"Einstein did it: "People like you and me never grow old," he wrote a friend later in life. "We never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery into which we were born." Novelty and curiosity are the food of childhood. We seek out, explore, and immerse ourselves in situations with the potential for new information and/or experiences."
"Engaging in something enticing enough to warrant rapt attention is an engine of growth at any age. If you are feeling lost in your later years, not enticed to explore, look to your inborn gifts. We are all born with gifts. Regardless of age, mental health is a function of expressing those gifts, and if we do not-as I like to say-it backs up like the plumbing."
Chronoception, the perceived duration of time, tends to accelerate with age so that periods that felt long in childhood seem to pass quickly in later life. Novelty and curiosity slow subjective time by drawing focused attention and creating new experiences. Sustained curiosity, creative engagement, and rapt attention fuel vitality, neural strength, and healthy aging while reducing anxiety. Mental health depends on expressing inborn gifts; unexpressed gifts produce internal distress. Older adults can reconnect with growth by seeking learning, creative projects, exploration, and activities that evoke wonder. Purposeful engagement through curiosity and creativity supports cognitive resilience and emotional well-being.
Read at Psychology Today
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]