Sublime

In an experiment that became an instant classic, the psychologist John Bargh and his collaborators asked students at New York University—most aged eighteen to twenty-two—to assemble four-word sentences from a set of five words (for example, “finds he it yellow instantly”). For one group of students, half the scrambled sentences contained words

With these scientists, psychologists, and educators informing our thinking, it seems that it may be our ability and inclination to continuously learn and disrupt ourselves that makes us uniquely human.

Mind wandering, focused thinking and selective attention can all be strengthened with practice. Giving yourself the time and space to think without distraction can lead to new ideas and perspectives.

Perhaps the context we find ourselves in determines which default state the mind reverts to. Humans who find themselves disengaged from natural environments may come to know primarily the self-focused default state. Spending time not just indoors, but also on social media, pushes us toward social cognition and, often, rumination. Without regular

When left undeveloped, the senses give us chaotic information: an untrained body moves in random and clumsy ways, an insensitive eye presents ugly or uninteresting sights, the unmusical ear mainly hears jarring noises, the coarse palate knows only insipid tastes. If the functions of the body are left to atrophy, the quality of life becomes merely

One key factor was that they kept learning new things throughout their lives.

if you want to help older adults who are trying to cope with their diminishing physical and cognitive functioning, make them as Internal as possible.

Maximum Brainpower: Challenging the Brain for Health and Wisdom,

You learn to stop wasting time pointlessly running through the same old habits of thinking and doing that have long since stopped serving any useful purpose. It also means that you are less likely to end up striving for too long towards goals that it might be wiser to let go of for a while. You become fully alive and aware again