises (which also include long, deep breathing) and yoga. But perhaps American scientists should be advised to add to the practical things to regain calm, a more radical and profound choice, which will be useful even after the holidays: to get out of the trap of presenteeism, of time that haunts and enslaves us, of the hands we can't stop even for a moment (of calm, not apparent but substantial and internal). The need, to use a word that may seem cryptic but is in line with the language dominated by technology, to deprogram ourselves.

What does deprogramming mean?

Deprogramming on vacation isn't just about freeing yourself from schedules, not planning everything, not wanting to overdo things unnecessarily, overwhelming your mind and exhausting your body when you're enjoying a period of rest. There's more to it, and it's about escaping the slavery of the clock and regaining control of your own time. That time we always feel like we're wasting and not making the most of, to the point that we've become slaves to the hands of the clock, to a constant schedule of commitments, sometimes completely superfluous, from which we can't escape, like a labyrinth.

Add food to the things to deprogram.: enjoy it, possibly in company and feeding the conversazione, without obsessions of the opposite nature, such as the need to stay in shape or binge eating because "we're on vacation." The ideal solution, as you can see, is always tied to a very simple choice of common sense.

Programs for relaxing

If you really want to make some plans for your free time, choose the lightest ones, without stress, anxiety, and specific goals, inspired by the sweet breath of lightness. The engine of your organism, head and body, must be in neutral to enjoy your free time. Do simple things: walk, to swim, read, look at the stars. And if you improvise, you might make surprising discoveries.

Lightness as a lifestyle choice: discover it in this book.

The right company

It's always difficult to choose the right company for your holidays, both because in some cases we find it "already ready" (family, lifelong friends, people we meet in the places where we usually spend our free time). But even in this area we have room for maneuver that we shouldn't waste. We choose people with whom we feel good together, who transmit serenity and lightness to us, and who know the power ofirony and the pleasure of to laughLet's avoid pests, flatterers, endless pessimists, and preachers of "trouble and problems." We're on vacation, even with respect to good deeds.

Passion and curiosity

There are two ingredients that really fill free time in the best way: passion and CuriosityThe first is an antidote to indifference, to routine, to what we do automatically and mechanically. Coldly, while in the freedom of vacation time we can allow ourselves the opportunity to cultivate some of the our passions, or discover new ones. Curiosity, on the other hand, is a spring we mustn't let rust. It activates the brain, the senses, and leads straight to the heart.

Digital detox

And what would you say on holiday, about "really unplugging", using with the utmost parsimony, up to the pleasant solution of digital detox, any electrical and electronic device? No one will think you're missing, and everyone will understand that you're truly on vacation. 

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