Why Should We All Be Journaling?

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

"i've known for years that i should be journalis, but whenever i tried over the years, it always felt a little bit sort of self indulgent and and silly to write about your day," she says. "Your description of why it's so important to off load these thoughts that we a and very specifically the example of charles darwin, who we conclude never would have accomplished what he accomplished without a kind of religious journalling practice."

Modern life has not been easy on our brains. Average IQ scores rose steadily throughout the last century. Now they appear to be leveling off. The problem, according to neuroscientists, may be that we have reached our neurobiological limits. Our brains simply can’t work any harder. Luckily, science writer Annie Murphy Paul has a solution. In her bold new book, “The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain,” she draws on a wealth of scientific research to show that we’re smarter when we get out of our heads. By offloading our memories onto our phones, making decisions based on our bodily sensations, using tactile tools to solve abstract problems, drawing inspiration from our surroundings, and arguing with our friends, we can access intelligence that exists beyond the confines of our craniums. In this episode, Annie explains how to do it.