Scott Anderson, Ph.D.

  In an earlier blog posting, I compared mental training to physical training. With the latter, increased physical capacity comes from the strategic application of training load and recovery. Without recovery, even the most tactically applied training load will generate only incremental gains in physical capacity. With the mind, on the other hand, most of us keep a steady stream of stimulus flowing in through the attentional holes (eyes, ears, nose and mouth). Down time is no longer a recovery of any sort, as most people trade one stimulus for another. For example, after a studying or work session, do you unwind by watching a YouTube video or stalking online shopping deals? If you said yes, you’re most likely in the majority – lots of mental stimulus, with little (if any) recovery.   The popular attentional scholar, Cal Newport, coined the term Solitude Deprivation. In his recent book, Digital Minimalism, Newport defined Solitude Deprivation as  a state in which you spend close to zer

As a 20-something, I eagerly consumed all things Yoga. At that time, my tastes were distinctly biased toward   Modern Postural Yoga , though I did have a budding interest in yoga philosophy. In my nascent studies of Yoga philosophy, one the first practices I learned was that of Neti Neti, or   not this, not that . In   not this, not that   contemplation, practitioners realize their essence, or Atman, by exploring everything that it is not; I am not my role in this life, nor my possessions, nor even my body. I am not this, not that. While I am not my possessions, I have come to view riding an eBike as a practice of Neti Neti. Last Summer a friend lent me his Trek eBike while he rehabbed from surgery. At first I was pretty lukewarm about the offer, and I had a lot of good reasons why I didn’t need that eBike in my quiver. The Trek Super Commuter didn’t fit me very well, I already had a bike that I liked a lot, and besides, eBikes were for old people. Sadly, the latter judgment figured pr

In my last blog posting, I compared mental training to physical training, and suggested that mental recovery is an essential part of optimizing mental function. A good many of us are cognizant that excessive time with Instagram, Twitter or Facebook is probably not a practice of mental-hygiene, and instead, we may choose to spend downtime relaxing with a good book or an episode of a favorite show on Netflix. In moderation I think the latter options are preferable, though I’m of the mind that far too many of us have far too little boredom in our lives. Most of us are constantly sticking something into the attentional holes , filling our waking hours with stuff that has only incremental value, and significant opportunity-cost. (Thanks to Cal Newport for questioning the over-appreciation of incremental value and the concept of Digital Minimalism.) The human head has a number of holes in it – nostrils, mouth, eyes and ears. The vast majority of us keep one or more of these attentional hole