Namasthe I’m back! I don’t know if you had noticed, but I had paused uploading blogs every week. I wanted to take a break. We all know that taking a break helps us, don’t we? It gives us the opportunity to introspect and gain more clarity on our intent and also it replenishes our enthusiasm and creativity. In this blog, I’ll be listing some of the ways you can try for your next break! However, I’ll have to mention that, a break is suggested to one who is in action, not to one who’s already and always in inaction/break. And when to take a break, where or what type of break you should take is subjective and hence can be known only by you. One must listen to one’s own mind and body to get hints and do accordingly. Here are a few effective ways of taking a break:
- The Pot of Solitude – I’ve already talked about it, check out that blog here. This type of break mainly helps clear your thought processes and hence think more clearly.
- Empty vessel – It is obvious that giving a break to our digestive system can be helpful, right? Try not eating one meal or all the meals one day. This is very common in many households of Bharath. Upavasa is a great way to rejuvenate your energies.
- Lazy Life – Simply wasting your time watching TV series, YouTube, playing games, or whatever. Just doing the needful, what’s not avoidable. And giving in to almost every craving. This method might not work for all, because it is very risky. One might easily fall into complacency forever if not careful. One more disadvantage of this method of taking a break is that it does not have a fixed duration. The duration of the break will vary, it might be a few days, weeks, or sometimes even months to get out of it. For me, it works wonders though. It works for me partially because even though during the Lazy Life break I pause/stop most of my active activities, my mind still keeps working on many things. I capture notes of everything at that time. Nothing concrete, nothing enough to publish. But those notes will help me come out of the lazy life break when I decide to and also that gives me a great comeback in terms of creative output. (I don’t completely abandon my Keystone habits though. They are always in place. Some days may be skipped but almost always, I wake up early, meditate, move my body into yogic poses, read, and write. The proportion may vary and some activities may be skipped on some days but almost consistent. Or even if I’m completely off for a few days, I’ll soon grab onto these keystone habits. And I think that is why it is not hard for me to break out of a Lazy Life break)
- You’re broke – Living like you don’t have enough money to buy anything other than necessary. In this method, you need to be very frugal. Even though this is hard on you, this can act as a break when you’re done with this period. It works for two reasons. 1. You’ll feel good for exercising your willpower and being in control of your urges and cravings. 2. By the end of this break, you’ll have saved up money to actually buy something, and since you would have some thinking time, you’ll know what you need to buy that’s actually useful and adds up to your process and life. I use this method especially when I’m doing good in creative output-wise or in a transition period from or to a break.
- Dead – Living without any creative pursuits and work output. Living like a machine or a zombie. I mean sure you can enjoy a dinner with your family, have a moment, etc. but mainly this break is about the childlike artist in you, this break is about living as though that childlike artist in you is dead, or that there’s no point in being aligned. This comes as a natural outcome for any artist striving for greatness in any creative pursuit. For me, the Lazy Life method is usually combined with this DEAD method, but not always. This break method works because it’ll show you how not to live your life and also it will show you what are the specific aspects that actually make life, so LIFE! So you’ll realize what to add to your life from within. And when in this zone/break, you’ll see what non-artists see. That can be a very helpful tool for an artist trying to resonate with the masses.
- Beggar – The life of the unwealthy is the life where there’s no absorption of wisdom. I sometimes combine this with the You’re Broke break method. In this break method, there should be almost zero consumption of knowledge. Or at least try to do so. No reading books, blogs listening to podcasts, or watching useful videos. You can watch irrelevant vlogs, can listen to music (if you’re a musician, listening can also be absorption of knowledge to you, so I suggest you listen to music you like to listen to but in which your analysis/learning mind doesn’t turn on), etc. This break method works because you’ll soon realize why you used to consume whatever you consumed earlier. Most of the time we consume mindlessly out of tendencies and habits. But this break will break that pattern. You’ll start to become more mindful of what you consume and also realize what consumption was working/helping you and that you need to continue doing so.
As mentioned above, I’d like to combine these methods in different ways in different scenarios. You too feel free to combine these methods as per your needs. What’s crucial is to know how and when to get back off these breaks soon enough.
Thank You
Sanath Kumar Naibhi
