TAKING A BREAK IS NOT RECHARGING. OUR SOULS ARE NOT QUENCHED BY DISTRACTIONS FROM LIFE’S TRIALS. BREAKS DON’T INCREASE OUR HAPPINESS.

Seeking happiness can be an escape or break from our lives. Whether we’ve finished a bowl of ice cream or returned from a vacation, we come back to our life exactly as we left it. There is a difference between saying, ” I need to relax” or “I need to recharge.”

What we really want is not a break, but to enjoy connecting and fully experience the connected moments that make us feel alive. We have to recharge and refuel to experience true happiness.

BRAIN BREAKS VS. INSPIRED BREAKS

Humans are resilient. We can endure tremendous stress, be over stimulated all day, and then do it all again the next. But it isn’t sustainable.

We might blame being over-stimulated as a cause of exhaustion, thinking the answer is less stimulation. But when we read a book, write, scrapbook, try a new recipe, our brains are hard at work, but it feels enjoyable.

On a weeknight after an intense day of work, when reading takes too much mental involvement or it’s too dark to take a walk, television can come to the rescue.

Screen time with television, videos or social media provide easy access to decompression. But while screen time can be a simple and short-term option, it provides only a break rather than a recharge. We want a light distraction or a break from stimulus, but correspondingly, the recharge quality is as superficial as our experience of watching television.

When I had 30-minute commutes to and from work, I liked to learn a new language or sharpen my skills with instructional audiobooks. But when work is particularly taxing and my brain is maxed out, I have to give it a break. I don’t even want to use my brain or listen to someone talk. I just want background music.

Brain breaks are important, but breaks are not enough to live the inspired life. Breaks are not refueling or recharging. Breaks do not connect us with our true selves.

The word “break” aptly implies that it’s just a pause. Nothing is changing. Everything will be exactly the same once our break is over, though we may experience some short-term benefit from taking time for ourselves. We are looking to avoid activity because we literally need a break from stimulus, but the grind, the routine, the stimulation is still waiting for us. This pause doesn’t help to exchange negative energy for positive refueling energy.

BUT WHAT IF WE TAKE MORE BREAKS? DO THEY COMPOUND TO RECHARGE US EVENTUALLY? 

Nope. Breaks spent participating in energy-avoidance activities do not compound to become recharging because they don’t replace or create positive energy. If we store stress, negative energy, or too much stimulus that is not in connection to our true selves, negative energy doesn’t truly dissipate by taking a break. We have to move that energy. We have to replace that energy.

Since inspiration elicits positive energy through an experience or activity, inspiration is a powerful recharger. Participating in inspiring activities infuses positive energy, cleansing out any stagnation in its path and replacing dormant negative energy instead of just avoiding it.