Thought.
This thought popped into my head as I was enjoying my morning walk. I often use my morning walk just to enjoy the moment, enjoy the surroundings, and just ponder whatever happens to drift into my mind at the moment. My walks feel very “analog”. During these moments I keep my phone in my back pocket. I’m recording the steps, but I don’t want to be using my phone when I’m in this “analog” version of zen.
I recently watched an interview with Dame Emma Thompson, who talked about the connection between her brain and her hand when she is writing out her scripts and such in longhand. There is something very real for me in the area as well; I have found myself instantly forgetting anything I type, but easily remembering things I wrote down. I can visualize the handwritten note and I can remember how I felt as I wrote my notes in longhand. The muscle memory of the experience makes it much easier for my brain to process and store the experience. When I “type something down”, it goes into whatever application and makes little impression on my brain. From time to time this can be witnessed right here on this blog, when I write a blog entry about a subject and then a few days or weeks later, write about the same subject again, completely forgetting about the original entry.
For the past couple of months I’ve been making a concerted effort to write things down on paper. I’ve been doing this with thoughts, with work, and with my ideas for my YouTube channel. It’s proving to be beneficial for my memory and it slows my brain down just a little bit so I can focus on what I’m doing in the moment.
And when it comes to a life of indeterminate length, it’s important to cherish the moment.
#handwriting #memory #muscleMemory