“Leisure” does not mean doing nothing

On December 3, at 3:00 a.m., the lecture “Sense of leisure while growing old” was held in the Hall of the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Minho. Manuel Cuenca Cabeza is the guest speaker.

The researcher reflected on the importance of leisure in the aging process and on the contributions Leisure Studies can make to rethink the uses of time and to promote better ways of living the later stages of life. “Leisure” does not mean doing nothing, referring instead to experiences that may be satisfying to different people, such as contemplation of nature, music, dance, poetry or meditation. Manuel Cuenca defended the idea of ​​”valuable leisure,” referring in this sense to activities that give pleasure, that motivate and that increase the desire to live.

Given the demographic transformations underway in many societies, Anabela Carvalho, a CEC researcher and organizer of the meeting, believes that “Leisure Studies can contribute positively to policies on ‘active aging'” and that this talk “showed how leisure activities can stimulate creativity and self-development, and give meaning to individual and collective life. ”

[Text published 05-12-2018]