Perhaps it is a sad indication of today's lifestyles, if taking time to simply BE, is a novel idea. We should each include time for ourselves, daily...as simply as we include time to eat or drink. A time for silence, contemplation, relaxation and peace as part of our everyday life, is not something we should have to plan for, but something that should simply BE. Balance and health depend on it.

As far as vacations go, there are creative ways to both stimulate the mind and body,expand horizons...AND find balance with taking time for one's self. Many vacations focus on active experiences, balanced with the time for relaxation, peaceful pursuits...and simply being.

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While in the Army, in my various positions, I found that whenever I visited anywhere, my schedule was packed with 'DO EVERYTHINGS's. Frankly, I was tired, fed up and disgusted because the hosts thought that every moment of my visit time had to be filled with something to do.

I suddenly realised that when I was at the level when I had to plan events for my senior visting officers, I had done the same thing and used to wonder why some of them went away dissatisfied. I knew the reason; I sat down to write a note to all those with me to leave adequate time with any visiting superior to do things that they may wish to do while outlining the leisure activities that could be made available.

This worked. I found that while I was at a senior enough level but I still had many superiors who would visit on inspections, other visits etc and found that their visits concluded on most satisfactory note.

I, for one, love a BECATION, my holiday activity could range from just watching movies on the television or a game of basketball at the pace that my age allows or simply a trek ranging in areas in plains, a forest or in high mountains. I ask my wife whether she would join me and often we settle on something acceptable to both of us except my treks in the highlands when she chooses to go visit our son in Brisbane.

Sitting down with a book is another great BECATION for me.

I recommend a BECATION strongly to everyone while I acknowledge that Isha has done a much better job of it -

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Real good advice, thanks. I'm going on leave from this week and looking forward to it! I haven't made any plans so will definitely try to have a BEcation! To those of you who have to work remember to take breaks.

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I loved reading all the responses to this - the appreciation, the criticism, the misunderstanding of what you had to say ... I liked your idea. Thanks!

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I loved reading all the responses to this - the appreciation, the criticism, the misunderstanding of what you had to say ... I liked your idea. Thanks!

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Thank you Isha! The idea of a vacation is to "get away from it all"--but many of us just trade in the chaos of home and work for the chaos of someplace else. I'm leaving for vacation next week--now I am inspired to scratch the bustling tourist spots off the list, and instead spend my time walking, meditating in cool old churches, and enjoying the parks and river banks.

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As Bertrand Russel said, "The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time".
This is one of my favorite quotations. What I enjoy doing the most, is "nothing".

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Thankyou, what a beautiful Idea :)

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If you feel the need to have Vacations, Staycations or Becations, it is possible that your life is out of kilter.

I figured out about fifteen years ago that I was lugging my frenetic lifestyle with me on my back like a turtle with a shell both in daily life and on vacations.

I made some changes in my life to help me get the ambient stress level down, so that I enjoyed myself, even when I was living my regular routine.

1. I got rid of all my "hobbies" of collecting stamps, coins, rocks, comics, and other collectibles, since I found myself stressing about pursuing these hobbies, and finding places to store my stuff.

2. I got rid of my habit of constantly communicating with people by instant messages, emails, phone calls, and visits, and made myself slow down and reduce my "social networking" to a workable amount of time, so I was not constaqntly rushing around to accomidate the huge time I spent on these contacts.

3. I limited my "party time" to once a week with family and friends, instead of going out three or more times a week, and limited my phone calls to one a day per friend or family, except for emergencies, and I stopped writing emails or instant messages completely, except to repond to a contact from someone else.

4. I separated my work life and down time, so that from 6 p.m. Friday to 6 p.m. Sunday, I stopped jamming in extra work, and side jobs, and learned to finance myself on weekday work.

This reduced my stress to vacation levels.

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I completely agree. My husband and I took a 7-day cruise recently. We had a choice between one where there were many ports vs. one where there were three with the ohter three days being "at sea". We chose the latter because we did not want to continue what we do on our lives already- to run around on our vacation. As a result we had a wonderful relaxing vacation with just the right amount of activity and restfulness.

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