The Joy & Benefits of MINDLESSNESS!!
By Rev. Gillian V. Harris, M.S.P.
January 15, 2018
It’s the end of a crazy day. – 14 straight hours of intense, rapid paced – think & type as hard and as fast as you can activity. When I get to the end of one of these I – I often feel to do NOTHING. One night in particular, it was 10pm and I was anxious to stop. When I say stop, I mean turn off my brain. I don’t want to think – decide – figure out – focus on ANY thing. I don’t even want to focus on a candle flame! Lol! I don’t want to talk to anyone! And I hear the words in my head, “I wanna be mindless right now”. In these moments I generally reach for either my hand pan drum or Netflix! Lol!
Free me MINDLESSNESS! I guess that would be ‘Conscious Mindlessness’? Mindlessness with a purpose!?! Mindlessness for the purpose of relaxation & rejuvenation. The opposite would mindfulness which by definition is about aiming your attention at the external and internal experiences you are having at that moment. -Present tense awareness of your body and everything in its environment! Mindfulness! Be awake and take mental note. Well, after a long hard day, I don’t want to be mindful. I mean, maybe I can get back to mindful I need a break from mindful. And I stand behind the value of temporary conscious mindlessness!
The importance of MINDFULness is already out there! Originating humbly from the Buddhist tradition, mindfulness is now a multi-million dollar industry of books, classes and other products to promote the behavior! But I KNOW I’m doing a great service to myself when I seek MINDLESSNESS! I RELISH my mindless times!
In search of others who might concur I hit the internet. I found a biologist and social scientist by the name of Louise Bezuidenhout who wrote an article in January of 2017 posted in the Blog Network for the University of Notre Dame. The article is titled “What is the Role of “Mindlessness” in Virtue Discussions?’ One of the points made in this piece is how it is MORE RESPONSIBLE for some to be mindless than not! She saw the sacrifices of being mindful! Mindful stealing the gifts of mindlessness!! Her piece was written with scientists and laboratory workers in mind. However, think of an artist, for instance, the masterpieces are most likely created in a very mindless zone! That mindless field where you lose all sense of time and space and you’re’ just being moved moment by moment with no thought or focus and it just feels good – feels right!
I wanted to be mindless so I considered reaching for my Guda hand pan Drum. I make amazing, rhythmic, melodic and sometimes angelic music from this instrument. I actually look for notes touched mindlessly to give me instruction on what to do next! The music I make is SO mindless that if I don’t record it right then, it’s lost forever! I don’t mind this! Compared to the days when I studied piano and had to focus to master Bach, Chopin and Beethoven, making mindless music is heaven! I can imagine mindless painting, dancing or any other art form, would also be rich with treasures.
Now, I’ve given credit to mindlessness in the area of art but in science and other areas it can also be beneficial and in fact, the more responsible choice! Bezuidenhout wrote her piece on mindlessness after being in a biology laboratory and overhearing a participant say, “If you’re thinking in the lab you’re doing something wrong and you’re liable to make mistakes’!
She suggests that the constant exercise of self-awareness and evaluation of what you’re doing could hinder the actual execution of the tasks at hand!!!! Tacit abilities that would be blocked from expression by the busy voice of mindfulness!!
Karen Koenig a licensed psychotherapist and motivational speaker is another author who wrote a piece on mindlessness. Her piece titled ‘The Value of Mindlessness” and posted it to a blog Monday November 17, 2014. She, like me, is warning that the value of mindlessness shouldn’t be overlooked. And that really, it’s about being MINDFUL enough to know when you want to/ need to be MINDLESS!!!
It’s my humble opinion that while there are huge emotional, psychological, physical benefits to mindlessness, we need to be mindful enough to be conscious of where we’re putting our mindless energy!!! Like mindless eating – not good! Mindless – drinking or any habit that you may do to excess would be something to mindfully steer away from!! Other than that caution, she rallies with me to say spend some mindless time!!! And Koenig says don’t feel guilty, “You have the right to wish to turn off your brain. Forget being productive, chores…to do lists…telling yourself your lazy…”.
One thing I learned a long time ago about ‘Time Management’ is that it’s not about the clock as much as it’s about your ENERGY. SO instead of saying time management I acknowledge that what I do is ENERGY management; regular breaks keep me rejuvenated. Breaks actually stimulate and refresh the mind! You go back to your work – smarter! Or… at last with more mental stamina than you had before!
Cheers to mindful mindlessness!!!
Yes… now going to nurture myself with some mindless Netflix!
Life is good…
References:
https://www.karenrkoenig.com/blog/the-value-of-mindlessness