State of Mind
Lockdown does weird things to our brains. That feeling of being unsure what to do and even how to do it turns out to be neurological. Our state of mind is "a real embodied phenomenon." 1 Let's get technical; different activities are related to specific neural networks, so for example, cooking dinner uses a different neural network than having an argument. In our normal life we transition from one state to another without noticing and this enables us to function well in a variety of circumstances.
Today I am trying to work in my sewing space. Usually during the drive to work my brain transitions to work state, I arrive, and I am ready. Now I sit wondering what to do! Learning this helped me to understand my state and not feel pathetic. I can think of what might help me transition. Get dressed (who can work in pjs?), declutter the space, make a ritual that alerts my brain to the state I need to be in.
Don't waste time feeling bad because life feels confusing, be kind to yourself and develop some rituals that help you transition to the right state of mind.
Carol Fearon
1 Curt Thompson, The Soul of Shame: Retelling the Stories We Believe About Ourselves, Downers Grove: IVP Books, 2015. 43
|