Your Wise Brain


Rest Your Weary Head

Too much on your mind? Clear it out.

This Week's Practice: Rest your weary head.

The traditional saying that is this week's practice has been sinking in for me lately. Thoughts have been swirling around like a sandstorm, about work, things I've been reading, household tasks, finances, concerns about people, a yard that needs mowing, loose ends, projects, etc. The other day I told my wife, "I'm thinking about too many things."

Know the feeling?

By your "head," I mean all the cognitive aspects of experience, such as planning, analyzing, obsessing, considering, worrying, making little speeches inside, going back over situations or conversations, and trying to figure things out. "Weary" means being fatigued due to continued exertion or endurance, sometimes also with a sense of being dismayed, even depressed; its roots as a word have to do with the effects of a long journey. Basically, it means your tank is running low.

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When your thought processes are tired, it doesn't feel good. You're not relaxed, and probably stressed, which will gradually wear down your body and mood. You're more likely to make a mistake or a bad decision: Studies show that experts have less brain activity than novices when performing tasks; their thoughts are not darting about in unproductive directions. When the mind is ruminating away like the proverbial hamster on a treadmill, the emotional content is usually negative—hassles, threats, issues, problems, and conflicts—and that's not good for you. Nor is it good for others for you to be preoccupied, tense, or simply fried.

On the other hand, when you rest that busy mind, you stop wearing it out and you start refueling and repairing it. The roots of the word "rest" come from places to take a break on a journey; it's natural and necessary to rest when you're weary.

How can you do it?




Above all, recognize that, if you're like me and I think most people, so much of what we twirl around with in the mind is, frankly, a waste of time. It doesn't solve a problem, prevent a bad thing from happening, or bring us to peace with others. And it's deeply unnatural. As we evolved, our ancestors probably experienced more physical but less mental fatigue than most people today in the developed nations. Consequently, our bodies are adapted to weariness—but our minds are not. For a brief time—finals week, an intense month at work, a demanding year with a new baby—OK, sometimes we just have to crank the mind up into overdrive and tough it out. But as a way of life, it's nuts.







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