Are
you using your brain, or is your brain using you? And where is your
mind while all this is going on? In the control room, or the mail
room where it belongs? Even more importantly, what do you feed them
on?
As
one who is usually less than complimentary about the limitations of
the human mind, the fact remains that we need one to survive. A
healthy brain and a healthy mind work together to sustain your
well-being. As psychologist Dr. Dan Siegel sees it, both mind and
brain need proper nutrition every day. I had never heard it put quite
this way before; and I find that I can activate parts of my bodymind
that can only thrive if they are healthy, awakened and aware. When I
allowed myself to get fat and stodgy, my thinkin' turned stinkin'.
With
the idea that a healthy mind and a healthy brain go hand-in-hand, Dr.
Siegel prescribes a “healthy mind platter” of daily nourishment,
On his mind platter he and colleague David Rock place seven “dishes.”
- Sleep time
- Physical time
- Focus time
- Time in
- Down time
- Play time
- Connecting time
Years
of brain research lie behind this simple menu, and since all aspects
of life cycle through the brain and nervous system, the nutrition
offered on Siegel’s mind platter could be far more important to
well-being than any conventional medical advice. Your bodymind has an
innate need and enormous capacity for integration. But more than
that, if they are used holistically, the brain, neural and glandular
systems thrive by putting everything together in concert.
In
practice, adopting the mind platter comes down to two conjoined and
interacting areas that need daily attention - Inner and Outer.
Inner
nutrients:
Sleep time, Focus time, Time in, and Down time
Here
is the area of subjective experience. A healthy day, as viewed by the
brain, follows a natural cycle. There is enough sleep to be
adequately rested. There are periods of intense focus interspersed
with enough down time of no mental work; time to let the brain and
nervous systems recover, and the mind rebalance by letting them
simply be. A period is also set aside for what many Westerners
neglect: time to go inward through Meditation, Reflection and
Self-awareness. This tragic casualty of ego-driven living is the most
precious time of all, actually, since it opens the way for harmonious
integrating, possibility-creating, evolution and growth.
Outer
nutrients:
Physical time, play time, connecting time
There
are areas of outward activity, which cannot be activated solely by
work. As the user of the brain, you alone can apportion time for
recreation, and although physical time focuses primarily on getting
your muscles to move, the holistic effect is to balance the whole
mind-body system.
The
healthiest time of all is Connecting time. Although Connecting Time
ensures social and emotional intimacy, it becomes yet another
casualty in the impoverishment of modern life. It takes a conscious
choice and intention to chat, gossip, exchange intimacy and bond. If
you're ever going to reap the rewards of fulfillment, you do have to
commit to purposefully building and maintaining relationships, a
family, a tribe and a community and find things to do together. As
many sociologists have pointed out, this area of life used to
dominate everyday existence, at a time when families sat around the
fire of an evening and ate every meal together, and families got
together socially every week. Social habits change, yet it's still
true, according to specialists in the field of positive psychology,
that the happiest people tend to be those who spend one or two hours
a day talking and chilling out with close family and friends, and a
few hours a week clubbing with others in the neighbourhood.
Just
as there is no dividing line between the inner and outer self, Inner
and Outer nourishment can't be strictly divided from each other
either. I've only done it here to point up the colours of meaning
behind those labels. To separate them as activities is as impossible
as separating a tree from the soil, the air and the forest. Without
any one, the rest lose their purpose and die.
The
point is that the mind and its machinery require conscious attention
and care. The upshot of taking Dan Siegel's advice was that I am
better able to use my brain and mind, instead of them using me. I
urge you give your Mind Menu more consideration, too. You know the GIGO adage -- Garbage In/Garbage Out.
[Food
For Thought – UB-40 – 4:11]
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