The journey from Panama City from Santa Catalina is long. I took a 2-hour taxi to Santiago. From there it’s a “4-hour bus ride” to Panama. That 4 hours in reality was just over 5 hours.
What do you do on a 4-hour bus ride without wifi or cellular service?
The 4-hour ride would have been perfect to read a book, catch up on some articles saved to my devices for off-line reading, listen to podcasts, or an audiobook or personal development program.
Instead, I listened to music and stared out the window. I dozed off for a while.
Rather than filling my mind with information or thinking about blog posts or work I allowed my mind to empty.
Pure rest.
A precept of the personal improvement religion is to fill your mind with positive stimulus: new ideas that feed healthy mind patterns and new information that sparks your creativity.
I’m not against stimulus.
But I’m realizing the value of taking in less information. More information requires more attention and organization. We have to figure out what to do with it and where it fits. It’s not enough to rest the body without resting the mind.
If you don’t allow the mind to empty, you can’t take in more information. There’s no space. The mind needs the downtime. That primes it for taking in more and making faster connections.
This clearing time creates the empty space from which all ideas birth.
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