Somedays, I wake up stiff and groggy. My muscles ache, and any movement is painful. When that happens, I have my stretching routine that, in ten minutes, allows me to loosen the muscle tension and restore freedom of movement to my joints. After my stretching routine, I'm ready to face the day ahead more confidently.
The mind is no different. Ultimately, it is a kind of muscle that sometimes can get stiff. Mine gets stiff when I overwork it and get stuck in too many thoughts. But my mind becomes stiff also when I numb it with empty entertainment. Or maybe I just ate too much the evening before or didn't sleep well.
Whatever the reason, some mornings I wake up and my mind is not responsive at all. As I do for my body, I must also stretch my mind.
One effective way for me is meditation. Another one is learning something new. Sometimes, it may be something as little as a new word.
This morning, I learned the word irrepressible, meaning impossible to restrain, control, or direct toward a different way of speaking, behaving, or thinking.
What do you do to stretch your mind?