Thumb Twiddling

Thought I would post even though there's not a heck of a lot to report.   I'm sort of twiddling my thumbs over here trying not to think too much about the result we're going to get in a few weeks.  Somehow in the process of not doing much a week has elapsed, so that's good.  Just a few more weeks to go now...

I've noticed that since I got back from Denver I've been quite tired, and have been finding it hard to motivate.  Don't know if it's the winter weather, the aftermath of the drugs, or the impending onset of AF - but I've really been a slug.  I really want to lose a few pounds before we go to India, but I think it's going to be a challenge.

I saw a fascinating show on Charlie Rose the other day about the brain, both conscious and unconscious.  A panel of psychiatrists and scientists were discussing (among many other things) what an enormous role unconscious processing has in our ability to function.  Apparently there is a great deal more bandwidth to process information simultaneously in the unconscious than in the conscious mind.  The layperson's example they gave was what happens when you get stuck on figuring out a homework problem and decide to take a break.  After a walk around the block, you'll often find that the answer will come to you quite suddenly - this is an example of letting the unconscious process the information for you.

One of the panelists actually said that the unconscious mind is far superior to the conscious mind in terms of making complex decisions.  He said that it is important to gather all of the information consciously, but not over-think the issue after that, as it can sometimes lead to the wrong decisions.  The better way is to gather the information and then let it percolate in the unconscious mind for a while.  The decision will just come to you after that, and will often be the better one.

I thought this was really interesting, and (of course!) applied it to my current IF situation.  With the amount of information we have to process, and the difficult and complicated decisions we have to make, maybe sometimes it's better to just let things percolate rather than thinking about them too much.  I have a tendency to want to think things out (obsess) beforehand, but I've noticed that with this cycle I haven't been doing that as much.  Maybe that's actually a better way to handle things - less needless anxiety, better decisions?

Anyhow, some random food for thought on a rainy Wednesday.  Reading through the latest round of blog updates, many of us seem to be stuck in some sort of waiting period.  I hope for all of us that these periods pass as quickly as possible, so we can get to the good stuff!

And thanks to everyone for their lovely and positive comments to my last post - you all are keeping me going!