For me, this was when my young daughter was found to have advanced cancer and I needed to have energy and clarity of mind, so I ignored the information that rendered me desperate and unhelpful. This describes detachment from immediate surroundings or everyday reality, such as staring at little pieces of pictured cardboard to try to fit them all together instead of calculating the death toll in New York City.ĭissociation is cousin to "information aversion", as I described in a column last year, in which I suggested people avoid bad news for good reasons. Allowing mind-wandering and daydreaming to happen is a "brilliant resource to our brains" and we should look for opportunities to benumb our busy lives in order to stimulate new neurological connections.Īs a way of managing the background stress that lingers in our virus-filled air, mild dissociation is an excellent strategy. But the effect that matters most right now is that doodling at home does not spread a deadly virus for yet another day.ĭr Sandy Mann, author of The Upside of Downtime, conducted an experiment which put people alone in an empty, soundproof cubicle without their phones.įor those participants who made it through to the end of the experiment (not all did), it was difficult and stressful at first, but once they accepted being bored and alone, they actually found it relaxing, a respite from the day-to-day world, like "a warm bath or a little oasis of calm".īrains will create their own entertainment, Mann argues, in the absence of stimulation, and this is surprisingly important. Science tells us these include increased creativity, improved cognitive performance and higher executive functions in our brains. Mucking around on a guitar, watching the clouds shapeshift, doodling, these are what Dr Leon Seltzer in Psychology Today calls activities "for its own delightful sake … can have the most enviable side-effects". Lana Hart: "Experts tell us that undertaking pointless activities can do wonders for our mental health."Įxperts tell us that undertaking pointless activities can do wonders for our mental health.
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