This is Optimal Living Daily Episode 1838. How to Take a Break from Your Mind by David Cain

of Rapt2.com and I'm just a malloc, your personal narrator, reading to you with permission from

the authors. I cover lots of topics like personal development or self-help, mindfulness, happiness,

anything that I think can help you live a more meaningful life in just a few minutes every day.

And with that, let's get right to it as we optimize your life. How to Take a Break from Your Mind by David

Cain of Rapt2.com. Movies frequently scared me when I was a kid. Certain moments in

Gremlins, the secret of Nimm, and even Willy Wonka in the Chocolate Factory made my insights

clench with fear. It was the worst of all feelings. Most other kids seemed completely unperturbed by

these movies, which created the additional pressure in certain birthday party or sleepover

situations. Of having to pretend I was totally not scared and in fact was quite enjoying myself.

While I wasn't brave, I was clever. At some point I discovered a wonderfully effective trick

for becoming invulnerable to movie scaringness without looking away or covering my eyes.

I would continue to look at the screen, but slightly cross my eyes, putting the screen out of focus.

The subtle move instantly broke any movie's spell. Threatening Gremlins and sword wielding rats

became super blurs accompanied by disembodied sound effects. In an instant, I could dissolve the

scary tale and turn it into moving shapes and sounds, freeing myself from the story's emotional grip.

In reality, the movies were only shapes and sounds, but now I had a way of choosing whether

my emotions were tied to the events depicted by them. Whenever I wanted to, I could exit the swirling

sea of emotional tumult or jump back in. I had no idea I was doing something I'd later learn

in meditation halls, deconstructing a narrative experience into a sensory one and moving my attention

between these two levels on purpose. As adults, we spend a lot of time captivated by the stories

depicted in our minds. It's impossible to know for sure, but some studies suggest we spend more than

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