Joseph Kreydt

Tag: mindfulness

  • The Value That Numbers Can’t Measure

    The Value That Numbers Can’t Measure

    Not all hours are equal, even though the clock says they are.

    It was Sunday. The grocery store was noisy and packed. I offered my sympathy to the cashier. “But does it at least make your shift go faster?” I asked.

    “At times,” she said. “But then there’s the last hour. That last hour is definitely sixty minutes.”

    She didn’t mean the minutes were literally longer. Everybody knows sixty minutes is the exact same quantity of time as an hour. She was expressing the paradox that those two things are not at all equal, especially when you’re anxiously counting down the minutes.

    The last hour is equal to all the other hours. It’s also much longer. How can both of those statements be true? Because there are different kinds of value.

    There are quantifiable, metrical values; four and four is eight; trees are plants. And then there are paradoxical, felt values, like the old saying, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” Both are real, but we often forget the second one, which may matter even more.

    Patience can’t be bought. Love can’t be measured. An old growth forest is more valuable than the price of all its timber. A single smile can carry more weight in a life than a million dollars.

    What is something you’ve experienced that was more valuable than its quantity?

  • Drawing for Mental Health

    Drawing for Mental Health

    I read a lot. A few books, maybe ten, have revealed something so helpful that I believe they actually improved my life. One of those books is an art book–not a self-help book, not a psychology book, not a philosophy book, not a theology book, an art book. The book is Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. I want to explain why I believe the method of drawing taught in the book is a powerful tool for mental wellness.

    In the field of Psychology, especially the Psychology of Mindfulness, researchers have identified two modes of the mind: being mode and doing mode. The mind is in doing mode when it is focused on accomplishing tasks, solving problems. It’s in being mode when it is focused on the experience of the present moment, not trying to accomplish or solve anything.

    Both modes have important functions, but in a culture hyper-focused on work, success, status, wealth, and power, the doing mode often dominates. A person can become so obsessed with identifying and solving problems that they forget to spend any time experiencing the present moment. Because of this, their mental health deteriorates, their life feels meaningless or painful. Keeping the mind constantly in doing mode is especially toxic when a problem cannot be immediately solved.

    When the doing mode mind encounters a problem that can’t be solved right away, it ruminates. It wants to keep thinking through possible scenarios and solutions over and over. This is very useful when there is a serious problem to solve and a person needs to find the most efficient and effective solution. But it can be detrimental if it starts identifying every little discrepancy or every little piece that’s slightly out of order as a serious problem.

    A person can become stuck in the excessive rumination of the doing mode. That certainly disrupts one’s sense of peace, but it can get even worse. It often manifests as neuroses like anxiety, obsessive-compulsion, ADHD, or even depression. It becomes a vicious cycle.

    Switching the mind into being mode can disrupt that cycle, giving the person a shift in perspective or at least a few moments of peace.

    Those moments of peace aren’t the only good thing about being mode. Being mode means experiencing the richness of the present moment. If reality is important, then experiencing the present moment is important. Living in the past is living in a memory, which is not the most realistic representation of an experience–memories become distorted and skewed. Living in the future is living in a prediction, which is not the most realistic representation either because the mind often makes unrealistic predictions.

    The most realistic experience we have is the present moment. Reality happens in the present moment. It’s good to experience it sometimes. As the wise Ferris Bueller famously said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Stopping and looking around is what the mind is doing when it’s in being mode.

    Getting the mind into being mode is one of the main goals of mindfulness training, and the evidence of its benefits for mental health keep stacking up–reductions in anxiety and depression, lower blood pressure, and improved sleep. But mindfulness training isn’t the only way to get the mind into being mode.

    The whole idea of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain is to draw exactly what you see. To do that, you have to stop and look. You have to look intently. You have to notice the lines that separate parts of what you see, the angles of those lines, the distances between the lines, their colors, the colors within their bounds, the lightness and darkness of the colors, etc. Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain is about seeing what’s in front of you not as a symbol or a word (for example, beginning drawers often draw noses as triangles or eyes as circles) but as it actually is.

