When I think about spending 10 minutes a day doing nothing, I get very excited. What a great excuse to just relax! I thought this would be the easiest task for me to accomplish since I started school a year and a half ago. Boy, was I wrong!
In the abstract, it seems easy. Sit for 10 minutes and do nothing. The first issue I encountered was where to find 10 minutes a day. I always think I have a pretty good work-life balance (see all my class posts this week for evidence), but even I struggled to squeeze in 10 minutes of nothing. It was the "nothing" part that I really found challenging. I can easily sit for 10 minutes and reflect while I'm doing a cardio exercise or washing up in the shower or scrolling through social media on my phone. But, that wasn't the instruction. The first two days in this exercise, I passed the whole day without finding 10 minutes!
When I finally settled down and made the commitment, my next challenge was to keep myself awake! I managed to relax very quickly - maybe too quickly. I closed my eyes for a minute and found myself slipping into a state of near sleep. After that, I did a good job of clearing my mind of thought. After my 10 minutes were up, I felt very relaxed. My second and third experiences were much better, but this will definitely take practice.
The expected value of this was, according to Andy Puddicombe (2012), a rest for my mind. Like anything that uses energy, the brain requires recharge. I learned that a few minutes of disconnect helps to center me and reduces my stress. It was similar to the experience of worrying about something late at night, sleeping on it, and then feeling much better in the morning.
Going forward, I think using this tool regularly is the only way to get into and maintain a good practice of it. It will be most valuable during very stressful times as a tool to center and help approach the situation with a calm demeanor.
References
Puddicombe, A. (2012). All it takes is 10 mindful minutes [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/andy_puddicombe_all_it_takes_is_10_mindful_minutes
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