Aphantasia, 3

There was no vibraharp teacher in our town. My father could play the “marimbaphone” but it was somewhat different from a vibraharp; more like a marimba with metal keys. The Vibraharp was electric. I guess knowing this, he had also purchased an instruction book and four mallets. “You can do this,” he said. “It’s a piano keyboard. You simply play the notes with the mallets instead of with your hands.” Right. I really loved my father so I made a brave effort. First I started with one mallet in each hand—that was pretty much a cakewalk. Two in each hand was like a tight-rope walk for me. It took a LOT of effort and concentration to learn to manipulate them. From time to time, one or more would fly out of my hands and hit the wall across the room. One day as my father was driving me to school (I usually rode my bike the three miles) he asked me how my practicing was going. I replied, “I don’t have much time to practice. Two hours a day on piano . . . Mum is sick . . . meals to fix . . .” Practice in your head,” he replied. “That way you can practice any time anywhere.” IN MY HEAD? I don’t think so! More tomorrow.

Aphantasia, 2

I was fortunate to start piano lessons before the age of four. Perhaps about age seven or eight, I attended a concert with my parents and saw and heard a Grand Harp for the first time. I wanted to play a harp! Every year I would tell my parents, “I’d really like a harp for my birthday,” having no concept of course about how expensive or how large a Grand Harp really was. By the time I was approaching my eleventh birthday, I really thought I might get a smaller version. I got a vibraharp instead. You know, and instrument that looks something like a marimba but is made of mental and is electric. Played with mallets, two in each hand often, it has a damper pedal just like that on a piano. I looked at this and tried very hard NOT to look disappointed. “It sounds something like a harp,” my father said. “Besides, it folds up, which makes it much more portable than a big harp.” (He was nothing if not practical!) More tomorrow.

Aphantasia

My teacher keeps telling me to “picture this in your mind’s eye.” Well I can’t picture anything in my mind’s eye. She said, ‘pull up a picture of a dog in your brain.’ I tried. I know what a dog is when I see one but couldn’t see it or a cat or even the piano keyboard with my eyes closed. Is something wrong with me?”

Interesting question and I’m glad you asked. Aphantasia is a label for a lack of all mental imagery. Some brain can imagine things like the soft feeling of a kitten or the sound of thunder with lightning but there is no accompanying “picture” or “internal mental image” in their brain. This research is quite new and it reminds all of us, me included, that every brain is different. I don’t know if I was born knowing how to visualize and I wouldn’t say my brain is excellent at it because I cannot see a piece of music, close my eyes, and play the piano from the picture in my brain. My father did teach me to visualize at some level, however. More tomorrow. 

Age-Proofing Your Brain – Plasticity, 8

Tips to enhance brain plasticity.

•    Expect the unexpected. Learn to roll with the punches when something occurs over which you have no control. Stuff happens. If you accept that anything can happen at any time, you’re less likely to be thrown off your stride when it does. Collaborate with your brain’s plasticity. Hone your flexibility. Be able to adjust your game plan.

•  When struggling with a problem, ask yourself how it might look to someone of another gender, age, career path, political party, race, religion, culture, or socio-economic status. Or pretend you are in an active debate with yourself. State first one position, then advocate for the other. You may be amazed at the insights you gain.

Age-Proofing Your Brain – Plasticity, 7

Tips to enhance brain plasticity.

•       When you perceive discomfort based on the opinions of others, take a deep breath, step back, and accept it as something for you to explore. Sometimes it is because the opinion cuts cross-grain against something you were taught to believe earlier in life. Perhaps their opinions have brought to the surface some belief or attitude you have absorbed subconsciously and never identified.

•    Hone and access your Emotional Intelligence (EQ) carefully. Avoid JOT behaviors: Jumping to conclusions, Overreacting, or Taking things personally. Bring intelligence to your emotion and emotion to your intelligence. You need the combination. Each provides you with different types of information. Relying on only one or the other gives you only half the potential package and you’ll do better with a whole-brain approach.

More tomorrow.

Age-Proofing Your Brain – Plasticity, 6

Tips to enhance brain plasticity.

•     When considering the opinions of others, use your whole brain—the sequential verbal left hemisphere as well as the intuitive creative right hemisphere. Each has valuable gifts to offer. Together they can result in enhanced decision making.

•          Learn to separate the content of another’s opinion from the manner in which the opinion was presented. Some brains will be on your wavelength; others will not. If you get sidetracked by the presentation style or the wavelength similarities or differences, you may overlook something valuable.

More tomorrow.

Age-Proofing Your Brain – Plasticity, 5

Tips to enhance brain plasticity.

•   Remember that some of the most amazing solutions in life come to fruition collectively. Meaning, it often takes a combination of brains contributing their own opinions and giftedness to finally craft something that will work optimally for the majority. Contribute rather than coerce. Realize that no one brain knows everything.

•  Learn from as many different sources as you possibly can. In this 21^st century with the world-wide web, there are a plethora of resources available. Learning something new gives you more options to consider, and more options provide additional flexibility.

 More tomorrow.