    Seeing things as they actually are can be difficult. The left side of the mind interprets what we see into symbols so that the mind doesn’t have to put so much energy into understanding what is happening, and instead can use that energy in doing mode, solving problems. The exercises in Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain are designed to switch off the left side of the brain, allowing the right side to take the reigns.

    I believe that drawing this way, like practicing mindfulness, switches the mind into being mode. And the more one practices doing that, the more able they are to switch the mind into being mode on demand.

    Not every creative outlet can boast such positive mental health benefits. The massive number of artists with mental health issues is evidence of that. My own experience has been the same. I’ve been creative for almost my entire life, but I haven’t always been mentally healthy. Drawing with the right side of the brain, though, seems special. Not only does it get the mind focused on the present experience, it shows us that there are ways of being creative that can promote mental health.

    This is great news. For many of us, especially those of us who enjoy being creative, drawing is a fun way to exercise our mind’s being mode.

    The bad news is that sitting down to draw in the first place isn’t always easy. In a world so full of distractions, focusing on drawing what you see for a few minutes can be difficult. The benefits, though, are real. It means being able to experience life instead of getting lost in negative thoughts about what has happened or what might happen.

    I highly recommend giving Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain a try. Just read a couple chapters and you’ll start to understand how to do it. Then, if it’s too hard to draw for fifteen minutes a day, start with five. After a while, your ability to focus your mind on the present moment will strengthen. And the benefits of doing that, of switching the mind into being mode, are numerous. The peace of a focused, present mind is just a couple drawings away.

  • How to Be Mindful and How to Think

    How to Be Mindful and How to Think

    Be curious. You never know what you might find.

    I found a concise guide on how to be mindful and think critically in a book about nature journaling—The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling by John Muir Laws.

    This information shines in front of me like pure gold. Unlike gold, though, information can be duplicated, so I am going to share a summary of this guide—on noticing mindfully and thinking deeply—with you. May you benefit from it as I have.

    Achieving Mindfulness

    To get into a state of mindfulness, use these three prompts.

    I notice…

    • Notice what you feel, see, smell, taste, and hear.

    I wonder…

    • Think about questions you have about what you notice.

    It reminds me of…

    • Think about what the things you notice remind you of.

    Thinking Deeply

    1. Observe and then ask questions about your observations.
    2. Look for patterns. These are clues to the mechanisms or processes or designs behind whatever you’re studying.
    3. Use the six interrogatives:
      1. Who (identity and identification of the subject(s) and object(s))
      2. What (description of actions—events, trends, phenomena, and behaviors)
      3. Where (location)
      4. When (timing)
      5. How (mechanism or process behind the what/actions)
      6. Why (reason or meaning behind the whole thing)
    4. Seek answers while also accepting and embracing mystery.
      1. Science is a tool for studying observable experiences and phenomena.
      2. Arts (poetry, theology, philosophy, etc) can be used for considering things that cannot be observed, measured, or tested.
    5. Explain and question explanations (basically, the scientific method):
      1. Come up with as many explanations for a phenomenon as you can.
      2. Then, for each explanation, figure out which ones are more likely true.
      3. Based on the most-likely explanations, form a prediction (a hypothesis) about what will happen.
      4. Test your prediction/hypothesis to see if it is true.
      5. Continue eliminating explanations and hypotheses until you find that none can be confirmed or that one can be confirmed.
    6. Question everything.
    7. Notice when something surprises you.
  • Unlock the Magic: 8 Simple Ways to Rediscover Wonder

    Unlock the Magic: 8 Simple Ways to Rediscover Wonder

    Life can feel dull and even depressing. Routines are great, but they go stale from time to time. Your mental health can be on par, but still, life can knock you down. But if you’re feeling stuck in a rut, there’s always wonder.

