Bringing back a Wandering Attention - William James

Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.

William James was interested in mindfulness and attention:  

 “The faculty of voluntarily bringing back a wandering attention, over and over again, is the very root of judgment, character, and will. No one is compos sui [master of himself] if he have it not. An education which should improve this faculty would be the education par excellence.”

William James, Psychology: Briefer Course, p. 424 (Harper Torchbooks, 1961)

The Plastic Brain

Read this quote about how Merzenich thinks about his brain's decline.

"I want to put my brain to the best possible use as long as it is possible."

"Science tells us that a key to sustaining and growing our neurological abilities is seriousness of purpose.  I am old enough to have retired, but shall not withdraw to a life of comfort and ease because I know that the brain slowly dies when nothing that it does matters to it. ... understand that what sustains your brain sustains you.  You need to continue to work at things that support your brain's health now, and continue to work in ways that support it out to the end of your time on Earth."

- Dr. Michael Merzenich 

www.soft-wired.com/ref/32

 

Brain Plasticity sites:

www.brainhq.com

 

www.onthebrain.com

 

www.positscience.com