How I Rebooted My Brain And Became Mindful

The author shares some practical tips to become mindful in this present era of information overload and constant surge of activities.

I struggle with the stock of ‘laundry’ I have stored in my mind. This stock of good and bad memories is piled in my mind since times immemorial. My stock gets refurbished by the everyday ‘to-do-list’, which never seems to meet the end destination. And then there is the uncountable news feed on the Apps I have downloaded, newspaper, television, movies, social media and what not. Every day and every minute, there is an overlapping. The old is being taken over by the new. The previous being layered by the current. So, I push everything old to the subconscious while making more space in the conscious mind for the new information.

The ’35 gms thing’ in my head is as old as me, but is not aging gracefully. It doesn’t wish to hang up the boots. This little big thing is still a sponge of kindergarten days. Yearning to see, stock and store all that comes its way. My mind is dense and cramped- putting a pack of sardines to shame.

All a brain needs is 13 milliseconds to process an image. Imagine how many pictures a brain can process during the active hours in a day. Imagine further; how many words, conversations, movies, emotions it can process in each milli-second.

Layers of information and processing, multiple and parallel multitasking, hopping thoughts and fidgety ideas, fluctuating impulses and emotional unrest – a field day for my brain. But, its manifestation in the physical world was different. I began to go blank at some very important occasions; I started to forget things, mix-up dates and deadlines, and on some occasions even forgot the sports and dance classes for my children. I was at the end of my wits.

How do I unwind my spurted brain? Information wise, I think we are fortunate to witness Information revolution. I can’t ask my brain to stop looking, reading or observing things. If my brain smells a thing like that, my brain cells surly will degenerate before age. What do I do? I try and find a method to the madness. That’s the answer.

• Meditate, nothing beats this star performer.
• Seriate, arrange and program your work in the category of urgent and important.
• Be proactive; don’t wait for the red flag to come up.
• Brain is 73 percent water; keep yourself hydrated.
• There is an old saying – if you don’t have any business in that village; then bypass it.
• Don’t snap modernity or social hangouts but pan metron ariston (Greek for ‘all things in moderation’)

Err, teaches us. And so did I learn. I applied some of the above ways to tone down my jumping jack brain. Different things worked at different times for me.

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Zillion thumping neurons run the functioning of my body. Brain is the data center of a lifetime. I blame my brain for seeding distraction but it’s the brain again which can bring me back from those distractions.

I realized that I should be happy that my brain is thumping with curiosity, else what good will a sleepy brain do?

Image Source: Pexels

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