Shut Your Mind Off Once in a While

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Take a break from what may be and focus on what is.

When you have an especially packed schedule for the day, your internal monolog can be rambling on and on for hours.

“I’ve gotta do this, then this, then that, then that other thing, but then I might not have time for this thing, then-”

It’s just absolutely exhausting, isn’t it? Maybe a strict schedule helps you keep things consistent, and that’s good and fine, but that schedule hopefully has some down time for your noggin in it.

Sometimes you just need to turn your brain off, maybe for a few minutes, maybe for a couple of hours. Stop thinking about everything you need to get done today, tomorrow, and onward, and just exist in the present for a moment. The best way to accomplish this is, of course, meditation. Meditation trains you to silence intrusive thoughts and focus yourself into state of calm. However, not everyone is good at meditating; it definitely takes practice, and practice can be just as annoying as the stuff you’re trying to shut out.

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There is an alternative: distraction. You ever hear someone say the nice thing about certain movies is that they can just “turn their brain off and enjoy them?” Well, there you go. Put on a movie or some music and just sit and vibe for a little while. You don’t even necessarily need to pay attention to what you put on, just lose yourself in the sound. Personally, I enjoy putting on old black and white B-movies when I want to dissociate for a while. I like the warm sound of the film grain.

However you go about doing it, the bottom line is that your brain needs time during the day to get its metaphorical ducks in a row, not unlike a computer that’s been on all day powering down at night. Give your brain a rest, then come back to everything else refreshed and ready.