“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes…Including you.”
Anne Lamott
Overview Of This Page:
We went over the difference between “pursuit of being happy” VS “healing the Mind” and allowing happiness to come naturally. (original post here)
Today I want to build on this topic and share a few examples of how this plays out in practical ways. Below is a list of those topics you will learn about on this post:
- Balancing emotional digestion with rest and relaxation (emotional bandwidth).
- Happiness as an emotional state that comes and goes whereas aliveness and openness can become a default state.
Emotional Bandwidth (What Is It?):
Throughout life we all accumulate some “undigested” experiences which are “digested” by the “organs of the mind”. This process is very similar to how we all accumulate some “toxins” which are “cleaned out” by our physical organs.
Many of the same rules for “detoxing” the physical body apply to the Mind as well. When we have too many toxins in the physical body we find it beneficial to balance exercise with rest, reduce foods that are hard to digest, and treat our bodies to some gentle nourishment such as fruits and vegetables.
If you exercise too much, rest too little, and eat lots of junk food it is unlikely that your physical body will recover well and function at its best.
In the same way when we have too many undigested experiences in the Mind we find it beneficial to balance exercise (digestion) with rest (spa day), reduce experiences that are hard to digest (staying in our comfort zone), and treating our Minds to some gentle nourishment (some downtime with loved ones).
If you exercise too much (trying to digest too much too fast) and rest too little (keep putting yourself in challenging situations) you are likely to experience feeling overwhelmed, disconnected, and wanting to zone out by binge watching TV or something similar.
The term emotional bandwidth can be used to describe “how much I am realistically capable of emotionally digesting without becoming overwhelmed”.
Up Next: Emotional Bandwidth (How Do I Get More Of It?):