I try to read more but what else is there when I don’t wanna just read? I’ve done some notebook stuff too but I’ve found using it too much makes me be anxious about writing a lot down lol.
For instance as I lay on the bed for 10-20 minutes waiting for my child to take their nap. Do I just stare into the void?
Do you count audio books as reading?
Writing, movies, video games, going on walks, cooking, depends on whatever I feel like.
If it’s 15 minutes or more, I try to clean. Or I take a nap.
Chess puzzles
Most foreign language apps teach in bite sized pieces. I use Mango, but there are a bunch.
Lately I’ve been enjoying playing Tetris DX on my Gameboy in my spare time. Keeps the brain busy and social me away from my phone.
For instance as I lay on the bed for 10-20 minutes waiting for my child to take their nap. Do I just stare into the void?
Do you have any time that you just let your mind wander, or be mindful of your life?
If I’m sitting somewhere waiting for something and I know it’s just going to be 10ish minutes I’ll usually just take in my environment or let my mind wander. I usually do that when driving home/to work as well. I’m paying attention to the road obviously lol but I don’t have music or anything playing to occupy my mind I just use that time to think.
It’s said to be fairly healthy to give yourself some time for whatever thoughts might come up.
For anyone with a noisy self destructive brain like mine appears to be, I got pretty good at mindfulness by walking the exact same route through the forest the exact same time every day and by just sort of casually observing the sights and smells which somehow became a mental association with “these thoughts are normal and OK”
Basically any time a bird is making a sound now I can just enter a meditative sort of state where thoughts just come and go regardless of how evil those thoughts are. I changed the angle of my skylight window in my bedroom so that it acoustically catches the sound of the birds on the tree to my east, and if you know birds they sort of go sit on the same branch and sing the same exact bullshit on a somehow perfect schedule
Lately going through the darkest period of my life. When I manage to finally fall asleep I wake up from horrifying nightmares but there is a bird that will sit on my skylight at exactly 4am and he gets me back to sleep ez and I stay asleep
Sleep deprived ramble but maybe there’s some wisdom here
I didn’t want to mention it in my initial comment, but that is something I need to work on too lol
Like 80% of the time my mind wanders it’s usually some self deprecating nonsense, or extremely critical analysis of my failure in life. I figure it’s stuff I need to process anyway, but the countless amount of times I call myself worthless trash probably isn’t doing me any favors lol
Yeah it’s really easy to lose the plot sometimes. Lately at my desk at work the words “worthless animal” and “I trusted you” are what the voice in my head won’t stop shouting so I’m slowly picking up the pieces with the forest routine again and trying to get that noise to ease up a little bit
With info overload these days everyone struggles with this to some extent I do believe
You need to practice mindfulness. People should be OK with 10 minutes “staring into the void” and this is exactly the damage phones did to us
Mindfullness that is free
Guided meditations that are downloadable freely under CC BY-NC-SA.
This is a great recommendation. To add another you can also get the Medito App for either Android or iOS which is also free.
mindfulness
I practice this alot during the day. It helps sometimes to disconnect from the world, and rejoin the server at another timepoint.
My goto device time killer is chess.com. It’s both educational and fun (assuming you don’t get your ass handed to you by a bot 😅).
FYI, lichess.org offers the same functionality (arguably better) for free. It’s a crowd-funded, open-source non-profit, free of any ads or trackers.
Puzzles. Mini crosswords, wordle, etc.
I mean if Im having a laydown I just rest or nap. I don’t really think of it as staring into the void. I love naps or taking it a easy for a bit. Moreso if I can do it outside with nice weather or even in a chair near an open window. Closing my eyes and listening to the birds and other bits of nature. Granted various noises can make that more of a no go if the timing is not right. Evening is even better with stars and the moon. If you start looking at deep breathing and mediation and having a few minutes is like gold. All that being said I like suduko and its a nice thing to do throughout a day a few mins at a time. I think tastes may vary with suduko though. Crosswords to but I have to be a bit desperate as I find they are more about me learning about the puzzlemaker than language really.
I wish I could learn to nap. I’m 30 and I’ve never been able to do it. Even a 14 hour flight there is no way I’m going to nod off even for a second
Yeah im one of those folks that can sleep anywhere and it does seem like some folks are easy sleepers and some not. My wife is not. I have to be careful about making noise if she is asleep as she will wake so easily. She has to get the dog to help to get me up.
Google Arts and Culture can be solid fun to explore and learn.
I personally read, write, or do chess puzzles on the app. I’m up to like 11k puzzles completed, it’s nuts. And I’ve read or listened to like 10 novels so far this year. Or I’ll read a few poems. Writing is a bit hit or miss with a block I’ve got lately but I’ve written a ton of poetry for fun.
Usually when I’ve got a lot to do and some free time for it, I’ll try to listen to audiobooks while doing chores. It helps with the focus on the tedious and empty space instead of procrastinating dishes or whatever.
Find a new art, whether that’s creating or consuming. Or go to places where people hang out. Thrift shops/pawn shops can be fun to browse and sometimes you’ll find a hidden gem. Libraries are good too.
Try origami.
Origami is always the answer.
I really enjoyed that as a child, even did a display in the library. Good recommendation
It’s fun to try to pick up some American Sign Language. The best resource I’m aware of is: https://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/lessons/lessons.htm
sit with your boredom for a bit. its healthy, or rather its unhealthy to be constantly bombarded with dopamine for nothing. enjoy your freedom from the screens.
Just rawdog it? No thanks
theres always drugs
Yeah, I’ve also found that just being bombarded with information all the time tenses me up. You might think of scrolling Lemmy or similar as “idling”, but obviously your brain is still processing information when you do that.
