thinking thursday : force your brain to continually restructure, rewire and build new connections

What I am thinking about and finding on the web this week.

MIND

Having suffered a severe concussion in November, with MRIs, CAT scans, and more tests revealing things about my brain I never knew (and some of which were alarming), you might find more information here in the coming weeks about brain science:

Here are 14 talks about how our brains work.

Neuroplasticity and exercise will keep your brain young and spry: “Just as the muscles in your body get stronger when you exercise them, our brains benefit from activities that cause it to change and adapt…By consistently challenging it with fresh mental activities,your brain will be continually forced to restructure, rewire and build new connections to cope with the new demands placed on it.” This is why I was taking fiddle lessons last year, and will start mandolin lessons in March.

Here’s more about neuroplasticity.

Oliver Sacks said “Music can lift us out of depression or move us to tears – it is a remedy, a tonic, orange juice for the ear. But for many of my neurological patients, music is even more, it can provide access, even when no medication can, to movement, to speech, to life. For them, music is not a luxury, but a necessity.” Using art to combat mental health stigma.

BODY

These two home-baked granolas were winners.

How to make a week’s worth of vegan meals for under $30 at Trader Joe’s.

Start now so you can feel awesome when you’re 75.

SOUL

You might know how much I love the Hobonichi planners. Here’s how to journal every day, and they are using a Hobonichi.

Why time is a feminist issue: “The image that came to mind was this: time confetti… What I didn’t know at the time was that this is what time is like for most women: fragmented, interrupted by child care and housework. Whatever leisure time they have is often devoted to what others want to do – particularly the kids – and making sure everyone else is happy doing it. Often women are so preoccupied by all the other stuff that needs doing – worrying about the carpool, whether there’s anything in the fridge to cook for dinner – that the time itself is what sociologists call ‘contaminated.'”

SPEAKING UP

You want to help victims of racism? Be an informed, strong white ally.

WORD

“Among other things, neuroplasticity means that emotions such as happiness and compassion can be cultivated in much the same way that a person can learn through repetition to play golf and basketball or master a musical instrument, and that such practice changes the activity and physical aspects of specific brain areas.”  ―Andrew Weil, Spontaneous Healing