Brain Training with No Equipment

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"Pandemic-Depression": Maybe it's not what you think?

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I’ve had a number of recent conversations about “pandemic depression”. Some people call it “depression”, others a “zero-passion” place, others “constant fatigue”. Most of these conversations have been with people who feel like there’s “no reason” to feel this way, who recognize that they’re in a fairly privileged place: working at home, staying healthy, sufficient money for the rent and food, etc.

But what they have in common is their assumption that there is something wrong with them. And I don’t like people assuming there is something wrong with them — that they need fixing. So I want to offer an alternative view to the pathologizing of what I think is a natural reaction to pandemic-isolation.

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What is the Internet Doing to Your Brain?

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Is the internet your brain's friend?


I was asked a question by someone who was in a discussion about the internet and its influence on our brains. Specifically, they were talking about whether there is any truth to some recent work showing that the internet, and how we (you, your children) are using it, is making us dumber.

So the question posed to me was….

Wondering if you have any thoughts/insights on the changing nature of the brain, with increased internet communications, and the prevalence of tools like Google to locate information?

My answer was: …

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Mindfulness: A tool for brain training?

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Sorry to go missing for the summer - I seemed to have taken a writing-free vacation! But I"m trying to ease myself back into communicating with the outside world . So let's get (re-)started....There has been a lot of talk about mindfulness this days and lots of expensive courses to teach you "how to do it". Why is this approach so popular and is it worth the time to learn and practice it? I'm going to suggest that yes, it is. And that's because practicing mindfulness gives your brain a chance to allow old, less useful/unproductive "thought ruts" to weaken and change. That means you're less likely to just automatically go down the same old thought and feeling-roads you may be taking that cause you distress. I've had a couple of posts on this topic in the past, but I recently received an email about a free introduction to mindfulness -- and since courses can be so darn expensive -- free looked like a good thing to share with you. It's soon, but there's still time to let the presenters know you're interesed. I'm (with their permission) just going to share the exact content of their notice. Since I'm not affiliated with these folks, please do get back to them directly if you're interested. (But do feel free to say you found out about it here!) Here we go...