Every time I hear, "Mind the Gap!" or see it written in a station, I smile. Here is why...

If you are like most people, you'll often wonder why your mind reminds you of something you needed when it's too late. Typically, for me, I'm on the journey to somewhere when, out of the blue, I recall that I meant to bring something with me. Thanks brain!

I believe this happens because the unconscious mind – which is always busy – has been waiting for a 'gap' in the mental-traffic to pop a thought into our conscious mind. When I ask people where they have their best or most creative ideas, it's always the same three places, with an occasional fourth shared by some personality types. How would you answer that question? Pause before you read on if you want to have an Aha! experience.

The three shared by nearly everyone I ask are: in the bathroom (shower/bath/loo being cited), doing a routine physical task like travelling/commuting/gardening/

ironing/exercising, and at the gateways of sleep – such as just as they go to bed or middle of the night or just before arising. It's as if the unconscious mind has been waiting for an opportunity...

So what? Forgetting things is something I find stressful. Remembering things too late I find even more stressful. I would like to avoid that stress, and I'd relish the opportunity to help you avoid it too.

One solution for our mental well-being is to create more gaps. It's about giving the diligent unconscious mind – that part that is working so hard to help us – giving it space and time to have its say.

My friend, Shelina, has a company called "Press Pause." I love that concept. When we press pause by having a bathroom break, or have a beverage break – free from distractions (i.e. leave your smartphone outside the bathroom and away from your tea break) – we provide the time and space to get a thought in edgewise. We mind the gap.

What are your favourite ways to press pause, and thus, to mind the gap?

Lex

A Moodscope member.