3 words, all of them beginning with ‘R’, and all of them needed to make our lives happier and flowing more easily:

1.Recreation. 2.Relaxation. 3.Rich parents.

Ok, number 3 is a joke, and a fairly poor one at that, so let’s concentrate on the first – recreation.

Music, sport, art, dance, films. It doesn’t matter what your choice is when it comes to recreation.

What does matter though, is that you do it, and do it regularly. When we take part in recreation, we release our own natural feelgood potion – endorphins.

In my case, it’s music. When I play the drums, or listen to a song I love, I can shut my eyes and feel the stress and strains lift right off me.

It’s no big secret, it’s brain association. The brain associates the activity with a happy relaxed you, so when you do the activity, you feel happy and relaxed!

Ah yes, relaxation, the second of our all-important ‘R’s. Relaxation is not just for sissies, it’s not just for wasters, it’s essential for the body.

The body cannot keep going non-stop forever. It will conk out eventually, a bit like my car.

You need to get enough sleep, and you need to have time for your self, to do nothing, and just ‘be’.

This can be as little as a five minute meditation using relaxation techniques.

In our ever-more hectic lives, recreation and relaxation seem like bonuses, luxuries we can have ‘later’.

Wrong! They are not luxuries, they are essential for your productivity and well being, and just as you schedule your tasks to get them done efficiently, you also must, I repeat *must* schedule recreation and relaxation.