3007: 5 Reasons Why Monotony Is Good by Laure Carter on Cultivating Discipline, Focus and Inner Peace

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[00:01:00] This is Optimal Health Daily. 5 Reasons Why Monotony Is Good. By Laura Carter of LauraCarter.com. And I'm Dr. Neil. Welcome back to Optimal Health Daily, or welcome for the first time if you're new here. This is a podcast where I act as your very own personal narrator and read to you from some of the most popular health and fitness blogs online. And always with a little bit of my commentary at the end. Now for a lot more blogs being narrated for you, check out Optimal Living Daily.

[00:01:29] You can search and find us in any podcast app where you're listening to this. And with that, let's get right to today's post as we optimize your life. 5 Reasons Why Monotony Is Good by Laura Carter of LauraCarter.com. Nobody wakes up in the morning excited about the monotony of their lives. Most people hate monotony and are proud to say they don't have a routine because routines are boring.

[00:01:58] One definition of routine is an unvarying, habitual, unimaginative life. Having vegetable soup for dinner rather than pizza? Boring. Going to bed early rather than binge watching our favorite show? Boring. In the field of wellness, healthy routines and strategies can especially feel boring and monotonous. And I believe it's a good thing. Monotony doesn't mean there's something wrong. The reason we think of this as something negative is because of the world we live in.

[00:02:28] We live in a world that Ayurvedic practitioners say is vata deranged. The world we live in is not just cuckoo. It's vata cuckoo. Basically it means that in our world, people need to be constantly stimulated and distracted. Our lives need to be in constant movement to feel real and interesting. A life without excitement is not a life worth living. Or is it? Should we always run away from our existential fear of boredom?

[00:02:55] I love French cinema. I do. It doesn't always make sense. But I love it because in most French movies, it's still the acting and the story that strike an emotional response. Not the background music. If you look at movies from 20 years ago, you'll notice that transitions between scenes are slower. Today they're much faster and more striking. There's more music to stimulate emotions and sounds are louder. With social media and cell phones, we're constantly engaged in a conversation, expressing and sharing.

[00:03:23] It seems that we're either living vicariously through other people's exciting lives or we're staving off loneliness. The more foods we consume that stimulate our taste buds, the better, right? The problem with that is that we can lose our sense of taste in the search for stimulation. We need foods that taste sweeter, saltier and spicier. And sometimes that could be a dangerous cocktail for our health. Monotony in our health routines is absolutely necessary if we want to experience true well-being.

[00:03:52] We need to take a lesson from Mother Nature. Ayurveda is the system of natural health care par excellence. Its principles and wisdom are based on a keen observation of nature. Nature goes through cycles, teaching us that the very fabric of life is cyclical. Those cycles are slow and monotonous. But do we say that nature is boring? No. We're in awe of its beauty and intelligence. We come to Mother Nature to seek solace, enlightenment and peace.

[00:04:19] So here are the five benefits of monotony in healthy routines. Benefit number one. Monotony keeps indecision at bay. When we establish a daily routine, we don't have to wonder what we're going to do or eat next. We're not wasting energy on being indecisive. It also makes it easier to predict how we're going to feel and therefore may maintain our energy and focus levels. We don't have to wonder if this particular meal is going to make us feel bloated and gassy.

[00:04:48] Benefit number two. It connects us with our beingness. At the core of who we are, beyond the distractions of our lives, we just are. The sages of old say that beingness is peace, bliss and freedom. When we're always stimulated, we forget our true nature. We're not the waves. We're the ocean upon which the waves happen. Benefit number three. It creates consistency. Consistency will get us to our goals.

[00:05:17] When we have a vegetable soup every night, in the long run, it may help improve our health and wellness. In the long term, we may sleep better and more deeply, and we'll wake up in the morning earlier and with more energy. Benefit number four. We can be more present. And enjoy the present moment with the gifts it has to offer us.

[00:05:38] A beam of sunlight through the crystal ball hanging at my window showers me with a thousand tiny little rainbows as I sit on my meditation pillow at the same time. Benefit number five. It makes life simpler. Being able to live more simply ultimately gives us a great sense of self-sufficiency and dependency. The mind that delights in monotony has more patience and power of expectation. Quote,

[00:06:05] The endurance of monotony has about the same place in a healthy mind that the endurance of darkness has. That is to say, as a strong intellect will have pleasure in the solemnities of storm and twilight, and in the broken and mysterious lights that gleam among them, rather than in the mere brilliancy and glare. While a frivolous mind will dread the shadow and storm. And as a great man will be ready to endure much darkness or fortune in order to reach greater eminence of power or felicity. While an inferior man will not pay the price.

[00:06:35] Exactly in like manner, a great mind will accept or even delight in monotony, which would be wearisome to an inferior intellect. Because it has more patience and power of expectation and is ready to pay the full price for the great future pleasure of change. John Ruskin. It doesn't mean that we can't ever veer from our routines once in a while. But for the sake of our health, it's better if this is the exception rather than the norm.

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[00:08:30] Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at Shopify.com slash OHD. Go to Shopify.com slash OHD. Shopify.com slash OHD. Dr. Neil here for my commentary. There are actually published studies that look at this idea of restricting options and helping people achieve their goals.

[00:08:59] What we know about human behavior is that too many options can overwhelm us. Have you ever tried to give a toddler like more than two options? Like you say to them, okay, you can either sit here and eat your breakfast or you can go back to sleep or you can go outside and play. And all of a sudden you see their wheels spinning as they're trying to process this information and it's too much and then they can't make a decision. Well, we sort of kind of carry that with us as we get older.

[00:09:26] When we are bombarded by too much information, it'll actually lead to indecision. So in the beginning when someone's trying to lose weight, let's say, a health professional may recommend that they limit their choices initially. And they may say, just choose one or two options for lunch every day. And that's what you're going to consume for the next week or two. What they're doing is limiting the options so that the person doesn't have to guess, well, which food am I going to eat now? Well, let's see, which workout should I do at the gym today?

[00:09:56] It removes a lot of those questions and creates a more clear path. But again, it doesn't have to stay like that forever. And some people find this really helpful. Others find it so restrictive, they don't like it and it actually sabotages them. So you have to find what works best for you. But I know in my experience when working with patients, sometimes limiting choices like this can be really, really helpful. Because it simplifies things. And that's it for today. I hope you have a great rest of your weekend. Thank you so much for listening.

[00:10:26] Thank you for sharing this show with someone. I'll be back here tomorrow as usual. So I'll see you there where your optimal life awaits.