5 Tips for Inspired Thinking

Sometimes it seems the fog in our brain will not lift.  We have been at a deadline or a big project, and find ourselves in the Twilight Zone of thought.  Stale ideas that keep coming back.  Our creativity vanishes. We get tired of even thinking.

This is when you are in need of brain rest.  The brain, like your muscles, needs recovery time to refresh so that it can work creatively and powerfully.  Think of it as rebooting your computer -- everything closes, the computer shuts down, rest for a moment, and when it's restarted the glitch you had disappears.

5 Steps to reboot your brain:

1. Allow the brain to restore concentration by focused meditation on your breath, a mantra, or a candle.  In meditation, you’re called to pay attention to just one thing.  In the outside world, you’ve most likely asked your brain to focus on three or more items at once.  There is deep mental rest available in meditation while centering intently on only one thing.
2. Make your sleep and rest a priority.  Sleep solidifies the memory.  It supports many cognitive abilities.  Toxins are primarily removed from the brain while sleeping. Creativity needs sleep: studies show that divergent, original thoughts are the first to go in sleep deprived people.
3. Exercise triggers the release of many hormones that positively affect the brain. In addition, a study at UCLA showed that cardio, think rowing, increased growth factors in the brain creating greater plasticity or flexibility in the brain.  This leads to new neural connections being forged.
4. Unplug from technology.  A great way to do that is plug into meditation, but jokes aside, allowing the imagination to take hold and go is one of the best tonics for a tired brain.  Technology not only dampens imagination, but bombards the brain with various stimuli at one time.
5. Try something new and different.  The benefit here is that going outside of the routine causes the brain to form new neural pathways.  The new connections allow the brain to think in new ways and see solutions and outcomes that were not there before.

Next time you are close to brain fatigue, whip out these tools.  In just a day or two, you will find energy, productivity, and inspiration restored.

with love and gratitude,
​Julia