The following Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson

and is narrated by Tina Lehman.

Why hobbies are an important part of primal living.

So what do you do? We've heard the question, and likely asked it, a million times over when meeting people.

It's the standard line for small talk, but it's always rubbed me the wrong way.

Admittedly, the question itself isn't the problem.

I personally love hearing what people are up to, but the assumption

behind the question, what do you do to make a living, often won't get you to the real stories.

For me, I'd rather hear about how people feed their passions than how they pay their bills.

For many, if not most people, the two don't go hand in hand. I think

those passions might be in shorter supply these days, and it's a sad turn of events for the collective

creativity as well as personal well-being. With extended work hours and commutes, as well as the

prevalence of technological distractions, many of us are devoting fewer hours to hobbies.

We fulfill the requirements of the day, but what do we end up doing for fun beyond the

passive entertainments of the television and computer?

And when we do take advantage and do something we enjoy, do we take the time to cultivate

our interest?

Do we allow ourselves to delve into an

activity many times over to develop a skill for pure enjoyment and mastery's sake as opposed to

practical gain? Even if we can't recall the last time we devoted our time to anything resembling

a hobby, we can likely recall our parents or grandparents at their pastimes, cooking,

creating, tinkering, maybe your mother sewed clothes for enjoyment or honed a photography talent.

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