Up and running, instead of running to catch up. Isn’t that what you want? It isn’t just our professional lives overwhelming us; it’s also our digitalized lifestyle. Faster and faster we go, absorbed in a virtual world. We are becoming more and more disconnected by being connected! How then can we expand the way we spend our time, and get the most out of what life has to offer us?
Dr. Dan Seigel both a researcher in neurobiology and a psychiatrist, proposes seven ways to spend your time everyday to optimize brain health and well being. He says that by giving time and attention daily to these seven essential mental activities, the brain will receive the support it needs to function at its best. Engaging in each of these essential mental activities, “mental nutrients” he calls them, promotes integration and enables the brain to coordinate and balance it’s activities. When we vary our focus of attention with this spectrum of mental activities, we give the brain lots of opportunities to develop in different ways. This practice reinforces the brain’s internal connections, as well as our connections with others and the world around us. There is no set time for each activity. Even a little amount of time given can produce wonderful results. The key is to engage in all seven areas every day.
Seven ways to spend time every day:
1. Sleep time – When we give the brain the rest it needs, we consolidate learning and recover from the experiences of the day.
2. Physical time – When we move our bodies we strengthen the brain in many ways.
3. Focus time – When we closely focus on tasks in a goal-oriented way, we take on challenges that make deep connections in the brain.
4. Time in – When we direct our attention inward and quietly reflect, focusing on sensations, images, feelings and thoughts, we help to better integrate the different parts of the brain. Meditation, prayer, mindfulness.
5. Down time – When we are non-focused; without any specific goal and let our minds wander or simply relax, we help the brain recharge.
6. Play time – When we allow ourselves to be spontaneous or creative, playfully enjoying novel experiences, we help make new connections in the brain.
7. Connecting time – When we connect with other people (ideally in person), and when we take time to appreciate our connection to the natural world around us, we activate and reinforce the brain’s relational circuitry. We make time for those we love.
For everything there is a time and place. Respect and manage your time skillfully each day. Make time work for you rather than against you. Begin your day by paying attention to all 7 areas, then through out the day make time for each one, however long that might be. You will nurture every aspect of your inner growth and feel fulfilled. Give yourself the gift of time in all areas of your life. You will be blessed with harmony, peace, success and happiness. Yes you can. Go on. Try it.
Leave A Response