Quote Originally Posted by pxt View Post
On the one hand, it's nice to have a break from "should be" but, on the other hand, there are times when what you "should be" doing is relaxing.

I do agree that it's healthy to get away from structured thought and just go with your creativity and mood in a child-like state. Maybe this is why it's also important to allow enough bed time to dream - so your brain can follow all the rabbit holes it has built up during the day. When I first discovered podcasts I thought it would be a great way to use all the 'dead' time in my day, so I filled every spare moment with people talking. After a while I started to feel quite anxious like a storm was brewing in my head. I needed that free-flow time back.

Perhaps just recognising that these are different is enough to make it work.

"16:00 hours; Fun will commence!" - Seven of Nine, Star Trek Voyager
Yeah it's true, we can't be constatly processing new input

here is a good article on this topic
http://www.newsweek.com/2011/02/27/i-can-t-think.html