Maintaining Pliability in Our Minds
Habits for a life of continuous learning
The human brain is the most complex machine in the known universe, and every single action we take in this life depends on that machine's operation. It's strange then that on any given day most of us are more likely to spend time thinking of car or home maintenance than we are likely to spend one minute thinking of taking care of our minds.
“… patterns of thought that we've revisited time and time again get carved deeper and deeper, like trenches in the mind. Both helpful patterns of thought and unhelpful ones.”
In a lot of ways newborn babies come into this world like pieces of clay. Adaptable to the constant flow of new experiences we all take in from our first breath. In more ways than not we arrive pliable, in both body and mind.
As we age our muscles and sinews stiffen. Our joints calcify and tighten and our organs become less efficient as they adapt to do "just enough" to maintain our lifestyle. All the while, our body works to try and ensure that the things we do every day remain automatic for us in some way. Our hands callous over. Muscle imbalances develop. Our bodies adapt to maintain the status quo, even if doing so harms us in some way. The same is true of the mind.
As children, our minds are balls of nearly infinite pliability. Language, creativity, relationships, problem solving, curiosity. They all can be molded, broken, nurtured or stifled in so many different ways. As we age, ways of thinking we've blocked out or failed to explore become more distant for us and difficult to comprehend, and patterns of thought that we've revisited time and time again get carved deeper and deeper, like trenches in the mind. Both helpful patterns of thought and unhelpful ones. This is true of patterns of thinking surrounding our workplace relationships, our political orientations, our friendships, our hobbies, our romantic relationships and our relationships with ourselves. Our minds become used to the way they've always done things.
"It's gotten us this far. Better the devil we know than the devil we don't."
We, as a culture have come a long way towards accepting the reality that failing to take care of our bodies means that our bodies become a prison. Over the last 15-20 years a broadening focus on nutrition and physical fitness in this country has taken root. Healthy eating options, fitness boot-camps, yoga studios... they're all far more ubiquitous than they were a few short years ago. At this point most of these are completely accepted as normal parts of a healthy person's life.
All the while, with the endless stimuli of modern technology and social media, the ceaseless demands of our ever-expanding work weeks, and all the other expectations and responsibilities we're subjected to, we're poisoning ourselves psychologically. We continue to gorge on this "McDonald's of the mind" diet, ignorant to the fact that if we fail to take care of our minds, they too can become a prison.
We bombard ourselves with the relentless stressors of the modern world and we don't think twice about it. It's just what we "need" to do. We continue to carve these trenches in our minds, deeper and deeper, and most of us do nothing to try and maintain that same youthful pliability in our minds that we often work so hard to maintain in our bodies.
Just as physical activity can help us resist the slow decay of the body - and in many cases REVERSE it - there is increasing evidence showing that certain practices can do the same for the mind. Meditation, breathing exercises, efforts at self-awareness and mindfulness... they all can yield benefits in re-framing the mind’s relationship with the world it must engage with. These practices can help us look at our struggles in healthier ways. They can help us approach our relationships (all of them) in healthier ways too. But more than that, they help to foster and maintain creativity and intellectual curiosity in our aging minds.
In the last few years mindfulness meditation and related practices have moved into the mainstream. Public discussions about mental health, therapy, and mindfulness practices are far more normalized than they were just a few short years ago. Some forward-thinking companies, schools and other institutions have even begun implementing mindfulness meditation programs as a benefit to their employees, in much the same way that healthy eating and fitness initiatives have been offered in years prior.
It’s a wonderful start. Here’s hoping these are signs that we’re merely at the start of a long-overdue journey towards a more mindful, aware, and empathetic society for us all.
