Leisure—it’s more than a commodity
“Leisure is a form of silence, not noiselessness. It is the silence of contemplation such as occurs when we let our minds rest on a rosebud, a child at play, a Divine mystery, or a waterfall.”
The marketing and providing of leisure services have grown to a multimillion-dollar industry, designed for the most part to capture what individuals consider their “disposable” income. To that end, the wheels of industry churn 24/7 to grab the consumer and his/her dollars before another provider of “fun and fulfillment” moves ahead in the queue. An outcome of this frenetic competition is that our mailboxes, newspapers, magazines, telephones, computers, and TV screens are filled with ads and invitations to find a better quality of life through spending our time, money, and passion on leisure products.
The list of the current top 10 most-viewed leisure companies on www.hoovers.com ranges from the McDonald’s Corporation at the number one spot to Playboy Enterprises, Inc. coming in tenth, with Starbucks, Walt Disney, and a few other well-known entities in between. What this says to me is that as a culture we link leisure primarily to eating (especially if it is fast food) and entertainment— participatory or not. Realizing that there is pleasure in time spent in both of those categories, it is interesting that the list doesn’t reflect one representative of the contemplation Sheen mentions in his numerous writings and reflections on leisure.
As I interview adults over the age of 50, I find a fair number who engage in activities, events, and even causes that aren’t on the list but that provide enormous pleasure and satisfaction. Some of these are referred to in Sheen’s quote, and many others I observe in the Touchmark communities I visit: gardeners, artists, readers, poets, knitters, quilters, crafters, dancers, musicians, woodworkers, storytellers, mentors to young children and adults, travelers, cooks, and writers— a vast array of talent and engagement as individual as each person I meet.
At Touchmark, theLife Enrichment/Wellness program focuses on bringing people together for activities and events that provide pleasure and fun. However, the individual need for personal engagement and contemplative leisure is an equally important emphasis of the program. Residents, family, and staff are encouraged to talk to our Life Enrichment/Wellness staff about how they define leisure— both individually and collectively.
© 2007 Touchmark