Getting Older, Getting Wiser
Addictions - News I Trust
Greetings to all,
I am fortunate to belong to a group where I met JW Wilson, the author of Cracking the Learning Code, a 900+ page book on the latest research and development regarding the workings of the brain, a subject that has fascinated me since my teenage years.
One question I had was, “How is it that my mother, although losing her short term memory, is growing so much in wisdom?”
Here are some answers and hope for the “aging” brain, which you might appreciate:
“Up until the very recent past, the elders in society have always held an esteemed position. Not for their speed or strength, which had waned, but for the knowledge they had amassed…
… Research now indicates that not only do you know more as you age, but the speed and efficiency at which your brain processes knowledge in specific brain areas also increases. In other words, you have a neurological window for wisdom!
… There’s a dramatic increase in the neural material called myelin, which enhances the speed and efficiency at which your neurons communicate with each other. … The more effective the myelination of an axon, the more effectively your brain can communicate with itself. … That myelination reaches its most efficient level in our sixth decade and stays well above the levels we see in our teens, twenties, and thirties until we’re well into our eighties.
… This is a source of our capacity to be highly creative, intuitive, and conceive out of the box solutions to problems even as we age. Combined with the large amounts of information we’ve learned, this can be seen as a source of wisdom. This increased internal activity caused by myelination also coincides with a natural decrease in physical activity. This allows an older brain to use the energy that had been directed to the motor cortex and redirects it toward the neural structures that support more in-depth thinking.
… Increased myelination in older age may be the reason that many accomplished people do their best work in later years. Thomas Edison, Victor Hugo, Margaret Mead, Claude Monet, George Bernard Shaw, Colonel Sanders, Pablo Picasso, Arthur Rubenstein, Albert Schweitzer, Louise Bourgeois, Pablo Casals, Richard Wagner, Franz Joseph Hayden, and many others succeeded in their fields in their sixties, seventies, eighties, and nineties.
… Young people in their teens, twenties, and thirties strike upon great ideas that had some merit, but lacked the wisdom to fully develop them. … The financiers recognized that great ideas were not enough—they also needed the wisdom of elders to have a chance of developing a successful business.
… As long as you stay physically healthy as you age, many of your brain areas will work much better than they did in your younger years. …
Researchers discovered that as individuals aged, they did better on tests of vocabulary, spatial orientation, and inductive reasoning than they did when they were in their twenties.
… Elders have a much broader perspective on life than the young. Age also allows us to not “sweat the small stuff.” … wisdom.
… The research is clearly demonstrating that any organization that hopes to maximize its impact in the world will need to have a firm understanding of the value of the aging brain.”
Wilson, JW. Cracking the Learning Code: The Science That is Transforming How the World Learns, Motivates and Changes Behaviors (p. 556). Kindle Edition.
In the world of hypnosis, we talk about addictions as being habits, deeply ingrained habits, which can be changed quite rapidly (as long as the person is willing) with hypnosis techniques.
JW Wilson has a complementary view. Click on the picture to watch the video.
Misinformation… Disinformation… are rampant nowadays. I’ve had posts and comments censored for what is more malinformation, meaning “what you are saying is true, but we don’t want people to know.” My LinkedIn account has been suspended as well.
Whom can you trust?
I listen to Del Bigtree’s The Highwire on Thursday at 11:00 am PST. I’ve followed Del for many years, even had a chance to interview him for a summit I co-hosted. I’ve yet to find information that has not been thoroughly researched - i.e. true science - and so far, his news have been right on… weeks or even years in advance of regular media.
I have enjoyed listening to Foster Gamble, who made the movies Thrive and Thrive II, which I highly recommend. They define the problems we are facing and offer uplifting solutions.
Here is one of his latest blogs (and links to his movies) about becoming Master of Re-Creation.
Be uplifted and
LIVE with PASSION, PURPOSE and DELIGHT!
Danielle