Help, I've Got Too Much on My Plate! Time for a Giant Serving of Rock & Siegel's "Healthy Mind Platter"

 

 Packed & Ready for My Dawn through Dusk "Too-Busy" Day.  Calgon--Take Me Away!

 

Arriving at work with a change of clothes, lunch, dinner, a Green Smoothie, & my Mac for my after-work Keynote lesson at Apple.  

Did I forget anything important, like underwear?  

I may be smiling, but inside, I'm thinking, "Gee, a week-long silent meditation retreat or a week at the beach is where I'd rather be right now."

 

 

"[I]t seems we've entered an ERA of OVERWHELM. 

A time when too many people's mental well-being is being stretched through multi-tasking, fragmented attention and information overload.

The trouble is, we are short on simple, clear information about good mental habits.

Few people know about what it takes to have optimum mental health, and the implications of being out of balance.

Without good information about the mind and brain, we may be stretching ourselves in ways that may have bigger implications than poor eating habits."

-Dr. David Rock, the executive director of the NeuroLeadership Institute, writing for the Harvard Business Review blog, "Maintain Your Mental Well-Being"

 

If you received this via email, click here to get to the web page with all the links, & to leave a comment. I love comments.

 

First off, a GIANT THANK YOU, for all the wonderful suggestions, stories, & advice so many of you sent me about "Centenarian Strategies".  I can't tell you how much I appreciated everything you generously shared.

If I didn't get back to you personally, please forgive me.  I read & appreciate every email & comment--but sometimes I just plain old "run out of time" to write back to everyone.  I always intend to--it just doesn't always happen.  If you didn't get a chance to read all the comments--and they're worth reading--click here.

 

I Need to Whine!  Sorry.

You all know how it is.

You already have barely enough time in your day to finish what you absolutely need to do.

Throw in one more thing, and it can instantly propel you into SERIOUS OVERLOAD!  AKA, STRESS.

Well, that's how I've been feeling this past week--ever since I started to learn Apple's Keynote presentation software & get my "Centenarian Strategies" presentation put together.

Now that I'm obsessed with learning all of Keynote's bells & whistles, I'm staying up way too late, & getting up way too early.  I don't do well with sleep deprivation.

On Tuesday night, I got totally obsessed with changing the presentation's template, and figuring out how to make tables, insert video into the presentation, incorporate moving shapes, and all kinds of cool gizmos--I really didn't have time to fool with.  Like an addict--I couldn't stop.  

I never got to bed until 1:30 am--and I had to be up at 5:30 am to get to work on Wednesday.   And I'm someone who must get her 7-8 hours of sleep!   Amazing what the lack of sleep can do to one's mood, patience, & disposition.  Hint: It's not recommended.

Then on Thursday, I was up early to get to the gym before work, and then after work, I had to head to the Apple Store for a One-on-One Keynote session, which further filled my brain with even more information--that I didn't think I needed to know--but I did.  Aaarggh!!

By the time I got home at 9:00 pm the Lab Rat was calling me from Nicaragua (yeah, he's all relaxed, enjoying a beer & having a fine old time in Nicaragua).  That's a whole other story.

Meantime, I'm starving.  I need food fast!  And I still have to water all of his flower, vegetable, & kale seedlings in the basement--and then practice what I had learned at Apple before I forget it all.  

Good thing I slept like a rock last night. 

 

Here's What My Thursday Looked Like

 

 

Breakfast: Chocolate Oatmeal with Berries, Chia, & Walnuts Before I Left Home

 

Hitting the Gym Before Work for a One Hour Heart-Thumping Weight Work-Out

 Got My Green Smoothie Packed in My Lunch Box

 

Homemade Chipotle Hummus on Pita to Munch On While I Work

 

It's a full work-day at the library.  Literature searches, tracking down unusual papers, articles, & books that could be anywhere in the U.S. or Canada.  The usual assorted library problem-solving. A long meeting.  Answering some complicated research questions.  The routine daily stuff.

 

My Mid-Afternoon Late Lunch.  An OMG Fabulous Salad with Upton's Chorizo Sauteed in Salsa, Along with Tomatoes, Roasted Corn, Avocado & Topped with My Crazy Chia Southwestern Lime Dressing--Highly Recommended

 

 

My Kitchen Island is Piled High with Articles & Books Nagging Me to Work When I Just Want to Go Outside & Play

 

Help!

