The Importance of Creating.

Since the widespread use of the television, there have been complaints that we have become a more passive culture and that we prefer to sit and consume media.  Rumblings of this switch in society started with the radio, when families would gather around it to listen to their favourite programs, but it really took hold with the television.  This trend has continued with video games, the internet and smart phones.

There is a certain among of truth in the statement that we consume much more than we create.  Scrolling our social media feeds passively allows us to consume while at the same time receiving a dopamine hit every time we get a like, a retweet or comment.  This can be addictive and cause us to continue to scroll hoping for more good feelings.  We have become more of a consumer culture and less of a creator culture because of this.

So, why do we want to be creators and more importantly, how do we switch from consuming to creating?  Creating opens up new neural pathways in our brains and causes positive expansion and growth.  We are able to more clearly problem solve and see both sides of an issue, a skill we have shown is very important.

Decline at 50??

Creating also stops cognitive decline in our brains as we age.  It is commonly accepted that our brain function starts to inevitably decline around age 50.  This is totally false!  In fact, the opposite is true:  Author Steven Kotler has stated that between the ages of 50 and 70, we make some of our strongest advances in brain growth and achieve super plasticity.  Our brains grow in a cognitive burst, and we actually become smarter if we continue to take care of our brains. After 50 our ability to see both sides of an issue really gain strength as our brains mature.

It seems as we age that it is harder to learn something and we often attribute it to our age, but that fact is the brain is like any other muscle and thinking is a physical activity.  If we are out of practice in doing something, whether that is playing music, doing puzzles or playing chess for example, we need to exercise our thinking muscles and get them working again.  Once we get them back in “shape”, doing an activity we have not done for a while or thinking about a particular issue becomes easier.  It is a matter of “doing the repetitions”, as Arnold Schwarzenegger loved to say, and our muscles will become strong again, whether in our body or our brain.

Doing the Repetitions

How do we do those repetitions for brain health?  Unsurprisingly, exercising our brains is not complicated and can be done easily and with incredible results.  The first step is to make a commitment to becoming a creator and a learner and to consume and react much less.  This starts in the morning when we wake up.  The average person picks up their phone immediately upon waking and looks at it for 15 minutes before even getting out of bed.  Instead, waking up and getting out of bed without looking at any technology for 2-3 hours will change your brain from consumption mode to creation mode.  Creation could be writing your goals down for the day, writing in a journal, meditating or exercising; as long as you are using your mind to think rather than consume.

Doing this will change your brain from consumption mode to creation mode.  Doing activities outside have also proven to be very effective for brain health.  These activities do not need to be rigorous; walking is as effective as a mountain hike.  As long as it is outside, its effectiveness on your brain goes up dramatically; our bodies and minds crave being outside.

If we go from consuming to creating, we can increase our brain health dramatically and keep it healthy for much longer.