Bunkie Gets the Blahs

It is raining. It is humid. It is Thursday and I've been dragging my hind end around all day. Am I suffering from "iron-poor, tired blood" or did the adrenaline rush that was last week finally crash land and I'm the casualty?

I came home from 6 consecutive "writer gigs" on Sunday uttering the vow that I was going to take some time off, slow down a bit. That lasted for 24 hours. By Tuesday, I was back and running: responding to requests for my time, wondering if I can complete my next novel quickly enough to please my agent, RSVPing for dinners, conducting some much-needed girlfriend chats, and overscheduling my family.

Yesterday I heard an interesting comment on a talk radio show; I've become a talk radio addict, at least, when I'm in the car. There's this guy, a PhD out in University Land, who recently did a study on whether people who watch political commercials have subsequent emotional responses. His conclusion was not really a conclusion at all: certain individuals' brains reacted more strongly to some types of ads more than others. Wow, there's an interesting phenom. How much cash did they shell out to learn this amazing fact?

But the PhD went on to say that he was frustrated by this lack of "tangible results" in this study, so he conducted the experiment on himself. He snuck into the lab, fired up the MRI, and scanned his own brain. He wanted to pinpoint how his brain worked at the precise moment when he came up with a new idea, or when he was inspired to do something creative.

What this researcher learned surprised him, to say the least. First of all, it was difficult for him to "be creative" or "think great thoughts" with all those electrodes sticking out of his skull. So he forced himself to relax, breathe deeply, and then he fell asleep.

At the precise moment he fell asleep, his brain wave patterns resembled a seismography report from the San Francisco earthquake! He awoke several hours later, refreshed, and immediately was seized with an idea for a new approach to his research.

Why did I trek down this tangent? Because what our grandfathers told us is true: we need to take a walk. We need to take a nap. We need to SLOW DOWN. It is not normal for our brains and bodies to be on call 24/7, and just because we have a cell phone doesn't mean we have to take that call.

The difficulty is for me to take my own advice. It's raining, so I don't really want to take a walk. Now if you'll excuse me, it's time for my nap. Just as soon as I check my email....