How to Give your Brain a Break and Get More Done
By Gordon David Durich
“Sometimes, I think and other times, I AM” Paul Valery.
STINKIN’ THINKIN’?
There is nothing intrinsically “wrong” with thinking. It’s just that we do it sometimes when we don’t need to. And we often overdo it. Which leads to worry, mindless mulling, doubting, wondering, obsessing over things, “brain drain” and analysis paralysis, which are counterproductive. In the case of the latter, mentally crippling. What happens? We become dull, uncreative and stuck.
Just as thinking in a certain way (or different other ways) has power, by the same token, not thinking has its own merit. In a more unconventional way perhaps. Yet still significant. And changing our behavior. Riding a bike instead of driving a car, working on a standing desk, hanging upside down for a spell or eating mindfully (blindfolded?. Why ever not?? Bend your reality! Stimulate your psyche. Think anew.
Thinking is the highest mental activity we perform as humans. But thought and action are inseparable. The “terrible twins.” A classic case of the chicken-or-the-egg. Which comes first? And which matters most?
Many of us have false beliefs about how to think “properly” or effectively. Long held habits and influences around us play a part in this.
“You Have Absolute Control Over but One Thing, and That is Your Thoughts.” (“Think & Grow Rich,” Napoleon Hill)
Consider psychologist Ajan Raghunathan’s statement “All our deliberate action starts from our deliberate thinking. For a man to do something, he should first see it in his mind’s eye. He should imagine it first, before he can do it.”
The use of the mental faculty in conceiving imagery, the mind’s “eye,” is not as new a creative device, as it may seem. The phrase really means “in my imagination.” So then, before action, there is inner-pondering, deliberation, consideration – all “invisible.” French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte nailed it when he said, “Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.” (This quote has also been attributed apocryphally to U.S. President Andrew Jackson. Regardless, it’s a great reminder of the “stop and go”).
“Thinking is a behavior, something you do. By extension, then, you should be able to choose to ‘do’ your thinking differently. The common misperception is that you have to ‘figure things out’ or change your attitude before you can change your behavior. Research shows, however, that changing your behavior first can influence your thinking,” stated Hal Shorey, in Psychology Today (“Reinventing Yourself in Your Relationship”).
“Stop thinking and talking about it and there is nothing you will not be able to know.” Zen Paradigm
“I stopped thinking, I just go out, and everything is in the moment,” said musician Lil Uzi Vert. “I just stop thinking and start moving. You just gotta be you.” And the rapper may just be on to something. Getting out of our head and flowing. Freedom! When we stop our wheels turning, we tap into our core being, and self.