Turn blue for a week

CIMG0107Breaks give us a boost

Our brain operates in 90-minute cycles. After 90 minutes of intense concentration, our performance drops rapidly. A break is needed so that it can recover and recharge. People who regularly take breaks between tasks work more effectively, achieve more and feel less exhausted than those who think they have to carry on working non-stop.

I know that. And yet I don’t always find it easy to take breaks. I simply haven’t quite got the hang of it yet.

Active morning breaks

I’ve got the hang of it quite well by now in the mornings. A break doesn’t necessarily mean doing absolutely nothing. You just do something else. And during that time, you allow your brain to recharge and process all the input from the time before. I do this by doing something active during my morning breaks. I often take a creative break after 90 or even 120 minutes. I take the rubbish out, walk to the letterbox, jump on my trampoline or water the flowers….

Lunch breaks

Lunch breaks usually go quite well too. It depends on the weather, though. In summer in particular, I enjoy walking to the organic market, where there’s affordable and tasty food – or simply sitting by a fountain and watching the children play. Or just doing nothing at all.

Afternoon breaks and short breaks

I’m still working on managing my afternoon breaks and the short breaks between individual tasks and processes. In the afternoons, I often fail to pick up on the signals my body is sending me, telling me: ‘You’re getting tired now; a break would do you good.’ This is something I still need to learn.

Take a day off now and then

So this week, I’ve decided to take the whole week off. The expression „to take it easy“ comes from the world of dyeing. In the past, blue fabrics were dyed with indigo. Whilst the dye was taking effect, you couldn’t do anything else of any use – you had to take it easy. In other words: you give processes time to take effect – by taking a break.

Symbols help us to remember our plans. That’s why I’ve decided to wear blue clothes all week to remind myself to „take it easy“ in the afternoon. I’m looking forward to my blue week. CIMG0262

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6 Comments

  1. It really brings back memories of NaMi….

    …sounds veeeeeery good. I wish you, from the bottom of my heart, some really long and relaxing treatment times.

    1. Me too… Today went relatively well, but it was a bit disjointed because I had four appointments that day and couldn’t work for as long a stretch as usual… but the blue cloth on my office sofa kept reminding me to take breaks every now and then.

  3. So? How blue was your week, then?
    Thanks to your article, I’ve become much more mindful of my daily routines and have taken the time to reflect on them. Thank you for the inspiration!

    1. It was an average week… on two days I had quite a lot of appointments, so it was hard to fit in any breaks during the remaining, shortened time… although, in a way, the appointments were breaks in themselves. And on one day I was quite tired… and I allowed myself to be… but in the evening I had a period of intense focus and used it to revise some important work.
      All in all, the week was very fragmented for me because of all the appointments. I usually try to avoid scheduling appointments in the afternoon, but unfortunately that wasn’t possible this week.
      What was great, though, were the blue reminders… they actually helped me to take more frequent short breaks. That was really good.

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