Write Lightning is a blog from writer Deb Thompson.
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Tue, Oct 14 2008
Brain activity and web searches
If it's true that middle-aged and older adults have increased brain activity when searching on the internet, I could probably catapult the MRI into the stratosphere. I do research online almost every single day. But I was curious to know that reading didn't cause the same type of activity. Reading has always been important to me, though I haven't read a "book" from cover to cover in quite some time.
I sometimes wonder if lots of activity is the only true measure of a brain's health, or if it's perhaps the notion that we can awaken new areas of activity in the brain that is important. Scientists are also taking another look at meditation and its effects on the brain. I can recall meditation's moment in the sun in the 1970s and the fact that some Christian people I knew rejected the whole idea because they feared that meditation was too connected to other religions. But if we really can increase our ability to become, for instance, more empathetic by meditating, shouldn't we at least consider its merits? It seems to me that prayer is very close to meditation in that it takes us outside our comfort zone and makes us vulnerable to the possibilities of what is beyond our own known capabilities. And if we can reduce stress and learn to focus on the true priorities in life we become much more likely to be able to navigate spiritually and to use that skill to help others along the way.
posted at: 14:50 | category: /Religious and Spiritual | link to this entry
If it's true that middle-aged and older adults have increased brain activity when searching on the internet, I could probably catapult the MRI into the stratosphere. I do research online almost every single day. But I was curious to know that reading didn't cause the same type of activity. Reading has always been important to me, though I haven't read a "book" from cover to cover in quite some time.
I sometimes wonder if lots of activity is the only true measure of a brain's health, or if it's perhaps the notion that we can awaken new areas of activity in the brain that is important. Scientists are also taking another look at meditation and its effects on the brain. I can recall meditation's moment in the sun in the 1970s and the fact that some Christian people I knew rejected the whole idea because they feared that meditation was too connected to other religions. But if we really can increase our ability to become, for instance, more empathetic by meditating, shouldn't we at least consider its merits? It seems to me that prayer is very close to meditation in that it takes us outside our comfort zone and makes us vulnerable to the possibilities of what is beyond our own known capabilities. And if we can reduce stress and learn to focus on the true priorities in life we become much more likely to be able to navigate spiritually and to use that skill to help others along the way.
posted at: 14:50 | category: /Religious and Spiritual | link to this entry
