Fertilizing your brain garden

Growing up, the dogma of the day was that you had only so many neurons way before you became an adult, and after that, the number just declined. The neurons were never replaced. It was a dismal picture, and I could never quite believe it. Recent research has disproved this idea. Adult brains can grow new neurons, not just new branches on old neurons. Granted, this isn't new news, but the implications can hardly be emphasized enough.

A great article on Kathy Sierra's blog shows that being in an office cubical can cause brain damage, or something very much akin to it. Isn't it strange that so much creative intellectual work would be done in cubicles? Or is it really productive work after all?

Another great blog post from Kathy shows that being around angry people causes brain damage too. Researchers have found we have "mirror neurons" that match the people around us. We just have to watch someone be a rock star, and part of our brain turns into a rock star. Or being around someone who is angry causes the mirror neurons to match, and we become angry.

Perhaps the soil metaphor for our mind and spirit is a scientific one too. If our brain actually grows, maybe it's a good idea to plant good seeds. Like the parable Jesus used in the gospels. And maybe it's a good idea to keep the soil fertile too with good fertilizer. Good fertilizer for the brain as well as the soul. The mirror neuron research indicates that being around happy people would lead to healthy brain soil. What do you think would be good NPK for the head? Or the mental equivalent of healthy fertilizer?

Being a programmer, my sense is it's all about the environment. Having a healthy pleasant environment. The soil is like our experience. Going back to the issue of cubicles, is it any wonder that a company like Google is doing so well, coming up with such great ideas, when it not only gives all the programmers real offices, but Google also offers free healthy meals. How are you nourishing the environment of your life?

The Importance of Larking

This post on Bernie DeKoven's FunLog, Intergenerational Playground Larking, has kind of blown me away. There's always been a feeling that play is important for your health, but this post shows scientific evidence that it helps for old people to play in playgrounds.

[...] a "team at Rovaniemi Polytechnic [Finland] [or is that "Funland"?] studied one group of 40 people, aged between 65 and 81, and found there were significant improvements in balance, speed and co-ordination after just three months of larking about on the climbing frames and play equipment.

After a bout of working on the job weekends and nights in ways that did not feel like play at all, this post reminds me I better get back onto the playground, and soon!

A Blog Diet

If you're here, you probably know what a blog is. I was luck enough to first hear about blogs from my estemed Chief Technical Officer, Ramana Rao, the heart and founder of Inxight where I work. At least five years ago he said blogs were going to be big. I respected him, but I didn't get it. It seemed a blog was just a website that you write articles on. Now I finally think I understand a bit more why blogs are such a big deal, and why it's part of something much bigger that has been happening on the internet. Blogs are about a major shift from broadcast media to conversations, passive media consumption versus interactive participation.

This post is titled "a blog diet" because diet has such a tremendous impact on our health, and blogs should be a big part of every net citizen's diet. But perhaps the title should have been "a blog diet and exercise". Just reading blogs won't do it. You can't really understand the dance until you dance yourself. Don't just read blogs, find ones that let you comment, and post comments. Even if it's just "thank you, great post". You'll understand the value of this more though if you start your own. It's free, it's easy, and it's fast. I like blogspot.com, but there are others if you want to google around.

To get you started, here are a few blogs you might want to look at:

Creating Passionate Users Kathy Sierra makes technical learning fun with her Head First series of books. There's lots of great interesting and fun stuff here. Check it out.

100bloggers - One hundred bloggers post to a single blog space. You'll find lots of intersting reading and interesting folks to talk to. I post here too, check it out.

In the Blogging World You Don't Have Sex on the First Date - Here's a great bit of advice if you want to get serious about blogging. It can be a money making career by itself, but it also is a great way to market your goods and services.

Make it Great - Check out this guy's blog, it has lots of positive thinking in it, and references to the great blogs of others.

Gaping Void - Hugh Macleod has quite a following, with interesting cartoons. Might be fun, but this particular post has blogging advice - take as humor, but do take it.

Bernie Dekoven's Fun Log - It's about fun. have some every day, it's good for your health.