Preloading

Why You Do Your Best Thinking in the Shower

Season 6 Episode 608
Aired on 04/12/2015 | CC tv-14
Have you ever wondered why your best aha! moments tend to come to you in the shower? Scientist Jon Kabat-Zinn says it's simple: The shower is a place where we can cultivate mindfulness. "When we get quiet, when we get still, when we rest, you could say, in awareness, our natural impulse to see connections that we didn't see the moment before is unimpeded," he says. "And we can actually make these connections and realize them in ways that we might not have been able to do the moment before."

Mindfulness is a practice, and Jon says the shower is the perfect place to flex that muscle. "The next time you're in the shower, check and see if you're in the shower. Because you may not be in the shower. Or you may have your whole Monday morning 9 o'clock meeting in the shower with you, but you're not actually there under the water, feeling the water on your skin," he says. "You're off in the future. Or off in the past."

In the video above, Jon shares how to bring yourself back to the moment if your mind keeps wandering.

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