Please get back to doing puzzles, sudoku, board games, crosswords, word search. Read long novels and watch long form videos.
Seeing my students and even my age-mates uncomfortable being cognitively unentertained is... something. We’re losing patience with thinking deeply.
Your brain doesn't age because of time. It ages because of repetition. The more predictable your days become, the faster your neurons quiet down. Your brain builds neural pathways based on experience. New experiences create new connections. Repetition strengthens old ones. But when you repeat the same patterns for years, your brain stops building. That's why time feels faster as you age. Your brain stops encoding new memories. It just references old ones. A year at 40 feels shorter than a year at 10, because at 10, everything was new. At 40, everything is familiar. But neuroplasticity doesn't stop. You can still grow new neurons. You can still learn. You can still change. You just have to break the loop. Your brain will wake up. And time will slow down again.
I could see why he became successful with streaming. He’s not afraid of self improvement, change, and vulnerability.
He really left making lots of money entertaining to grow and pursue his desires.
If you just started reading and are trying to get back into a rhythm, or want to build the habit. Try pairing the audiobook while reading the physical book.
It works so well.
We should stop trying to determine who is and who isn't a real reader.
I think having a silly little reading summary at the end of the month is fun. Does that take away from the validity of my reading?
Anonymous
I work at a public library. A teenage boy came to the desk. He looked nervous. "I found this," he said. He put a copy of Harry Potter on the counter. It was lost 3 years ago. It was battered. "I stole it," he admitted. "We didn't have money for books. But I read it. I read it ten times." He pulled out a crumpled $10 bill. "For the fine." I looked at the computer. The fine was way more than $10. I looked at the kid. He was honest. He was a reader. I took the $10. "Actually," I said, "The fine is exactly zero dollars during Amnesty Week." (There is no Amnesty Week). I pushed the money back to him. "Buy your own copy," I said. "And come back. We have the sequel." He comes in every Tuesday now. Libraries are for reading, not for accounting.
I mean it when I say the library has a resource for almost everything— even things that you wouldn’t think like yoga classes.
This is one place I can say truly helps people upgrade themselves, I mean it.
Hiking gear, state park passes, streaming services (music & film), internet hotspots, access to 3D printers and sewing machines, discounts to museums, academic digital resources (JSTOR, Gale), toys, ancestry/genealogy websites.