One component of Dan Siegel’s Healthy Mind Platter is a solid serving of Time In.
Time In is distinct from Down Time. Time In is an active process of reflection and observation (i.e. journaling and meditation), while Down Time releases your mind’s sense of effort and allows for wandering (i.e. purely loafing on the beach, daydreaming), without a specific goal.
Here’s how I incorporate Time In into my routine:
– Short walk every morning
– 6 minute meditation on weekdays
– 18-21 minute meditation on Saturdays
– 5 Minute Journal each weekday
– Nathaniel Branden sentence completion program each weekday (5 minutes per day)
– Review what I write on for NB program each Saturday morning (5-10 minutes)
– Regrets of the Dying Stems sentence completions each Saturday morning (5 minutes)
– Monthly Journaling Prompts at beginning of month (10 minutes)
– Every Saturday my phone stays in airplane mode until about 11 AM
I also do handwritten journaling, but I haven’t yet made that an intervalic routine.
Today I did the Monthly Journaling Prompts, a 21 minute meditation, short walk and medium walk in the park, NB sentence review, and the Regrets of the Dying sentence completions.
After 1-2 hours of Time In, I had “detoxed” much of the stress from the week, and re-centered. Another ripple effect of the practice is that I more conscious about all of my actions.
The number of daily minutes is minimal. That’s because having time is rarely an obstacle. Priority is, and Resistance. The key to creating a habit is setting the intention, prioritizing it, and executing on it.
The truth is most people spend more time maintaining their cars than their minds.
Will you be the exception?
