The
following list is designed to stimulate ideas for activities that may
improve your weekly pleasure as well as provide stress-buffering
effects. In considering the list, think of the variations on themes that
may make an activity especially rewarding. For example, going swimming
at a local pond instead of the local pool or grilling in a local park
instead of your backyard may make your activity more memorable.
Likewise, little things added to a regular activity—buying your favorite
childhood candy at the movie theater or fixing a cup of hot chocolate
to drink while reading a novel—transform an experience by evoking past
pleasant memories.
Because
the mood-promoting effects of exercise are powerful, the list begins
with these activities. Any level of exercise is a good start, but over
time, for exercise to have its
desired effect on mood, you should exercise for 30 minutes a day, three
days per week. When you go through the list, check off those activities
of most interest to you.
■ Take daily walks for pleasure
■ Jog (park, track, gym)
■ Rollerblade
■ Ride a bicycle
■ Go swimming
■ Go windsurfing
■ Try sailing
■ Paddle a canoe or kayak
■ Go fishing in a local stream or pond
■ Go skiing
■ Go ice skating
■ Play tennis
■ Kick around a soccer ball
■ Join a softball league
■ Play volleyball
■ Shoot baskets with a friend
■ Set up a
racquetball date
■ Call two friends and go bowling
■ Play with a frisbee
■ Take a kid to mini golf
■ Start a program of weight lifting
■ Take a yoga class
■ Go to an indoor rock climbing center—take a lesson
■ Build a snow fort and have a snowball fight
■ Walk in the snow and listen to your footsteps
■ Catch snowflakes in your mouth
■ Sign up for a sculpting class
■ Bake a cake
■ Draw
■ Paint (oils, acrylics, watercolor)
■ Climb a tree
■ Go for an evening drive
■ Go to a drive-in movie
■ See a movie
■ Volunteer to work at a soup kitchen
■ Join a museum Friday night event
■ Write a letter to a friend
■ Sing a song
■ Play a musical instrument
■ Take an art class
■ Walk a dog
■ Volunteer to walk dogs for a local animal shelter
■ Play with children
■ Visit a pet shop and look at the animals
■ Sit in the sun
■
Read in a rocking chair
■ Sit on a porch swing
■ Go for a hike
■ Learn to knit
■ Do a crossword puzzle (every day for a week)
■ Go out for an ice cream sundae
■ Rent a garden plot at a local farm or community space
■ Grill dinner in the backyard
■ Take a bath at night with candles around the tub
■ Read the newspaper in a coffee shop
■ Schedule a kissing-only date with your romantic partner
■ Order hot chocolate in a restaurant
■ Buy flowers for the house
■ Get a massage
■ Reread a book you read in high school or college
■ Bake cookies for a neighbor
■ Have a garage sale (perhaps with a neighbor)
■ Wear purple
■ Start a program of daily morning sit-ups or push-ups
■ Get an atlas and look up a country you don’t know about
■ Buy a spool of wire and make a sculpture
■ Go to an art museum and fi nd one piece you really like
■ Buy a magazine on a
topic you know nothing about
■ Polish all of your shoes
■ Buy a new plant
■ Clean out a closet
■ Write a letter to the editor of the local newspaper
■ Repaint a table or a shelf
■ Go to a diner for breakfast
■ Devote a meal to cooking red, white, and blue foods
■ Plan an affordable three-day vacation
■ Start a collection of heart-shaped rocks
■ Find your top three favorite videos on YouTube and share them with a friend
■ Woodworking—build a table or a chair
■ Burn a CD of your favorite movie music
■ Take a dance class
■ Learn to fold dollar bills into origami creatures
■ Soak your feet in warm water
■ Learn to juggle
■ Clean and polish the inside of your car
■ Go to a concert
■ Meditate
■ Organize a weekly game of cribbage or bridge
■ Look at a map
■ Plan a drive in the country
■ Sew some napkins
■ Make a pizza and bake it
■ Buy
a cookbook and make three new meals
■ Read a novel
■ Listen to your favorite song from high school . . . really loudly
■ Rent a video, make popcorn, and invite friends over