I've got giant dust bunnies under my bed!

I've got laundry to do!

The chair in my bedroom is draped with 3 days worth of clothes!

I'm way overdue for a haircut & color.

I feel badly that I haven't written a blog post in a week and a half.

I need to get this presentation finished ASAP!  

My sister-in-law is coming to visit this week & I don't even have time to take off to just play with her.

And it's Spring.  It's 70+ degrees outside.  I don't want to work inside.  I don't want to read another thing today.

I don't want to learn another thing.

I just want to play!

Prescription:  I need a Hefty Serving of "Rock & Siegel's Healthy Mind Platter",  pronto!!

So what did I do this morning?   I closed my computer.  I headed out to the park with my friend Janet & her 2 Labs, & we walked & talked for an hour in the woods--trying to dodge mud puddles and horse poop, & crossing a creek or two.  Check out my only pair of athletic shoes.

Do I feel better?  Well, a little.  But, I know I won't feel totally "chill" until I've mastered Keynote (but I'm getting closer), & put this presentation puppy to bed! 

 

 

 Spring is Here!  Daffodils in My Front Yard

 

Walking in the Woods with My Friend Janet, & Halle & Callie

Crossing the Creek - Halle & Callie Lead the Way

 

Stuck in the Mud - Can You Wash Shoes in a Washing Machine?

 

 

Centenarian Strategy Number Three--This One's the Hardest & Maybe the Most Important of All

 

I have no problem making time for focused learning, or exercising, or working.  Why is that?

But, when I have too much to do, it's hard to stop, & take time out for these FIVE activities.  And, let me tell you--if you skip them, you do so at your own peril.  It will make you cranky, nasty, & unhappy.

As far as I'm concerned, the Healthy Mind Platter rocks, & it's as necessary to our health & happiness as diet & exercise is.

1. Get enough sleep!

2. Connect with friends!

3. Quiet reflection & meditation.

4. Down time!

5. Play Time!

 

 

Brain Food: Rock & Siegel's Healthy Mind Platter of the Seven Essential Daily Activities for Maintaining Well-Being

I originally posted this on June 24, 2011.

While working on the "Centenarian Strategies" presentation, I knew the Healthy Mind Platter was going to be an important part of my message.  As far as I'm concerned, it's right up there with diet & exercise, for a Happy, Healthy, Long Life!

 

Every now & then I read something that's so wise, yet so simple--that rings true to my own experiences--that helps me to better understand my everyday reactions & feelings--and then gives me clear directions on how to make positive change happen in my life.

That's exactly what discovering Dr. David Rock & Dr. Daniel Siegel's, "Healthy Mind Platter"  has done for me.  Riffing off of the USDA's brand new Choose My Plate  recommendations for a healthy diet--Rock & Siegel have incorporated the latest neuropsychological research to visually share with us the 7 daily  activities needed for  "good mental nutrition."  

Sometimes you just have to hear common sense advice from an "expert" to really believe it!

 

• Ever notice how cranky, impatient, & fuzz-thinking you feel after a night of too-little sleep?
• Is there any comparison between a long walk & heart-to-heart talk with a close friend versus connecting via emails, texts, or phone calls?
• What about all those constant interruptions at work--or at home--when you're trying to complete a project that takes a lot of mental focus?  The emails, phone calls, barrage of questions, comments, and the daily work chatter.  Can anyone really concentrate in a cubicle office?  What about the sheer joy you feel when you're so focused on a project that you completely lose track of time?
• And how often do you allow yourself the luxury of 100% do-nothing piddle around unscheduled time at home?   Rarely--I'm guessing.  Whoever just sits on a park bench, their couch, or in their backyard--or drives in their car or "ambles about"-without being connected or plugged into something that takes up all their attention--like the radio, an iPhone or iPod, a cellphone, a laptop,  a book/magazine/newspaper, or a companion?  I'm talking about 100% quiet time to just think or reflect.  No one I know.

This is a topic close to my heart--and one that I've written about often.  How can we find the right balance between purposeful work, family, friendships, self, obligations, & health?  How do we fit everything into our lives without making ourselves crazy busy, unfocused, stressed out, feeling put-upon, or unhealthy?

What can we cut out?  What should we add in?

