You may be thinking I have chosen the wrong word. It should be “games” instead of “gears”. However, it is correct but it comes with a health warning.

Hopefully there is nothing offensive but it does contain some silliness. If you are averse to a bit of daftness read no more.

I realise I am indulging myself but please stay with me. There are two serious messages I want to discuss.

All this started early one morning a few weeks ago. The sun was up, I roused from my sleep (this tends to happen most days!) and looked at the clock. It was 7.45 my usual getting up time. However I felt tired so my eyes closed again. The next time they opened it was 8.30! I was still drowsy but stumbled out of bed. I went through my usual routine on “automatic pilot”. No thinking involved just got myself quickly into a sufficient state to be outside ready for the early morning walk.

I was still yawning when I returned! I started to arrange breakfast things but even after a shower I was still not consciously thinking. In fact it was a couple of hours before I really felt I was connected to the world.

During this 2 hours I did not feel bad in any way. I was not depressed or anxious. My mind seemed happy to accept that it had no big decisions to make. It was contented to be in “neutral gear”.

Later in the day when conversations started with my wife about a mixture of issues my mind had to work harder and went from “neutral gear” to “high gear”.

This is in stark contrast to what happens when I am in a bad place with negative thoughts intruding. Then my mind feels as if it is in “low gear” having to work hard to achieve anything. (see footnote) 

So the main message I am trying to convey is that as well as high gear, neutral gear is okay too. You do not have to be in high gear all the time. Does your Mind spend much time in neutral? 

At the start I mentioned two serious messages and you may have guessed the other one. It is simply that it is fine to be silly. When recently walking on a lovely sunny morning I stopped briefly to talk to a stranger:

Me:     “Lovely day for the race”

Stranger:  “What race?

Me :   “The human race”!

Teg

A Moodscope member.

PS. Ideas for moving from low to neutral /high gears will be covered in my next Post.