Me-Time to Feed your Intellect
Me-Time 101: Self-care in the time of Covid (6 of 11)
Welcome back!
As I write this, the world seems more unstable by the day. Russia has invaded Ukraine. Ukraine is putting up a fight. NATO has shut off Russia’s access to international banking and there is a murmur of a new iron curtain. So, yes, I am writing this on Monday to be published Thursday. By Thursday, the world may be entirely different.
The instability meant I awoke feeling out of sorts. My next thought was, “I must check the news.” So I did. But then I thought, “I need to center myself for the day. I need to meditate.” Others may feel the need to ground a different way. The point is that when you know how to check in with yourself and you know how to determine what you need, it is time to use the tools in your toolbox, whatever they are. Here, I continue to share my toolbox with you in the hopes that you might expand your own.
In previous articles we have covered the importance of taking me-time, the benefits of conscious breathing, natural sleep aids and mindfulness activities to calm and center the mind. Now it is time to delve into how to stimulate your mind and creativity. How do you feed your intellect? How often do you engage in those activities or meet with those people?
I’m in my mid-fifties. One may think that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but I have found the opposite to be true. I have learned so much in the last five years! I love learning. For example, I learned how to swim the butterfly stroke, how to play the gong (an ancient sound healing instrument), and how to speak bits and pieces of Cantonese and Mandarin. I also resurrected my French enough to teach French I. I became quite interested in energy medicine and dabbled in several modalities including qigong, kinesiology and quantum touch. I discovered Gaia.com and The Shift Network and found fascinating programs including some that taught the most recent discoveries in quantum physics.
Learning Things New and Interesting to You
In the past few years, the world has become even more vibrant and fascinating to me than ever before. It really began when I turned 50 and decided I needed to reset my mind, body, and spirit for the second half of my life. I declared year fifty “The Year of Brenda.” I had no idea that decision would change my life so dramatically and eventually lead me here, to this moment when I am writing a series on self-care.
The first key to engaging your intellect is to get curious.
The first key to engaging your intellect is to get curious. If you tap into your curiosity and open to learning and experiencing new things, life will lead you where you need to go. You will discover those things that are fascinating to you.
The second key is the willingness to find and make the time to feed your intellect. I very rarely just “watch TV” anymore. I don’t find it interesting enough to sit and watch a movie or a sitcom. I would prefer writing, reading, researching something new, or experiencing something.
How did I do it?
First, I got up earlier each day. I used this time for me-time. I might walk in nature, or walk and listen to an interesting podcast, or walk on the treadmill while watching a series on quantum physics.
Second, I slightly altered how I was already using my time. Instead of watching tv during my downtime, I read non-fiction books or got on a call with a small group of people to talk about an episode of Quantum Revolution. Instead of listening to the news three times a day, I would listen once a day and use the other time to feed my intellect. During my 10-minute breakfast, I might read a fiction or nonfiction novel or watch MedCram to learn about the latest unfolding research on the Coronavirus. Or perhaps I would go down a rabbit hole on water memory or cymatics.
Learn things new and interesting to you
Get curious.
Make time.
Get up earlier OR
Alter how you use your time.
Learn!
Feed your Creativity
I have always enjoyed tapping into my creativity. Depending on the day, the week, or decade, I might be writing poetry or journaling, drawing, or playing a piano or gong. And in my career as a teacher I had plenty of opportunities to create. What about you? Every person is meant to create. Every person gains a sense of purpose and fulfillment when creating. Creating comes in many, many forms. If you are bored to death at your job and simply counting days to the next weekend or the next vacation, then this is the tip for you!
You are taking time for a playdate with your inner artist! Do what you love, explore, go be in wonder - but do it alone.
To combat that stagnation, rediscover what you enjoy creating; find it and feed it. In The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron encourages her readers to make an “artist date, a block of time, perhaps two hours weekly, especially set aside and committed to nurturing your creative consciousness, your inner artist” (18). You are taking time for a playdate with your inner artist! Do what you love, explore, go be in wonder - but do it alone. Visit a gallery, go to a movie, go fishing, walk in nature, read a recipe book, listen to an opera. Get the input you need to inspire your inner artist. If you’ve not fed your creativity for a long time, the well may be dry. If you don’t even know where to begin, then begin back at childhood. What did you love to do or always wish you could do? Follow the trickling stream and drink from there. Decide what you will do this week. Put it on your calendar. Arrange to have that time for you and your inner child (with no one else). And do it! See what happens.
Feeding your inner artist or innovator, if you prefer, can lead to the desire to simply create something - anything - yourself. A friend of mine offers a Create-along online once a month. It is simply an opportunity to take 90 minutes to create whatever you wish while others are doing the same. I love this as another way to feed my creativity.
Feed your Creativity
Make a playdate with your inner artist.
Set aside 2 hours per week.
Go alone!
Connect with Nourishing People
Recently, I was talking to a fairly new friend for two hours on Zoom. During that conversation I told her I rarely have empty conversations anymore. I’m not exactly sure how I got here, but I love it. What a nourishment to have real conversations - some intellectual, some heartfelt - with other human beings. The masks have been set aside and we just talk. Do you have people in your life like that? No drama, no posturing, no facades, no judgment, just conversation that comes from the real You with another person being authentically him or herself.
Relationships like that are nourishing and sustaining. If you have one or two people in your life who you think of, reach out now! Ask them for an online or in person time to connect. And when you meet, don’t leave until you have penciled in a new time to meet again.
If you can’t think of anyone in your life like that right now, then consider taking baby steps to get there. Use the other self-care tools in your toolbox to do the inner work necessary to even know yourself - the You beyond the you. (In my case, the Self beyond this Brenda-self.) The day will come when you have a deeper sense of Self. That is the one you can bring to interactions with others without judgment, without drama, and without the mask.
If you know someone with those qualities who is reaching out to you, accept their invitation. You can learn and grow from being in their presence. Take the risk; it is well worth it in the long run.
Connect with nourishing people
Set a time to be together in person or online with someone nourishing to you.
Meet.
Set a new date before you go.
Before you go!
How are you feeding your creativity? When was the last time you went on a playdate with your inner artist? What sorts of discussion topics are genuine and real for you? What satisfying rabbit holes have you been going down? Go ahead and leave a comment in the comments here for me and others.
Resources
Cameron, Julia. The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. 3rd edition. Tarcher Perigee, 2016.
Gaia. Gaia.com, 2022.
The Shift Network. TheShiftNetwork.com, 2022.
Next up: Me-time for Your Body
You can find my other series “Parenting 101 Coupons: A Gift from your Parents” and “Partnering 101: A Deep Dive into Leaving Kindly” in the archives.
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Brenda BraykoWriter. Teacher. Gong Player.
Find more of my writing at GreenBaytoKorea.blogspot.com.
Learn about my business at CelestialSoundGB.com