Why Mentally Checking Out Could Be What Your Body Needs

I have always spent a good amount of time doing nothing. Sitting on the front porch in a rocking chair drinking a hot cup of tea is among my favorite things to do. As is daydreaming, meditating, lounging on the beach and napping (aka, sheet therapy). I love to think. Or not to think. I treasure time when I can just let my mind wander. I used to think there was something wrong with me.

A Reminder in Mindfulness

As a child, I was never allowed to do nothing. If I was all comfy in a chair staring out the window, I was told that I must go play or do chores. So instead of daydreaming at home, I took that longing to set my mind loose to school and church. I got very good at tuning people out. While I mastered looking interested and engaged sitting at my desk or in the pew, my thoughts were about as far away as they could get. How I ended up as an honors student, I don't really know. What I do know is the joy and freedom I felt in letting my mind be still.

Recently, I was reading a truly insightful book, Yoga and the Quest for the True Self. Always hungry for literature that gets me to think more about life and spirituality, I am eagerly devouring the wonderful nuggets of wisdom in here. At one point, the author was talking about how much energy and transformation happens to our bodies and souls when we practice yoga (which is precisely why I'm so in love with it), but he said if we don't take enough rest and relaxation to process and integrate those revelations, we wind up carrying around so much energy that we become like a fire burning out of control.

American yogis, practicing in the context of a will-driven and ambitious culture, work very hard at the transformation of awareness. But we chronically give short shrift to relaxation, integration and rest.

The author goes on to talk about some of his students: "Many were doing deep practice without giving equal time to integration." He states how many were getting sick and chronic fatigue was common because they were carrying around so much energy of transformation and they weren't allowing their bodies to process through some serious down-time. "Sometimes rest is the highest spiritual practice," he added.

The Mindful Way to Start Your Day

Looks like all of those hours I spent doing "nothing" were not really doing nothing. That is the time our bodies crave to absorb and digest the energy, emotions, ideas and experiences we have every day. Makes perfect sense when you think about it, right?

So why then is it a big deal that we are mentally checked out a good portion of the time? Forty-six point nine percent of the time to be exact, says one study. According to experts, mind wandering is perfectly healthy, as long as it doesn't interfere with showing up for our lives. In other words, whether you're talking to a friend about her marital problems, listening to your kids talk about their soccer game or working on a new project at the office, it's important to focus on the task — and people — at hand. It's about balancing your day with periods of rest and daydreaming and periods of mindfulness.

To help us do that, I found these tips on practicing mindfulness from our friends at MindBodyGreen:

1. Be in the "present" moment. Don't think about yesterday, tonight, or tomorrow—think about right now. How do you feel right now? What do you see? What do you smell? What do you hear? Use all your senses to be "present".
2. Be aware of your where you are emotionally and physically and appreciate the beauty of this moment and whatever senses you are using to further observe it. Simply put, Mindfulness is about "taking time to smell the roses." So smell them—and smell them with attention to detail!
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4. What Would Buddha Do? Loving Mindfully 
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6. Be aware of your mind/body connection. How does your body feel right at this moment? If you're walking, focus on one limb like your foot. How does your foot feel? Can you feel your toes? Do they fell heavy or light?
7. Be aware of your mind. Is it wandering? Am I really focused on the present moment?
8. I highly recommend picking up the audiobook, Mindfulness for Beginners by Jon Kabat-Zinn. Kabat-Zinn is often considered to be the "Father of Mindfulness" and is a must for anyone looking to learn more about Mindfulness.