    Wonder is that feeling of seeing a magic trick and being so impressed that you don’t care how the heck it works. No, wonder is even more than that. It’s seeing the magic in everyday life. You don’t need a ticket to a magic show or an exotic destination to experience it. It’s all around you, hidden in ordinary life, waiting to be noticed.

    Here are eight ways to invite more wonder into your life.

    1. Meditate.

    In much the same way that jogging is exercise for the body, mindfulness is exercise for the mind. It helps you learn to focus your attention, and that is crucial for wonder. To wonder about something, you have to give it your attention.

    Start simple: try a body scan meditation. Pay attention to how your toes feel, then move your focus up to your legs, then your arms… Don’t worry if your mind wanders at first. When you notice it, bring it back gently. Over time, as you practice, your focus will increase, and you’ll be able to stay alert and curious for longer spans of time.

    The more you’re focused and curious, the more you’ll notice things that fill you with a sense of wonder.

    2. Collect ideas.

    Ideas often inspire wonder. Use a notebook, the camera on your phone, a voice recorder, whatever, to capture interesting ideas, thoughts, and observations. Over time, you’ll have a treasure chest of wonders to revisit when you need some inspiration.

    3. Learn about nature.

    Nature is basically a wonder factory. Did you know that some eagles are strong enough to carry off wild pigs? I learned that in How to Know the Birds. Or did you know that deer taste bad to trees? I learned that in The Secret Network of Nature. Or have you ever seen a bonsai kumquat tree full of kumquats? I saw one at the conservatory in my city.

    Books, research papers, museums, and documentaries are all great ways to learn about nature. But the best way is to just spend some time outside-maybe bring a magnifying glass and look at bugs.

    4. Visit a beautiful place.

    Sometimes a change of scenery can help you feel a sense of awe. It doesn’t have to be the Eiffel Tower. You can find something closer to home. Maybe it’s a beautiful church, a breathtaking bridge, or even a funky modern building downtown. Take a moment to soak it in. Notice the little details. Wonder about it. Let yourself be amazed.

    5. Read proverbs.

    Proverbs are tiny packages of wisdom. They’re almost as good as fortune cookies. Sometimes you can get a fortune cookie and a proverb all in one. But sometimes all you need is the proverb. They make you pause and think.

    Pick up the Bible or scroll through Pinterest, find a collection of proverbs, and see which ones stick with you. Bonus points if you write them down in your treasure notebook.

    6. Ask people questions.

    Wonder doesn’t have to be complicated. It can start with a simple question: “How’s your day going?” or “What do you think about this weather?” You’ll be amazed at the stories some people share-and how they can open your eyes to new perspectives. Plus, asking good questions is a skill that grows with practice.

    7. Stop googling everything.

    Next time you have a question—like, “Why do rhinos have horns?”—don’t immediately google it. Let yourself wonder for a bit. Go ahead, pretend you’re an armchair scientist or a time-traveling explorer. Make up theories. Play around with the possibilities. Feel free to google it later. But only after you’ve had some fun first.

    8. Draw with the right side of your brain.

    Grab a pencil and paper and try drawing something you see. Don’t worry about being good at it; just focus on seeing. The act of drawing from sight turns on the right side of your brain, the side that sees things without thinking about them, and entices you to notice details you’d otherwise overlook. Before you know it, you’ll be seeing the world in a whole new way.

    If you want some guidance on drawing with the right side of your brain, I highly recommend the classic drawing book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. I can’t promise it made me good at drawing, but it certainly taught me a few things.

    The magic of wonder

    That’s it! Wonder isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about asking questions and letting yourself be amazed even when-especially when-you don’t get the answer you were expecting.

    Why not try one or two of these ideas this week and see what happens? Who knows, you might just see some real magic.

  • Mindfulness Desktop Wallpapers

    Mindfulness Desktop Wallpapers

    Hello. I made some wallpapers to remind myself to be mindful. I’m sharing them, here, with you. They’re free.