WomenCo.

News+Columns >> Browse Articles >> Work-Life Balance

Reboot Your Creativity with a Mind-Rest Date

Have you ever felt as if your mind was about to burst from being overwhelmed? Have you ever felt that nothing was going right no matter what you did? Do you feel immobilized when you are seeking answers and none seem to be appearing? Do you zone out watching television, eating when you aren’t hungry, or doing whatever takes you away from dealing with the challenges inherent with transformation?

It is not uncommon for people to get so tangled up in the quagmire of struggle when they’re going through change that they forget to give themselves a mind-rest. Yes, a mind-rest — to let go of the worries and everyday routines that occupy a great deal of time.

Doing more of the same unproductive strategies or forcing yourself to plow through with uninspired actions causes more harm than good. Even when good things are happening all at once, it can be stressful to keep up with the pace in unfamiliar territory.

When you feel yourself going in circles or stressed beyond your limits, give yourself a mind-rest doing something creative and restful. The creative act could be something as simple as visiting a museum, window shopping, or taking a walk. Do something that does not relate to what you are striving to find an answer for. By doing something out of the norm you engage your right brain where your imagination resides, giving your left brain a rest!

Schedule your mind-rest date. Your mind-rest date is exempt from normal daily activities. Take a time out, away from your left-brain routines, to a place that would stimulate your imagination as well as give you a well-deserved mind-rest. Give your problem-solving mind a rest to access your inventive, intuitive, and imaginative powers. Go to that museum you keep saying you’d like to visit, but keep putting off. Read that non-fiction book, pick up an unfinished creative project, or take pictures out in nature.

We miss the boat when we don’t permit ourselves the creative time that allows our imagination to give us new perspectives. Pushing and prodding to find answers only causes more delay. Not only that, but when we keep applying stress to find a solution, we generally get recycled data that is similar to a broken CD stuck in the same grove. We need to use a source that we carry with us everywhere 24/7: the right side of our brain!

---