We all know instinctively that with exercise, we get better. Running, jumping, swimming, all that stuff makes us fitter, healthier, but it takes time and effort, and we are all busy.
Busy doing what? Besides, running is boring, sweaty, and bad for the knees.
We also know that going to school is supposed to teach us stuff that is useable in life, like how to solve a quadratic equation. Last time I did that was 5 minutes before I forgot how to do it, 45 years ago, so perhaps not such a great life skill, for me at least.
However, exercising our brain, our idea muscle if you like seems pretty important however, you think about it.
A friend of mine is stricken by a form of muscular dystrophy, debilitating and dehumanising physically, but rather than becoming despondent and reclusive, she has sought places where she can exercise the only muscle unaffected by the physical depreciation, her brain.
Creative, interesting, engaging, hugely knowledgeable, and with a couple of extra languages over the last decade, she has exercised her idea muscle in a way that would not have happened, she assures me, without the affliction.
In a world that is changing before our eyes at a rate unprecedented in history, where jobs for life are no longer, ambiguity and uncertainty are increasing exponentially, surely we need to consider what exercises we should be taking and teaching that make our idea muscles fitter.
Most certainly, we should be teaching our kids how to exercise this muscle, they will need it more than we ever did.
Thanks for the reblog, I am glad my musings scratched your brain.
Allen Roberts
Reblogged this on Social Pandora.