Stimulating the mind?

[Loretta Ann]

Hi all,

I have been given a hunger for educational things that stimulate the mind. It is not at all unlike the driving force that led me to a place, where I needed to accept the reality that I needed the physical stimulation, that wearing women's clothing provides for me.

Which appears to be a condition for nourishment that my body requires to live healthfully.

I believe that it is just as necessary to satisfy this need, and have done some research and found the following information..

What do you all think about this?

People who don’t have, or who haven’t had in the past, educational and learning opportunities are condemned to a shorter life. The length of a person’s life depends just as much on the individual’s educational situation as on working conditions or income. Education contributes to increasing both the life expectancy and the quality of life of an individual. The most recent research on ill-health indicates that this is valid for developing countries as well as for industrialised countries. In these latter countries, as well as better health and better employment situation, if people have or have had a more mentally-stimulating life they can expect to live five years longer than people in a less advantaged position.

Thus not just one’s occupational situation and educational achievements, but also one’s life expectancy, can depend on the chances which an individual has to take part in educational activities at every stage in life. It has been shown that exclusion leads to marginalisation, physical and mental illness, and death.

[Jaye]

I try to learn something every day. Whether I get my knowledge from a book, a magazine/newspaper, TV or the net, I am constantly seeking to expand my horizons, to broaden my knowledge of life and the Universe. I try to look at every experience as a learning opportunity. Sometimes new information can fall into one's lap, so to speak, without actively seeking it.

[Amelie-Laveau]

I guess I don't have long to go then. I have nil in the education field.
I don't know very much, being a HS dropout.
I can just barely operate this computer.
Amelie

[Terri(SO)]

I agree that I have heard (anecdotally, anyway) that keeping the mind sharp makes for a longer life of mental clarity. I'm not sure that what I've heard is that the actual time a person lives is more years. And it is not actually an education like going to school forever and getting all kinds of degrees. It could be as simple as doing the crossword puzzle everyday, reading books that actually engage the mind (I'm not talking romance novels here) or engaging in philosphical discussions on a regular basis.

I enjoy learning new things too. Even if it does not lengthen my life, enriching the time I do have is a worthy endeavor, don't you think?

[Lydia]

Darlene,

Most astute post.

Keep the mind going. Learn something new every day.

In my own case, I find myself learning something new, either a new piece of human history, a new puzzle, a new way of programming a computer, a new piece on the piano, something mentally stimulating. There is no effort involved - it just happens. At my advanced age (I won't give a number), I still find that the sum of human knowledge is in books, and I am often shocked to visit homes where there is not a single bit of reading matter in sight.

This forum alone has been a source of considerable knowledge to me, as well as entertainment. Not only have I learned about people, but I have learned much about myself here.

Great comment, Darlene.

Love

Willy

[DonnaT]

Oh, I don't know about that. I've known some back in WV who have lived a long life and not even gone to high school.

It is more in the genes and how one lives.

If it were true, then I should live a long life. My job as a Patent Agent has me learning something new all the time

[Gelinda]

Some People myself very much included, have a hard drive for knowledge and drive to know more.

Some times it drives me crazy and makes me make decisions on the drive for doing more and harder challenges.

This is the major reason from taking a harder challenge moving from the easy file and hardly no challenge Hospital in Scottsbluff, NE to the much bigger and much harder challenge of a Hospital Chain in Kentucky and West Virginia.

Some days I wonder why?

[CJ]

Hi all,

I thirst for knowledge. This thirst is a gift my father gave us, and I never tire of telling him how grateful I am for it. There are many who think education is the collecting of facts about the world. It isn't. Education is more about developing new ways of looking at that world. In my own case, my thirst for knowledge also led me to the fountain my self. Everything I learn about the world is inevitably linked to something I learn about myself and my own place in that world.

Formal education has little to do with it:

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.--Oscar Wilde, Intentions

I always come back to this: given that I'm here for a limited time only, what is it, really, that's worth knowing? Understanding why the sky is blue or what happens in my brain when I feel joy, although fun to know, won't necessarily lead me to a happier or more fulfilling life.

Having said this, I'll admit that, I, too, have heard that there's a direct link between education levels and life expectancy. I think the link is an economic one: usually, higher education leads to higher paying jobs which, in turn, generate revenues sufficient to ensure that our basic needs (such as adequate shelter, nutrition, and health care) are more easily met. I say "usually" because it's not always necessarily the case; we're all familiar with the stereotypical "self-made man," who goes out into the world without so much as a High School diploma in hand and succeeds in taking the world by storm anyway. (Of course, again, my question is this: is that man any happier for having taken the world by storm? Never having done so, myself, I won't even try to venture a guess as to what the answer may be.)

