Recreation to Ease My Weariness...

I don't think I am the only one out there, but sometimes it seems I can never get caught up! It also seems that when I think I am going to get a little break...it magically goes away into some other activity. I don't think this is always a bad thing, but I have a real belief in some down time and unobstructed soul refreshment. I am not talking 3 hours of straight scripture study!
I am talking about good recreation, time spent doing what you want and love to do. I have a firm belief that part of living the perfect life involves being able to pursue our own interests and having time for things that make us smile and that help us imagine. This includes family activities, social get-togethers, sports, or some of our personal favorite things we do on our own.
Music is a big part of this for me. Nothing takes me places like music. I have recently started listening to some songs by David Tolk. I am not going to post them here, but if you have a chance you need to look up "Through the Trees", written by Mr. Tolk. It is a journey to me. This song is on iTunes if you care. My friend Sam has a blog about music and it has helped me to realize that music plays a huge part of our lives (You should all read it!). It rejuvenates us when tired and allows us to refocus on things that really matter. Sure, it can do the opposite if we let it...and sometimes it's nice to thrash out to something crazy...but I can never do that for very long. It's tiring. So try some David Tolk. Here are a couple of suggestions: Through the Trees, The Garden, Simple Gifts, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.
A couple other activities seem to rejuvenate my mind. One is a good movie with a good message. An example of this would be a movie like "Radio". The other activity I love is a good video game. Unfortunately the word "game" doesn't serve this form of media justice. I am the first to admit that there are many programs in this category that are not refreshing to the soul at all. But when developers have put serious thought into their work and put images, music and story together in a way that shows a love of life, and teaches moral lessons and consequences, then I believe that games can be a rejuvenating and a valuable learning experience. Some of my favorite games include The Legend of Zelda series, many Final Fantasy games (I don't have to like EVERYTHING about the games, just most of it!), some Mario games (Mario Galaxy is a wonderful example...), and other adventure type games. A game that caught my attention recently was on XBOX 360, it is called Eternal Sonata and it deals with the life of composer Frederic Chopin. It was put together beautifully in my opinion. The characters were interesting, the imagery was wonderful and the story was one that invites a person to think about their lives and choices. This was a good experience for me and shows that these "games" have evolved into much more than blips and beeps. Stories involving characters with moral and ethical choices to make along their journeys have become common fare, almost as in depth as any novel. Music, movies, and video games have many negative things said about them, but there is much good to discover in them also.
These activities don't take the place of daily scripture study, or prayer and communication with Heavenly Father, or our family activities and relationships. There must be a place for all of these things, but I have been finding that experiencing the beauty in the creations of others around us can inspire us to look harder for our own talents and inspire us to reach and dream higher and maybe create something that another person will really enjoy.
P.S. Here's a little quote from Shigeru Miyamoto (He created Mario...) about creation of games:

"I don't want to curb freedom of expression, but I am concerned that many developers focus just on excessive violence in order to stimulate people's mind. I believe that there are more ways of grabbing players' attention than violence alone."

"We need to eat in order to live, that's our first priority. But entertainment and the enrichment of our souls must come in second place. Nintendo's mission is to improve and to take advantage of cheap technology to create reasonable and affordable entertainment."

Is entertainment essential? I think yes...to an extent, but I also think most of us (myself included) go overboard at times.
Anyway, I just thought it was an interesting quote about one aspect of recreation especially from one so involved.
Anyone have any favorite songs, games, books, activities, or movies they want to share? Please comment!