 |
I received this book as a Christmas gift, and it is awesome! It is awesome because I can project all the meaningful contents Eagleman presents to how I function!
In my young
adulthood I decided one day that I would love to be a swimming instructor. Being a university student (English
Literature major) at the time of this game-changing decision, I simply added three
swimming classes to my university subject load, Physical Education 110
(Learning to Swim), Physical Education 210 (Bronze Medallion), and Physical
Education 310 (Instructor Level Swimming).
English Literature was my major, Phys Ed was now my minor.
At the time I
was a decent swimmer; after all, I was a scuba diver, member of the National
Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI) with at least 50 dives under my weight-belt.
I thought I was a decent swimmer! Participating in these three swimming
classes was a humbling experience, to say the least! To keep up and to stay in
the same current with my other class members who all happened to be Physical
Education majors, I had to rewire my brain!
And in so wiring, each morning at 7 o’clock I dove into the university pool swimming lanes for my one mile individual medleys of Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke, and Freestyle until I finished by degree. For the first semester
it was grueling, for the second semester it was refreshing, and by the
final semester it was perfunctory. During which time I also joined the university dive team!
Swimming enhanced
my life! After graduating university I taught swimming all year long at the YMCA for a
dozen years. In summer I taught swimming and diving at the outdoor pools, in
winter I taught swimming and diving indoors at the main pool.
Somewhere during
my professional swimming years, I decided to become a long-distance runner. After
all, at the time I was decently fit, I thought! Being water-fit is not the same as being
road-fit. I studied The Complete Book of Running by James Fixx
and started to run Long-Slow-Distance (LSD) every day. As it happened, I met a
fellow runner, Burt, and we ran together for over twenty years. By together I mean we ran 13 half-marathons at
The Echo Lake Road Race and a couple of complete marathons in affiliation with The
Saskatchewan Marathon.
Running, too, enhanced my life! As a high-school counsellor, for one of my
extra-curricular duties I coached long-distance running. And then later in my
career as an educator, I was asked to introduce a running curriculum for incarcerated young offenders, of which I was a participant-observer for seven years. I even based my master’s
degree thesis, ONE HUNDRED DAYS AT THE HOUSE OF CONCORD, on this running program. At
this point I must pay tribute to the American educator, JIM DEATHERAGE
and his Reading, Writing, and Running class! (I phoned Jim to
discuss his class and he encouraged me to replicate his concept for my classes
up here in Canada! Jim, I owe you many, many miles of fitness and economic bliss!)
As it
happened during my master’s study years, one of my Psychology professors
insisted I submit one of my graduate papers to a publisher – he thought it was
that good! And apparently it was! My
book, A WISHBONE EPISTOLARY was published by the University of Toronto Guidance
Centre in 1985, the royalties of which long since got and spent.
And so, then
I knew that being a published author was relatively a simple chore, was easy-peasy
so to speak. At the time, this is what I thought! I was so very wrong! I
wrote a sequel to my Wishbone, but that was rejected. Or rather, it needed lots
of revision. It needed lots of revision
for which I had neither the time nor energy to deliver. Not until this year,
2023, did I finally rewire my brain, did I gather the time and energy to
complete QUEST FOR BLACK BEACH and was rewarded by WOOD DRAGON BOOKS
with my second published book! (My brain
is still on rewire and I’ve written two more drafts for two new books to be
completed in 2024.)
Swimming. Running. Writing. These are three of my brain-rewire examples to date for which I have received many a reward. I wanted to be a swimming instructor – I swam every day until I became a swimming instructor. I wanted to be long-distance runner – Rain or shine, sleet or heat, I stuck to my running regimen every day for years until I became a marathoner. I wanted to be a writer – As of late, I wrote at least a page every day until I became a published book author once again. And now, after my Xmas vacation skiing at Big White near Kelowna, British Columbia, I want to be a down-hill ski instructor! (On January 5th, 6th, and 7th, of this year I am registered in the Canadian Ski Instructors’ Alliance Level 1 Certification to be held at the Mission Ridge Ski Resort near Regina.) I know that to be a certified ski instructor I will have to ski, ski, ski, just like I had to swim, swim, swim, and just like I had to run, run, run, and write, write, write. Live wire action repeated, repeated, repeated is the key to one's brain rewire. *Read Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours theory in his book OUTLIERS (2008).
One of my at-arm's-length colleagues asked if I were now thinking of retiring to become a
professional ski bum. Nope. I AM NOT RETIRING – I AM REWIRING! But to be a bona fide and certified ski bum, I need to rewire my brain yet again!
My colleague’s
comment was not at all abstruse, for I am dangerously assuming that my
colleague who thought I was about to retire was suffering a tad of ageism
toward me when he said this. Hmmm. And he knows that I am only 72 years old! 😊
In my defense,
many say that age is just a number, and there are always people proving this
notion to be true. I am not oblivious about my age. I am 72, but I am not moribund! I shall now offer up such
people in their areas of expertise (and my areas of interest) where, indeed,
age is just a number.
I loved playing hockey -- Now I love shinny! Professional hockey
player, Gordie Howe played his final game in a rink of the National
Hockey league when his was 52 years of age. I love boxing. Boxer, Steve Ward,
had his final round of professional fisticuffs in the ring when he was
61 years old. I love being a singer-songwriter. Singer-songwriters, Bobby
Dylan and Kris Kristofferson are respectively aged 80 and 87. I love
being a hypnotherapist. Psychologists, William Glasser and Carl Jung
and Carl Rogers celebrated their retirements at their own funerals,
respectively at the ages of 88, 85, and 85.
 |
| SHINNY AT BIG WHITE SKI RESORT |
Granted, these comparisons are somewhat skewed in an apple-to-oranges sense that I am presenting athleticism as being measured on the same longevity ruler as academia, and too, that my personal athletic and academic triumphs are in the same league as the aforementioned hockey heroes and world renown psychologists! For the common-sense record, these measures cannot be compared. But with regard to thematic, they must be! Instructor level down-hill skiing relies heavily on athleticism, lightly on academics. To earn my reward of a certified instructor ticket, I must be able to perform both physically (on the hill) and academically (on written exam).
As mentioned
at the front of this blog entry, “Reward is a powerful way to rewire the
brain, but happily your brain doesn’t require cookies or cash for each
modification. More generally, change is tied to anything that is relevant to
your goals” (David Eagleman). In
short, my brain will devote its resources accordingly to accommodate my immediate
goal in 2024 to be a certified ski instructor.
And perhaps,
just perhaps, I will spend my final years, rewired and retired on the slopes in
the crazed plummy role of a ski-bum!
 |
| HEADING FOR THE SLOPES |
HAPPY NEW YEAR, YOU LIVE WIRES!
MAY ALL YOUR RESOLUTIONS BE REWIRES!
No comments:
Post a Comment