Keeping the Brain Squishy

There's a nicely written post from Ruminations I'd like to share, specifically a passage about learning music: I'm always trying to learn something new, guitar at the moment, because I find it critical in slowing down time (subjectively); otherwise days, weeks, and months just shoot past. Learning or doing something new anchors periods of time to something particular, something difficult, and keeps your brain squishy. I apply this thinking to music too, so because I don't want to get stuck for the rest of my life with my current taste in music, I'm often listening to new music. How I relate! Time is going by terrifyingly fast. Weeks blow past me like road signs on the freeway. Meanwhile, my mind's computational speed is decelerating. It's why I'm undergoing this year-long project: to keep the brain squishy. Maybe it'll slow down time too.

Makes me wonder why I didn't learn music theory earlier. Already it's opened up so many new possibilities. Classical music sound fresh to me, more accessible. Today I downloaded the sheet music for the seminal jazz tune So What by Miles Davis and deciphered the notes. A week ago I couldn't do that. Now I can, sort of.

And when I played that familiar first chord, then the second, a big smile broke out on my face.