sharpthinking.org

12/04/2020

"The idea is to use the power of your 'wants', to help increase the ease with which you make 'should' choices."

If you have all the willpower you need, you can stop reading here. If you never struggle to actually do the things you repeatedly tell yourself you should do but too often are tempted not to, stop reading this article now and by all means, go do one of those things... As for the rest of us (myself v...

11/26/2020

"We tell our memories what is important to keep by how many times we practice recalling it "

How quickly do we forget? Too quickly, you might say - and you'd be right. The research on how quickly memory fades (or 'decays' as it is cheerfully termed in the research literature) dates back more than 120 years, to the work of German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus. He devised a methodical techn...

11/20/2020

Ever forget a word?

"It's as if your brain has searched its library...and for some reason found the word it needed glued to the shelf - utterly inaccessible for the moment it was intended for"

We've all been there. Confidently gliding through a complicated sentence, elegantly explaining our most interesting thoughts to a friend or colleague, when your brain reaches for and, quite surprisingly, fails to find the the exact word you're looking for in conversation. Well, it's not that your br...

11/13/2020

"how can we possibly learn to welcome, value, and even cherish the life we are already leading rather than ceaselessly striving to satisfy that inevitable next desire?"

Happiness is often thought of as the gap, or lack thereof, between what we want, and what we have. In this view, happiness is simply getting what we want out of life, again and again and again. And there is no end to our wants: a new car, a bigger house, new clothing, more money, a higher status rol...

11/06/2020

Lifestyle and Dementia Risk: "We often think the future is something that happens rather than something we make"

Once we have a basic understanding of what dementia is, the next important question to ask becomes, how can we best protect ourselves against it as we age? As I mentioned in last week's post (So what is dementia exactly?), it's true that age is the number one risk factor for developing dementia, whi...

10/30/2020

So, what is dementia exactly?

https://www.sharpthinking.org/post/so-what-is-dementia-exactly

10/29/2020

It's absolutely normal to forget things from time to time - especially things like names, dates, and addresses.

We are developing a tool that can help - but we need your insights.

Get in touch if you are interested in sharing your opinions and perspectives about your memory. We can't wait to hear from you!

10/22/2020

"The key insight here is that we have some choice over how we appraise the challenges that will inevitably permeate our lives, and that this ability to choose is a wellspring of psychological strength and resilience in the face of any adversity"

Winter is a difficult season for some, even during the best of times. Lack of natural sunlight can lead to seasonal depression and negative emotions, and snow accumulation or icy walkways and roadways can make leaving the house for social visits or even gathering the essentials more difficult or jus...

10/15/2020

What is one thing that you could remove from your life that would definitely improve it?

We all have goals and aspirations for being better versions of ourselves. We want to lose weight. We want to eat a healthier diet. We want to get more exercise or sleep. We want to be more productive. We definitely want more money, and in moments of quiet reflection, we often want to be better in ou...

10/08/2020

"How we pay attention to the present moment largely determines the character of our experience and, therefore, the quality of our lives"

In honour of World Mental Health Day coming up on October 10, 2020 I want to draw your attention to an important aspect of mental health: attention. In a very real sense, attention is our greatest resource as conscious beings. Attention is more important than money because we can always attain more....