How hobbies can improve your mental health?
I used to love painting classes when I was eight. 25 years later, I started doodling and painting as a hobby. To explain my joyful moment coloring, I found a good explanation from psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi on a TED Talk: Flow, the Secret to Happiness).
For many adults who color, the process might well be a flow hack, a way of achieving a simulation of rapture but in a relaxed state.
As children, we have many hobbies. We play sports, take music and dance lessons, learn languages… But somewhere, we stop trying new things and spend less time on our non-career interests.
Karl Pillemer wrote 30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans. The book discuss learnings of life and explains that some good memories that we have come from hobbies.
Memories
First, it’s your time that kids want, and they will look back on the hours you spend together with fondness and nostalgia. The experts remember this from their own families— indeed it is the source of most of their pleasant memories about childhood. Second, what counts the most are shared activities— time spent on hobbies, sports, camping, hunting, or fishing (it’s extraordinary how many of the male experts cherish memories of hunting or fishing trips with their fathers) or in seeking out a new interest together. Third, the experts agree that we should be willing to make sacrifices to have that kind of time.
Danish people collect a variety of hobbies. This is one of the secrets revealed in The Little Book of Hygge – the Danish way to live well, Hygge meaning quality of cosiness. It can be the feeling of burning a candle, having dinner with friends, listening to the sound of the fireplace…
As a Brazilian Living in London, I learned how to enjoy my routine during winter. Staying home means more time to dedicate to personal projects and hobbies.
More time to “aimless”, a Buddhist technique of grounding yourself firmly in the moment.
It is a state where you let go of the desire to chase after objects or goals. Without an “aim” to chase, you’re free to be still and engage deeply with the present. That stillness will bring you peace. It will also open your eyes to the wonder of being alive.
What hobbies can speak about us and more important can teach us about ourselves?