Learning! Think less, think faster, think better

Image Source: New York Public Library

New research has come out showing that we have more creative, innovative thoughts when we aren't trying to keep track of a thousand things at once.  This bodes poorly for people like me who feel like they are always juggling a thousand thoughts at once, but heck, it's an argument to try to let go of things as much as possible.  

Interestingly, it also showed that more time did not lead to more creative thought.  In fact, when a brain is already taxed it seems it takes even longer just to come up with the most obvious of answers.

This research particularly strikes me coming out of my Year of Constant Stress.  In the last month or so, I noticed that I usually didn't even feel I had the capacity for taking in new stories.  I started re-watching Friends on Netflix because the stories were all so familiar and took almost no effort to enjoy (despite being almost unable to bear the terrible gender roles, homophobia, and fat shaming that the show relied on for its comedy - yikes!)  Under such a constant mental load, I not only couldn't come up with new content of my own, but I could barely take in new content that other people had created.

At any rate, this is just one more piece of research to motivate us to learn to relax a little and let our minds wander.

Source: NY Times