I, too, try to put my brain to work on a daily basis, whether through crosswords (I'm a puzzle maniac... any kind of puzzle or game, but especially those involving words, spatial perception, and deep strategy) or writing or reading or drawing or making music. It's all good. Plus, I try to avoid watching television (that great intellectual equalizer--the more you watch it, the less you seem to know about those very things that are, indeed, worth knowing).

To all, everywhere--whether schooled in life or schooled in books--may you live long and prosper.

Love,
CJ

[Kathy]

OK Darlene, you've managed to hook me on this one.

Oh, I don't know about that. I've known some back in WV who have lived a long life and not even gone to high school.

I think most of us, if we think about it, can find a story or two about some "non-educated" person who lived a very long life. Living in a rural farming community, what I hear about quite often is the "simple farmer" who lived into his 90s. Well, there is nothing "simple" about farming. As with any occupation, it is a learning experience on a daily basis.

Just because someone didn't go to high school or college, doesn't make them uneducated. Even people who have never learned to read are not necessarily uneducated.

It is my view that people who persue knowledge tend to persue that which is of interest to them. And, even if only as a hobby or passtime, this helps them to relax and relieve the stress of their daily lives. And, as has been stated by others, knowledge comes in many forms. I am much like Willy, if a day goes by that I don't feel like I have learned something, then I feel like the day has been wasted. I must say that I very rarely feel like that.

So, while there is something to what CJ said about knowledge leading to a better job and, thus, having access to better health care, I think it is simply more important to keep the mind active and open to new possibilities. People who do this tend to be happier even in dull, low paying jobs. The happier your are, the less stress in your life. Less stress = longer life.

So, that's my two cents worth for today.

[Loretta Ann]

Hi all,

I thank everyone for their contributions to this thread. Haveing been raised in an abusive family where I was a victim (not complaining here) I was a grade school drop out.

However these last twenty years has been a very interresting journey, in which I have had a strong drive to learn more about life.Who we are, and the reasons for why we are what we are. And I am not just referring to us cross-dressers, but to all mankind in general..

I have no time for any information that doesn't interrest me, and what interrests me today did not interrest me ten years ago. It has to hit me where I am at to be of any value to me.

In structured education you are taught what someone else thinks you need to know. Only to forget some of it a short time later because it was of no use to you. In my opinion that is not constructive.

So I guess Higher education as in university ect is not what I believe is necessary for a healthy life. Although I do not believe it isn't helpfull.

One lasting benifit I have as a result of the way I am is that I don't have time to be bored....ever!!! Yet I do have days that I intentionaly shut down, and relax and enoy other things in life. Those are the days that Darlene likes to take over, and dress up and feel reel soft and oh so special.

Yes Terri...I think that...enriching the time I do have is a very worthy endeavor...Actually pretty good words to live by.

Love Darlene.

[Elizabeth]

Hi Darlene,

Like CJ, I believe the connection between education and living longer is strictly economic.

I too have an insatiable desire to learn. I have always been this way. I am like the Robot in the movie "Short Circuit" who continually said "need input". For me that defines it best. I need input. It does not interest me that much to rehash what I have learned, unless it is with someone who might teach me more.

I always tried hang around guitar players that were better than me, so I could learn from them. In grade school and high school, I always disliked teachers that did not teach, but would have you read, then test you on what you read.

Before the internet I used to freqently go to the closest college library. I found they had better information, and were bigger than public libraries. Since the internet, my life has been continual learning. The interesting thing about the internet is not just the incredible amount of information available, but also the incredible amount of bogus information available on the internet.

Just learning to track the source of information on the internet has and continues to be a huge challenge. There are so many that beleive that just because something is in print on a web site, it must be true. And there are so many out there, that count on this.

It is interesting to note that for me, because I love learning so much, I have to revisit a lot of things I may have learned, or read before, because as I age my perspective changes, and hence changes what I am able to get out of different things.

In closing I would just like to add, that this site inparticular, I have learned so much. Not only have I been taken to links that contain lots of information about everthing from nail polish to transitioning, and everything inbetween, but the most important thing I learned here, that has moved my life forward, was that I am not alone.

Love always,
Elizabeth