 

Rock & Siegel's Seven Essential Mental Activities for Optimum Mental Health

 

"This platter has seven essential mental activities necessary for optimum mental health in daily life. These seven daily activities make up the full set of 'mental nutrition' that your brain needs to function at its best.

By engaging regularly in each of these servings, you enable your brain to coordinate and balance its activities, which strengthens your brain's internal connections and your connections with other people."

 

The seven essential mental activities are  (click here to go to Rock's full blog post):

 

Focus Time. When we closely focus on tasks in a goal-oriented way, taking on challenges that make deep connections in the brain.

Play Time. When we allow ourselves to be spontaneous or creative, playfully enjoying novel experiences, which helps make new connections in the brain.

Connecting Time. When we connect with other people, ideally in person, richly activating the brain's social circuitry.

Physical Time. When we move our bodies, aerobically if possible, which strengthens the brain in many ways.

Time In. When we quietly reflect internally, focusing on sensations, images, feelings and thoughts, helping to better integrate the brain.

Down Time. When we are non-focused, without any specific goal, and let our mind wander or simply relax, which helps our brain recharge.

Sleep Time. When we give the brain the rest it needs to consolidate learning and recover from the experiences of the day.

 

Consider this, folks!  Four of the activities essential to mental health involve No Purposeful Action!  That's right--to feel our best we need to carve out daily time to wind down, chill out, play, & sleep!  All activities that aren't goal-oriented.

 

Big thanks to my daughter-in-law who emailed Rock's HBR Blog post to me yesterday--at work--completely interrupting my focus (just kidding!) 

Apologies to all of you if this is "old news"--the HBR post came out on June 3, 2011.

As for me, it's totally liberating to learn that Down Time "doing absolutely nothing,"  Time In  "taking time out to just sit quietly & think", Play Time, and Sleep Time are as important to my well-being as are healthy food, exercise, purposeful work, and friendships.  Doing nothing will never more be considered  a "guilty pleasure"--it's an essential one!

And it's so validating to learn that what I know in my heart to be true for me: Focus Time, Connection Time, & Exercise Time are all key players for happiness & well-being.

 

Got any good advice for those times when you have "Just Too Much to Do"?  

How Do You Fit in "Time-Out" When You're Working Under a Deadline?

 

 

 

Comments

[Ellen (Gluten Free Diva)]

I'm tired just reading all of that. My intuition tells me that you DO need a weeklong silent meditation retreat. Want company?

[The Healthy Librarian]

@Ellen, I'd love your company. Let's do it!! I want to go on one led by Sylvia Boorstein.

[Craig]

How do you like Keynote compared to powerpoint? Just started a switchover to Mac and Keynote is on my todo list.

[DonnaB]

Hang in there! You have more energy than most people I know (well, though I don't really KNOW you, but still). When I have to prepare for a presentation I just remember that when I am done it will feel wonderful and that while I am learning all this new information I am growing more neurons. Even 10 minutes walking outdoors helps me clear my brain of cobwebs (I am jealous of your warm weather but as my hubby says, "There is no bad weather, only bad clothing!" I think he is delusional but it does work.)

I've been reading your blog for about 3 months, I love the information you post and I love your enthusiasm. I am SURE you will wow the librarians!

[Kim]

You are a true inspiration!!! I have been reading your blog for two years and let me say I would travel far to hear you speak! You are a wealth of information and I love how take this information and tell us how you apply it to your life. Your blog is top-notch!

[Gael in Vermont]

...just know that we're all cheering you along and that adrenaline will carry you through! And when it's all over, a nice long massage with those lovely hot stones might be just what Rock and Siegal might order! Meditation doesn't quite do for me when I'm in a pinch...a break for laughter clears my mind for more work! How about an evening with Christopher Guest's "Best in Show"...never fails me!

[The Healthy Librarian]

@Craig--now that I can navigate my way through Keynote--I'm LOVING IT!! It's fun & easy. It's all in knowing the ropes, and practicing.

@DonnaB, Kim, & Gael. You are my inspiration--and my cheerleaders. Thanks for all the encouragement & good wishes--and "fan mail". Gael's right--a hot stone massage sounds like heaven. And laughter is truly the best medicine. Huge fan of Chrisopher Guest's films---especially "Best in Show". Maybe just the thing for tonight. Went to see "Being Flynn" last night. Great film--but physical & emotionally disturbing to watch. Anyone see it?