“Yabba Dabba Doo!” I used to watch The Flintstones when I was little – I think it was during lunch. I can’t remember if I walked home or my mom picked me up. Fred was always happy to finish work. There was a woman I worked with, she would start packing up fifteen minutes before it was time to leave. lol
The Flintstones reminded me of The Honeymooners. I used to watch that with my dad. I’d wait for him to get home from work and we’d watch in the evening before I went to bed. “Straight to the moon Alice!” “Bang. Zoom!”
I am taking another Great Course – Building a Better Vocabulary. If you want to learn new words, you have to do four things to make it stick:
- Have a clear definition of the word.
- Use the word in a few sentences (you can write it)
- Make connections with the word – think of something you already know that this new word describes.
- Learn the root of the word. i.e., Latin or Greek origins. If I recall, this is the morphology of the word.
My new words: Factotum (noun) and Procrustean (adjective).
I also took a one hour course on SkillShare – Develop Your Authorial Voice: Craft a Unique Writer Identity. I don’t know if the course is free, but I have a two-month trial, and I think they are still giving that away. I actually got a three-month trial because when I went to cancel before I had to pay, they offered me another month. Not sure if I will keep it yet. I think I like The Great Courses Plus better. I feel like I already found my voice, but I wanted to hear what she had to offer.
Remember I told you about Stephen King? Well, I also learned about others who exhibit great self-control, and it seems that running and writing go well together – That makes me feel marvellous because I do both of those already. AND I learned that if you can exhibit self-control in one area of your life, it will spill over into others. I learned all of this from my Scientific Secrets of Self-Control course.
Did I tell you I love neuroscience? I also learned, from The Science of Storytelling, book by Will Storr, that we are the heroes of our stories. This means we will often overlook our own flaws but we can clearly see the flaws in others.
Interestingly, our beliefs get solidified when we are young. Then we spend our adult lives defending them. This is especially relevant now with BLM and the fight for racial equality that has been going on for a very long time, not just in the United States. AND the most important part of what I read … Scientists completed a study using fMRI to scan our brains. The results show that when we are confronted with an opposing view, it is the same as if we are being physically attacked. The same areas of the brain light up.
An opposing view that challenges what you already believe, is akin to bumping into a bear in the wild. Isn’t that crazy good to know? For me, this means we have to teach our children “right” from the beginning because it is much harder to change as we get older – at the same time though, I am very open-minded, which makes a difference I think. I am always reading, always learning and continually reassessing. This takes time and energy but totally worth it!
Today was a learning day 🙂
… 🎶🎉🎉 Celebrate good times common! 🎉🎉🎶 That’s lyrics from Kool and the Gang, I believe the song is called Celebrate.
I only wrote 200 words today – this journal doesn’t count cause I’m writing it on June 8th.
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