Hi, it's Andy here, and welcome to Radio Headspace, until Wednesday morning.

I don't know whether you have children or not, whether you perhaps have nieces or nephews

or grandchildren or whatever, but a few days back I was sat down chatting with my wife

who were having dinner, and the kids were in a separate room, but kind of a different

part of the room, and they were watching TV.

As we were chatting, it looked like a first glance as though they were completely engrossed

in the programme.

I mean, if you looked at them, they're almost catatonic, looking at the screen, completely

sort of locked in.

And yet we were having a conversation, and all of a sudden the older one of the two turned

around and commented on what we were talking about.

So we had assumed that we were having a conversation that they weren't really listening to.

Thankfully it was, it was nothing bad, but we assumed that we were having a private conversation

even though they were in the room.

But clearly, despite being very engrossed in the TV show, there was an element of his mind,

there was the capacity to hear what we were saying.

And I think it's really interesting when we think about in life just how much we are

actually taking in all of the time.

Some of it we're consciously taking in, some of it we're intentionally taking in, but

actually the brain is constantly at work.

And it reminded me, I remember leaving a long retreat, the transition from that retreat

coming back into everyday life.

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