
Hit the Reset Button in Your Brain - wallflower
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/10/opinion/sunday/hit-the-reset-button-in-your-brain.html
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taftster
I used to be a whitewater rafting guide in the mountain west (Utah and
vicinity). I still organize private trips when I can in the summer. We're
talking multi-day (4-5 night) trips; camping on the river, boating 20 miles
per day, enjoying the cold spray of whitewater, the adrenaline of just missing
some big rock or skirting a huge "hole."

On the trip, you literally cannot connect to the "normal" world; there are no
cell phone towers that will reach you. It takes a couple of days, but
eventually (finally) your mind starts to settle down and relax. It's a
transformative experience, you don't realize how much the constant barrage of
information and messaging taxes your brain and even your soul.

Once you relax and find that tranquil state, you don't want to go back. You
know what's waiting for you, but you long to keep the peaceful state of mind.
Some lucky few even choose to stay, eventually quitting their job and moving
to a place where less money is made nor required.

There are many places where you literally cannot connect with the world; find
these places and go on vacation there, at least one week per year.

Your job, it can wait. If you're literally off the grid and cannot be reached,
you will only earn the respect of your peers even more. Be one of those people
who vacations the way that others secretly wish they could do.

~~~
snowwrestler
I once took a wilderness course that had us in the backcountry continuously
for 30 days. One of the cooler effects was that by the end of the trip, I
could predict the weather a day or two in advance. There are plenty of clues
if you're out in it all day and know what to look for.

This was the mid-90s so the "check out" effect was probably not as strong as
it would be now. (For example, I did not have a cell phone at the time.) But
life lived on nature's terms definitely had its own rhythms. Coming back to
civilization was a pretty big adjustment.

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allegory
Agree with this, as he says pumping another post into the internet.

Last proper break I had was in an 1997. Went to see a friend but didn't make
it. Stopped off at an interesting looking charity shop (thrift store for my US
cousins) and bought a copy of Calculus for the Practical Man. Got rather into
it eating a petrol station sandwich and ended up staying in a Travelodge for a
week with myself and a pencil and my old Nokia 5.1 turned off.

When I tell people this they assure me that I'm mentally ill but it was like
you meditation focussing on something intently without distraction for for
that period of time even though I've never used the knowledge gained.

Now I have a family so I'm good for an hour here and there but sometimes I get
up in the night for distraction free time and sleep on the job ;-)

~~~
RevRal
I hope you at least let your friend know that you weren't going to make it...?

Anyway, your vacation sounds awesome to me :).

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jacquesm
Absolutely nobody forces you to have a TV, a facebook account and a
smartphone. Peer pressure is easily ignored and the time gained can be spent
on more worthwhile pursuits.

If you think you can't live without any of those then you're in an _excellent_
position to reap the benefits of doing without them. If you could easily live
without them then the gain will likely be small.

~~~
onion2k
_Absolutely nobody forces you to have a TV, a facebook account and a
smartphone._

In the most literal sense you're absolutely right of course. You _can_ live
without them. However, the real world isn't doesn't work on such absolutes.

Social isolation and loneliness are dibilitating conditions that can lead to
serious mental illness (depression, anxiety, etc), so if you're not in a
position to socialise without at least Facebook or a smartphone you should
think twice before cancelling them. Many, many people would find themselves
left out of group events if they cancelled their social media accounts. It's
the de facto way of organising things these days. That is something that's
well worth thinking about before making the leap.

I've spent long periods of my life working from remote locations, and without
an internet connection to talk to my friends it would have (figuratively)
killed me.

~~~
practicalpants
You make it seem like it's difficult to have a healthy social life without
Facebook. I totally disagree.

Friends ask each other what they are up to. Just because you're all on
Facebook doesn't mean you stop talking to each other about events, etc. If you
can only stay in the loop because of Facebook, that speaks more about the
closeness of relationships you have with your friends.

I've had a very enjoyable social life as a mid 20s guy (who deleted Facbeook)
who goes out a lot and likes to make new friends. It felt like a risky move at
the time, but deleting Facebook may honestly be the best decision I've made in
the last year.

Mainly, people are afraid of being judged for not having Facebook. In reality,
most people don't care, and it is easy to take higher ground if someone does
decide to judge you, because it is a little crazy (or arguably very crazy) to
make your social life dependent on a website; tell them that if you have to.

Texting, calling, and email are the bare necessities IMO, and that does not
take a smartphone either. As a side note I think extremely low investment
social apps like WhatsApp or Skype are very different than Facebook and nice
to use.

~~~
speeder
You say that as a extrovert...

I am.introvert, and had no examples, my dad is a loner, and orphan to boot, I
was never encouraged to go out and find friends.

The few friends I have invite me over about twice a year, and using Facebook,
if I deleted my Facebook I could provably drop dead in my apartment, my family
would notice in 3 days, and my friends would never go to my funeral, because
they would never know, maybe wonder after five years what I am doing with my
life...

~~~
practicalpants
I didn't have parental guidance, and I was more introverted at one time until
I made a resolution to be more extroverted (and I'm still somewhat
introverted, and happy I am too).

