Fine Art of Doing Nothing

received this today from Spent, a newsletter promoting a book by the same name about the most common disease in the 21st century, burn-out.

"It turns out that our brains need to have time out…or, as a recent brain study reveals…time in.

According to a study done in May of 2009 led by Stanford and Cambridge (UK) educated Kalina Christoff who heads up the Cognitive Neuroscience of Thought Laboratory at the University of British Columbia in Canada, letting your mind wander allows the areas of the brain associated with problem-solving become more active.

Until her recently, scientists believed that the brain would be busiest and most engaged when occupied with specific tasks – reading, writing, in conversation, focused thinking and doing. But Christoff and her team found that "Our brains are very active when we daydream – much more active than when we focus on routine tasks."

She goes on to say, "When you daydream, you may not be achieving your immediate goal – say reading a book or paying attention in class – but your mind may be taking that time to address more important questions in your life, such as advancing your career or personal relationships."

Or you may be doing some creative loafing, turning off the focus on productivity and letting the mind wander in to imaginations territory.

Summer days, heat finally wafting in, turns us into creative loafers. So hit the deck, or the hammock, or the lawn chair, with a cold lemonade, and turn on your brain.

cultivate the fine art of doing nothing....

musemother

The Art of Napping

here's a novel thought, "If you have too much to do, take a ten minute nap" (The art of Doing Nothing, by Veronique Vienne).

"What looks from the ouside like inertia is, in fact, an active internal state teeming with rapidly firing neurons."

Vienne compares our napping brain to a humming power station that is firing up more producitivty, alertness and discernment. It's true that lack of sleep can make us unable to concentrate.

So take a nap and avoid disaster. Let the goddess of sleep Morphia (ok so it's the son of the god of sleep, but let's feminize her because we need her help) carry you off to enhanced brain networking land while you doze.

Seriously though, naps got me through menopause. A daily 20 minute nap (more if you can swing it, right at cocktail hour) will get you through supper and to that early evening meeting, and help your neurons keep firing.

sleep tight,
jenn/musemother