recharge your leisure
Avoid burnout and overload
Recharging your leisure time is critical to avoid burnout and overload. Elite sports people spend more time and money on recovery than they do on training. The world’s best athletes and the world’s best teams have the world’s best recovery strategies. The same applies in the corporate world. To avoid burning out, learn to build in regular breaks to your day. Take the time to plan relaxing holidays where you don’t have to tick the checklist for every church, museum, tourist attraction. And, most importantly, have fun in your down time without feeling guilty.
Mixing business with pleasure
Well, it has finally arrived, or at least almost…….’getting away from it’ time – the holidays!!
I must say this year our family holidays will be quite different to those we have experienced for the last 8 years. Normally I am totally immersed in cricket, either a Test series, or preparing for an upcoming.
Like all big families, the Australian Cricket team arrive into Melbourne with more luggage than you can poke a stick at. During this 8 year period, we have seen the family grow in age as well as size. Our youngest was 5 and oldest was 16 when we made our first venture south to join the celebrations; while the Haydens, the Gilchrists, the Husseys and so on were flighty young couples, no children, and no need to bring the grandparents and/or nannies for babysitting duties.
Read more of this article by John Buchanan
Recharge 100
Our modern way of living teaches us that faster is better. Speed is the new king and our lives are measured in bits and bytes, dissected into milliseconds and micro-detail. Is it any wonder our health, relationships, sex lives and performance begin to suffer?
We are not designed to go flat out, around the clock. Life is meant to be a series of sprints interspersed with periods of rest and recovery. It is impossible to be ‘on’ 24/7. While we regularly need to boost the throttle into turbo drive and plough through those To Do lists, it is equally – and vitally – important to spend time in cruise mode, or time going slow. The challenge is our culture has conditioned us to think that slow is evil; slow is seen to be the enemy of achievement. Slow is perceived as weak, passive, soft. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Read more of this artcile from Andrew May
Pressing the reset button on holidays
Ahhh, the perfect holiday - you lie stretched out on a hammock between two gently swaying palm tress. There’s no traffic and no noise apart from the rhythmic lapping of waves on the shore. With a great book and a cool drink in hand, you take a deep breath and drift away.
Sounds idyllic, but now for the real story. At the end of a frantic week’s work, you stay up till 2am packing bags and trying to find your passport. You then picked up the Blackberry and spent another hour returning emails. The alarm clock screamed at 4.45am and you jumped into a last minute cab to the airport. Four hours later you’re in a two hour customs queue. Finally, you arrive at your hotel just as the local telephone network connects with your roaming Blackberry… Beep! You have mail.
Read the entire article by Andrew May
Relaxation Response
Relaxation strategies can be extremely helpful and useful. Relaxation can help you to better manage stress, tension and anxiety. It can help you get to sleep and fall asleep again if you wake during the night. Overall, it can help you manage a whole range of situations better and thereby, to enjoy life even more.
So what is relaxation? It is more than just sitting in front of the TV or having a bubble bath (although these activities can certainly be enjoyable and relaxing at times!). The relaxation we are talking about here is a relaxation that can be a powerful tool for life. Deep relaxation refers to a distinct physiological state that is the exact opposite of the way your body feels and reacts under tension and stress. It involves a series of physiological changes including:
Read the entire article by Dr. Tim Sharp
Recharge your leisure with green days
In 1966 Petula Clarke had a hit song with the Tony Hatch & Jackie Trent penned Colour My World:
Oh, you can colour my world with sunshine yellow each day!
Oh, you can colour my world with happiness all the way!
Just colour my world
My wife Lindy and I have taken the spirit of the lyrics to heart and colour certain days in our calendar green.
Green Days have rules
Read the entire article by Glenn Capelli
Recharge your body and soul
From yoga retreats to exploring the great outdoors, there are many holidays that are good for the mind, body and soul.
Spending a week at a day spa appeals to many but for some travellers, cycling through rice fields in the Vietnam countryside is their idea of a healthy getaway.
Holidaymakers also can combine different experiences into one holiday.
Spend your mornings in a yoga class in Ubud before discovering the best the Bali village has to offer in the afternoon.
Read the entire article by Jessica Hurt
Keeping your holiday mojo
Has your holiday been everything you wanted it to be? Probably not in most cases – but it should. Making the most of your holiday experience effects personal satisfaction when you return home. Here’s how to make the most of it.
Recent research released by Tourism NT shows that within one week of returning home a staggering 80% of Australians feel like they’ve never had a holiday.
The results also show that the vast majority of Aussie travelers want a holiday to get away from it all and more than four in five are seeking a holiday destination that allows them to switch off and feel reconnected.