It's something that's 100% in your hands right now. Go out and meet people.
Get yourself on a path to being someone who is more social and outgoing.
There's nothing preventing you, with time, from having more (better) friends
and being just as social as others. It's very human. Starting points can be
Meetup groups, hobbies, co-workers, even pickup people if you want to meet
girls/guys, it doesn't really matter... just start getting yourself out there,
and practice turning acquaintances into friendships.

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dkural
You will see that people in very high creativity fields adopting practices
like this intuitively, which might seem crazy / lazy to those around them.
Many mathematicians, musicians, novelists, auteurs come to mind. They work on
a range of stuff, some positively irrelevant, and make sure to have 'off' time
with a mildly distracting task/trip to let the subconscious work on the
problem. Similarly, many creative writers can't write on a schedule (many
can!), and need 'inspiration to strike them' \- i.e. they recognize burnout
and switch to subconscious mode.

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habosa
Just went on a 3-week camping trip (some hotels to clean up) throughout the
Southwestern US. I just graduated from school so I had the luxury of an
extended summer vacation with no pressure to get an internship or really do
anything classically "productive".

I really can't put into words how great that trip was for my mental state and
perspective. I was blown away by the incredible variety of natural beauty that
we ignore every day. I had cell phone access in some places, but I didn't
access the internet (besides navigation), read any newspapers, or watch TV. My
brain just felt relaxed and I was consistently happy for 3 weeks.

I can't wait for my next camping trip. It's an inexpensive and simple way to
have a true vacation and let your brain 'reset'.

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ca98am79
If you really want to reset your brain I highly recommend doing a 10-day
vipassana meditation retreat (see: dhamma.org). They are free and not
affiliated with any religion, but you can't read or write or talk for 10 days.
They teach you to meditate during this time.

I did this with my wife last year. I'm CTO and co-founder of a startup, so I
had to plan many months in advance, knowing that no one would be able to get
in touch with me during this time.

It was really difficult, but a great opportunity to grow and learn to
meditate. I didn't realize how much of my own opinion and views of myself have
to do with communicating with others. When communicating with others, their
responses to you add to your definition of yourself. And when you don't have
that for 10 days, your self starts to disappear. It was pretty awesome and
interesting. I think everyone should try it.

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kimh
The golden time for creativity is when half-daydreaming and half-attentioned
for me. If I am completely gone to daydreaming mode, my brain doesn't handle
complexed tasks. So, I feel like taking long vacation where you tend to become
completely daydreaming mode isn't good for my creativity.

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totoroisalive
The overwhelming feeling I always had with the social media it's really weird.

~~~
bostik
I've always thought social media at its core as anti-social.

Some of us may have had pen friends, but comparing social media to that is
lying to oneself. The way social media encourages us to act is akin to dogs
leaving their mark on the wooden poles near the street. Sure, some may pay
attention to the mark we've left, but for most parts it's just masking out the
previous one-way communication attempts.

And if anyone gets noticed more than the rest, maybe they merely manage to
make a bigger stink.

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mixmastamyk
This piece reminded me a lot of the John Cleese speech on creativity, which I
encountered here last year.

TL;DR You need an hour or two of interrupted time every so often to daydream.

~~~
dredmorbius
The Cleese bit is really good, though he's also largely looking at shorter-
term creativity -- the type needed to write a comedy sketch or other piece.

I've thought on how this applies to those who focus on longer-term problems,
especially those concerning highly complex systems and spanning years. Think
of design of large and complex software systems, systems administration, or
working on deep problems facing civilization -- the systems theorists of the
Santa Fe Institute, Club of Rome, and related organizations come to mind.

Seems to me that _any_ period of profound concentration has to be followed by
one of profound rest.

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comrh
Good luck getting American work culture at least to respect these ideas.

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dnautics
I was hoping that this article would be about LSD, which has been clinically
shown to be efficaceous in resetting several psychotropic behaviors.
Disclaimer: I have never dropped LSD myself.

~~~
o0-0o
Dropping LSD is something that, unless you know for a straight up fact is
pure, is rather sketchy. Most LSD these days is some other chemical. Try to
stay pure. Go with the ayahuasca or other plant based methods like shrooms.
You will get all the benefits of a total mental reset, lasting invigoration
for life and your fellow man, clean thoughts about where you stand, and love.
The love part and the peace that comes with it is hard to put into words. If I
tried, it would be like knowing what I know now, but back when I was a child.
Too powerful for normal comprehension.

~~~
igravious
Great advice except that none of these things are quite like the other.

Ayahuasca (never tried it, do not intend to) is by all accounts a very strong
psychotropic. It regularly induces nausea and I've only heard of it being used
in semi-ritualistic settings. Also, it's a bitch to concoct apparently - i.e.,
you don't get this "off the shelf"

shrooms, um Magic Mushrooms, have a different psychoactive main ingredient
(psylociyin?) to Ayahuasca and have a short shelf life (unless dried I think)
and are seasonal.

LSD (Acid) is easily sourced, you have to trust that it's pure but you could
find out from someone who's had part of a batch. LSD is easier to regulate
than magic mushrooms (uh, 50 is about a dose? who knows...) because you can
take half a tab to start with.

Do your own research, ignore the mysticism (it's so tedious), go have your own
experience, and see for yourself.

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thejay
I thought we did that every weekend.

~~~
bequanna
Second paragraph:

"But beware the false break. Make sure you have a real one."

