Hobbies are important aspects of our lives, and once we’ve discovered them, we find ourselves engrossed in them on a daily basis. Hobbies are enjoyable and stimulating, and they may also have a significant impact on our intellect. Various activities and experiences impact and determine intelligence. Being intelligent or educated has nothing to do with being smart. Smartness is defined as the ability to keep one’s intellect active, aware, and receptive to new ideas.
There are a variety of activities that may help you grow as a person while also allowing you to relax. The following is a list of possible activities.
1. Read across various topics:
The simplest way to increase your smartness through a calming hobby is to start reading books on various topics that interest you. It could be a biography about your idol, a fiction story, or a sci-fi book that piques your curious mind. You experience a variety of emotions when you are reading and you get knowledge about so many things from the pages of a book. It instills positivity within you, gives you a different perspective, and helps you to focus leading to an increase in your willingness to strive forward.
2. Learn a new language:
It is a difficult task to learn a new language from scratch. You need utter patience, perseverance, and focus to understand the minute details of a language and then practice them. You have to analyze the structures of grammar, understand the meaning of each word, and then apply it in a sentence. This exercises your brain and you reach a new height of linguistic intelligence. All these benefits add up to your smartness increase.
3. Meditating:
Meditation is a way for you to relieve stress, get some peace and improve your concentration. You get a sense of tranquility where you get rid of your negative thoughts and focus on the things that make you happy. With the tension and displeasing thoughts out of your mind, you become receptive to positivity, practice focus, and get productivity. You become aware of the distractions that surround you and learn self-control. It is advisable to add meditation to your routine and regularly practice it.
4. Learning a musical instrument:
It has been proven by research that music stimulates the brain. It has the ability to improve memory and elicit complex psychological feelings. You also learn the lesson of perseverance while learning a musical instrument because it takes a lot of effort and time to perfect it. In the same way, you learn concentration as well while trying to master this discipline. You get to hone your creative part of the brain in a soothing way.
5. Writing:
Writing is one way to increase your overall intelligence. It provides you with a way to channel your thoughts. Not to say it is a great medium to hone certain skills like focus, comprehension, and imagination. Writing also helps to sort out your thought and think about things clearly. You can maintain a journal or write a blog. Whether you are writing about your feelings or trying to pen down your imagination, it helps in maintaining focus and improves memory.
6. Doing puzzles/crosswords:
There are various kinds of puzzles available for you to exercise your brain, e.g., crosswords, Sudoku, etc. you have to apply your brain and concentrate hard to get the layout of such puzzles. Sometimes you need to see things from different perspectives, consider different theories, and visualize the bigger picture to get to the end of it. You get to strategize, solve problems, and think about the feasibility of your solution. In the end, the excitement of solving the puzzle is unmatchable.
7. Cooking:
You might be wondering how cooking is going to help in making you smart. The answer to this is it’ll help you in sharpening your brain in the skills of planning and creativity. You need to understand the proper combination of spices and execute the recipe to the dot. You have to keep the quality up to the mark by paying utmost attention to detail. You learn the lesson of multitasking, being precise, and being decisive.
8. Gardening:
Gardening is a very relaxing and pleasant hobby. It is not easy. You need to research a lot about the soil you want to grow in, the plants you want to grow, and the nutrition for them. This instills the lessons of planning, execution, nurturing, and efficiency in you. You have to put a lot of effort into understanding and caring for this garden. You understand the lesson of patience and endurance and that in turn helps in brushing up your intelligence.
9. Playing outdoor sports:
Playing outdoor games exercises your body and brain the same. While playing sports you learn to enhance your responsiveness, have good coordination, become adaptive and gain confidence. Not to say you improve your fitness and personality. To play any sort of sports you have to keep alert, concentrate, and become decisive. Simply by being aware of the surrounding, you notice things that you might have missed before. It is considered that you boost your brain’s performance by being involved in a sport.
10. Exercising:
It is rightly said that a healthy mind resides in a healthy body. Exercising the brain muscles of your body help to keep it active and functioning. Having better circulation in the brain ultimately leads to better performance. Exercising helps in reducing stress levels and anxiety. This in turn helps you to sleep better at night and wake up with a feeling of productivity. Exercising also teaches you the lesson of self-control which is needed while maintaining a diet and exercise routine.