"Taking Time to Think"

Mark Knights – Founder, EnergyMind

“One of the most important things for my personal wellbeing is ‘space’ or ‘quiet’. I definitely have a tendency to operate in an ‘always on’ state, which increases the risk that eventually I could just run out of steam (and I have done – many times!)

So I try to do something consciously each day to help create that space I need to slow down and to ‘be quiet’. That’s easier said than done – but it’s probably in that space that I’m able to relax, reflect, recharge, and be at my most creative.

Another of the advantages I find in creating this time is that it gives me a chance to put things in the right perspective – especially my thoughts.

When you operate without the right amount of downtime for too long, thoughts can run away with themselves, and as the human condition leads us to believe everything we’re thinking is true or real, this can quickly become quite an isolated, personal world.

We work in such a fast-moving and information-saturated environment, it’s easy to have thoughts which take us down rabbit holes, some of which could end up causing us feelings of stress and anxiety. In reality, nothing has actually changed – it’s just our thinking that’s changed.

For that reason, taking breaks here and there during the working day – and using them to boost our mental wellbeing or for putting thoughts into perspective – makes a lot of sense.”