Would you get more done if yoiu had a dolphin's brain?

 Lost time is never found again." – Benjamin Franklin

Did you know that marine mammals sleep by shutting down half of its brain, along with the opposite eye for extended periods of time, essentially putting half their brain  to sleep while the other half of the brain stays awake at a low level of alertness. This attentive side is used to watch for predators, obstacles and other animals. It also signals when to rise to the surface for a fresh breath of air. Then the do the same but reverse. How cool is that!

Think about it. How many things do you do in a day, week or a month that is completed on "auto-pilot"? Now imagine if you could complete these route tasks while sleeping? How great would that be. No more wasting "awake" time on laundry, or cleaning, or commuting to work. We could do these things and catch a few zzzz's along the way. Sounds good to me.

But is this the wrong way of looking at this sea mammal snoozin'ability?

I ask the question again, how many things do you do in a day, week or a month that is completed on "auto-pilot"?  And by doing all these things, no matter how mundane - although there are several people I know who take their laundry VERY seriously - without awareness and consciousness, what are we missing? By not putting our best effort and attention into the laundry, do we miss the opportunity to query into why the knees in our son's pants are ripped and find out it is not because of playground antics, but because of school yard bullying? Would we miss the signs of stress because we don't notice the sudden piled of shredded paper in our daughter's waste basket? And would miss the chance to really appreciate what our city has to offer by nodding off during our commute?

So while I don't know about you, but getting more sleep is something my body and brain would definitely welcome, I think I would rather focus on being present, even for the little things. You just never know when something amazing is going to happen, like connecting with your son as you sort laundry together, or hearing about your daughter's dreams as you tidy up after dinner. The dolphins can have their cat-naps, because there is no way I am going to risk missing out on moments like those.