Embracing Mental Novelty

Digging New Grooves In Our Cerebral Cortex

Greg Dunn’s Neuro Art is wild.

These days, people seek physical comfort and familiarity to an unhealthy degree.

When we sit on the couch eating Funyuns and watching our phones, it's easy and seductive, but our bodies pay over time.

Seeking physical novelty and discomfort can be great for our health and there is research to support it. 

Lifting heavy things is uncomfortable and healthy. Taking cold showers is uncomfortable and healthy. Giving up bad habits like smoking or drinking too much is uncomfortable and healthy.

Forming new habits in general or just mixing it up can be uncomfortable but healthy. 

The same applies for our minds especially as we age. Novelty can be uncomfortable and, sure, this is a mind-body thing.

Learning about unfamiliar things, studying new areas of interest, taking on novel problems, and exposing ourselves to new life challenges can be uncomfortable.

But mental novelty and the discomfort that might come along with it keep our minds fresh and flexible. 

It keeps us digging new grooves in our cerebral cortex.

Listening to music I’ve never heard before is a big one for me. I'm keeping my brain on its tippy toes. 

If you have any music you love that you think I have not heard, please hit me with it by replying to this email or commenting below.