I got a phone call from my Mom the other day. Here’s how the conversation went: “Hi Mama, how are you?”….”Not so great.”…. “What’s wrong?”….”Well, I just got a smart phone, but I’m not so smart.” Now, I just have to say, this is absolutely not true. My Mom is one of the smartest people I know. Anyway, she was having some trouble getting her new phone set up and was calling to see if I could help talk her through the process. We managed to get some basic things set up, and she was able to start putting contacts in….enough to get her started with it. We decided that when I came to visit, we would take a look at it and I could show her some other things that she could do with it.
We went down Thursday, and she and I played around with it until she was comfortable. She actually caught on pretty quickly. She had never used a smart phone in her life, but she was willing to learn. My Mom is a wonderful example of a lifelong learner. She doesn’t shy away from new technology or learning new hobbies, and she’s constantly on the lookout for new cooking techniques.
Continuing to learn throughout our lifetime is vitally important.
For those of us who live with chronic conditions, we already know that it’s important to learn everything we can about them so we can be informed patients and advocate for ourselves when needed. With the number of different medical conditions and illnesses there are, we can’t expect our medical professionals to be completely up to speed on every single condition. That’s where we come in – when we arm ourselves with knowledge and come into our doctors’ appointments prepared, we make things easier both for ourselves and our doctors.
One thing we may not think about, though, is our need to continue learning, not just about what is going on with our bodies, but new things in general, throughout our lives.
Even if we don’t have any current medical problems lifelong learning is critical to maintaining our mental health as long as we live.
In his book, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, Dr. Daniel Amen, neuroscientist, psychiatrist, and brain-imaging expert, says,
“New learning creates new connections in the brain, but the absence of learning causes the brain to start disconnecting itself. No matter what your age, mental exercise has a global, positive effect on the brain. Learning has a very real effect on neurons: it keeps them firing and it makes it easier for them to fire. There are approximately a thousand trillion synapses in the brain, and each one of them may wither and die if not actively firing. Like muscles that don’t get used, idle nerve cells waste away.”
Wow! That really puts it into perspective, doesn’t it? I certainly don’t want my synapses withering and dying! How about you?
“The best mental exercise is acquiring new knowledge and doing things that you have not done before.” – Dr. Daniel Amen
As Dr. Amen explains it, when we do the same things over and over, our brain adapts and starts to use less and less energy to do those tasks. Learning new things creates new connections and helps improve function in other areas of the brain, areas that we may not use as often if we’re doing the same things over and over.
The new learning doesn’t have to encompass the type of learning we do in school, though that would certainly qualify. It can be things like learning to perform a new task, getting involved in a new hobby, starting a new exercise program like Tai Chi or Yoga, or playing games that you’ve never played before. The possibilities are endless!
The important thing is just to keep learning throughout our lifetimes. This will keep us strong mentally throughout our lives, and who knows, we might find a new passion in the process.
What new thing have you learned lately? What’s one new thing you’d like to learn?
Blessings,
~Terri
Daniel G. Amen, M.D. Change Your Brain Change Your Life. (New York, NY: Harmony Books, 1998), 354-355.
Great post! I think your mums learnt how to use one quicker than me! It took me days just to figure out how to scroll up and down. If people sent long text messages I only read the bottom half as couldn’t figure out how to scroll up to read the top half of it! 🙂
Have wanted to learn sign language for ages and I’ve just signed up to an online course so that shall be the next learning adventure. 🙂 xxx
Thank you Heather! It’s wonderful to hear you’ve signed up for the sign language course. I hope you enjoy it – I’m sure it will be rewarding!
Great post. I enjoy learning new card games and board games. I enjoy crocheting and learning new stitches to make different patterns but would like to learn to knit also. In my career, I have had the opportunity to move to 7 different departments over a 30 year period. I think being able to work in a large company that I could grown and learn something new constantly is one of the main reasons I have enjoyed my career thus far. I have a list of things to still learn at work. I am so blessed to know your Mom and have the joy to call her Mama B. She is a wonderful example of being a continuous learner. Love you and your family.
Thank you Sarah! It’s time for us to learn a new board game together I think.😊 You’re also a wonderful example of a lifetime learner; I’ve watched you learn and grow so much over the years. Love you!
Reblogged this on Dream Big, Dream Often.
Thanks so much Danny – you’re the best!
You are welcome!
Hi Terri. Great post. I love learning new stuff as well. I am constantly reading and right now, I’m learning coding and new concepts in blogging. Take care.
Thank you so much! I read a lot also, and love learning new things. Congratulations on learning coding – that’s probably going to have to make its way to my to-do list soon.😊 Thanks for visiting!
I’m learning a new job. I worked as a Nursing assistant in our home for fifteen years. Recently, I became the new Activity Director. I’ve been learning how to work on Word, and scheduling events for our residents!
Congratulations on your new job! Learning new skills is wonderful, and I’m sure your work is very rewarding. Best wishes to you!
Your mum is an inspiration Terri. It took me quite a while to get used to my phone. I agree that lifelong learning is so important on many levels. I love going to night classes. On Mondays I go to a woman’s shed where we do different topics throughout the year. It is great fun. 🌼
Awww…thank you Brigid – I’ll tell her you said so. Your Monday nights sound like fun, and I love the idea of learning about lots of different topics.
I came home with purple gel nails on Monday. I love them 😊
How fabulous! You ladies really DO learn a variety of things, don’t you?😊 Enjoy your beautiful nails!
Please send your mum round as I’ve only discovered how to use a tiny fraction of the things on my phone.
Ha ha….I’ll do that Lucinda. I’m sure my phone does a lot of things I don’t even know about. 😃 It’s amazing that we’re able to do so much with them, isn’t it?
I’m not so much amazed as terrified!! 🙂
I my father always said, “The day I stop learning, do me a favor and close the lid.”
Your father was a wise man, wasn’t he? That’s such a wonderful attitude to have! Thanks for sharing!
Dad was amazing!
Excellent post. I am 74 and still learning. We have to go with the flow in order to keep ourselves young. I don’t mean looking young but if we feed our brain properly it will stay forever young and that’s fine with me. ☺☺☺
Thanks so much! Continuing to learn is so important to ensuring quality of life throughout our lifespan. Thank you for following – I look forward to getting to know you!