When I went on my honeymoon to Maui, Hawaii, we went to a luau – a Hawaiian feast with live music and cultural dances.
I remember when they were serving various dishes at the luau, they encouraged us to eat poi in the middle of each dish.
I had no idea at that time what the heck poi was and why would I eat that before eating the next dish?
That’s when I found out that they were encouraging us to eat poi as a palate cleanser in-between dishes so we could taste each dish separately and not have the tastes all mixed up going from one to the other.
I believe a poi for the mind is needed as well going from one activity to another. Especially in the world we live in going from one online meeting to another, if we don’t give our brain some form of poi in the middle, it all runs together and it would be very hard to give the right attention to each event much less to consume and be productive at the event.
My favorite forms of mental poi are the following:
- Taking a nap or at least closing my eyes for a few seconds focusing on my breathing
- Going for a short walk if there’s enough time
- Few minutes of exercise
I’m sure you can find your own mental poi that will help you reset and refresh in-between activities.
For many of us who are working from home, it is now more important than ever to introduce an intentional dose of poi between our mentally taxing events.