Free your mind!
Professor Volker Busch, neurologist
Dr Busch is a neuroscientist and a specialist for neurology, psychiatry and psychotherapy. One of his focal topics is concentration and relaxation in everyday life.
Dr Busch, do you manage to switch off in your everyday life?
I have to admit I have learnt a lot about the brain through my own mistakes. I take several breaks a day to switch off and come back to myself. Many good things happen in those moments. I make peace with my emotions. I discover solutions for problems, or I get creative. I call these breaks “free head spaces”. They are rare in a digital world with an information overload – and yet they are vital and beneficial.
How do you relax a stressed mind?
Things that make us happy or are stimulating without putting us under pressure or overtaxing us are mentally relaxing. So, relaxing does not mean doing “nothing”. You can be active. But the performance culture we have got used to in our jobs should not be extended to our free time. The aim is simply to “be” without feeling the need to “create” or “achieve” something.
Can we only be happy if we free our minds?
A feeling of happiness can be caused by many things. But freeing your mind is a good start. That does not mean it should be empty but free of troubling coercive thoughts. One of the things that will definitely help people to be happier is the ability to stop tormenting themselves with everyday issues and instead focus on the good things in life and find joy in simple pleasures.
Professor Volker Busch and his book “Kopf frei!” (“Free your mind”)
If you want to clear your head and leave the daily routine behind you for a short while, then a relaxing hay bath in the Romantik Hotel Turm in South Tyrol is just the thing.