Try a Brain Cleanse: It’s All the Rage

On a recent vacation, I both hiked up a mountain and basked on a beach.  As nice as that was, you want to know the greatest part about it?

There were stretches of time when I was unplugged! Totally off the grid. After all, there’s not a really great data signal at 10k in Rocky Mountain National Part (no offense, Verizon — my hat’s off to you).

It’s a really beautiful thing, the state of mind that you achieve when there’s nothing to distract, and you’re simply enjoying a little combination of challenging physical exertion, and stunning natural landscapes.

You may have heard that science supports that we get our best ideas in the shower.

Really!

Think about it: That’s the one time in the day where you can’t bring your iPad or your Blackberry or your MacBook in with you – unless you want to drown your device. There aren’t a multitude of demands on your attention.

For five or eight or 10 minutes, it’s just you. You’re not multi-tasking. You’re not thinking about one thing while taking a call about another thing while typing an email to a client.

We need these moments of clarity, where all noise fades away and our minds can really, truly think and process.

The great thing is, we don’t have to travel hundreds of miles away to get a “break” from the day in, day out drudge and stress to amp up our creativity and mental clarity.

While not as dramatic or beautiful as finding sanctuary on a beach or mountain, we, too, can achieve that “brain space” or “brain cleanse” (I mean, we cleanse and detox our bodies, why not our brains?) that we need in the shower … or in our car.

Think about setting aside even just five minutes – be it at the start of your commute or the end – to turn off the talk or music on the radio.

And just think.

Or maybe you schedule an hour a week, or a month, to get out of the office and go somewhere without any distractionary devices, to just ponder and pontificate, or journal, or assess, or plan.

Just “be.”

You, too, can be off the grid in this way. You’ll be surprised how great it feels!

How about you? What are your go-to methods for finding good brain space?