Mapping Emotions in the Body Yields Consistent Global Results

Emotions manifest themselves as sensations in the body. While anxiety is often accompanied by a tight feeling in the chest, love may elicit a warm feeling throughout the body. But now, a new study from researchers in Finland reveals that perceptions of these sensations are consistently similar around the world, suggesting an underlying biological basis.

The researchers, from Aalto University, published the results of their study in the journal Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences.

They note that emotions adjust not only our mental state, but also our bodily sensations.

In five experiments conducted online, the researchers showed over 700 participants - who were from Finland, Sweden and Taiwan - two silhouettes of bodies next to words, stories, movies or facial expressions that evoked emotions.

The participants were asked to color regions of the body where they felt activity was increasing or decreasing as they viewed each stimulus.

Results show that the most common emotions - including anger, fear, disgust, happiness, sadness, anxiety and love - produce strong sensations in the body, but the location for these sensations varies for different emotions.

For example, happiness triggered warm sensations throughout the whole body, whereas pride only activated the upper body, including the head and chest.

Interestingly, these sensations were consistently similar across the different cultures - West European and East Asian - which the researchers say suggests there is a biological basis for emotions and their corresponding sensations in the body.

Study participants consistently shaded the same body areas to indicate activation linked to certain emotions. Here, hot colors represent activated regions, whereas cool colors represent deactivated ones.
Image credit: Lauri Nummenmaa, Enrico Glerean, Riitta Hari and Jari Hietanen.

'Potential biomarker for emotional disorders'

Assistant Prof. Lauri Nummenmaa, from Aalto University, says that awareness of these corresponding changes in the body could bring about conscious emotional sensations, such as feeling happy.

In their conclusions, the researchers write:

"Monitoring the topography of emotion-triggered bodily sensations brings forth a unique tool for emotion research and could even provide a biomarker for emotional disorders."

They add that their findings have major implications for understanding the function of emotions in the body:

"We propose that emotions are represented in the somatosensory system as culturally universal categorical somatotopic maps. Perception of these emotion-triggered bodily changes may play a key role in generating consciously felt emotions."

Research for the study was funded by the European Research Council (ERC), the Academy of Finland and Aalto University.

Medical News Today recently reported on a study that suggested performance anxiety is better helped by telling yourself, "I'm excited," rather than "I am calm."

The researchers suggested this technique works because anxiety and excitement are emotional states that are both characterized by high arousal, and they are therefore more closely related.

This article originally appeared on medicalnewstoday.com and is written by Marie Ellis.

What Your Body Tells You About Your Emotional (Mental) State

Bruce Lipton, a leading development biologist who believes that genes and DNA can be manipulated by our beliefs is not the only brilliant mind to propose such a mind-bending idea. In fact, he says that our DNA and cells do not control our health, our emotions do. Yogis have known for centuries that what we think and feel affects the physical body. It is one of the foundational components of almost any yogic path. Utilizing the teachings of our farthest reaching wisdom traditions and the newest biological advances, we can learn how to look at the body for signs of its deepest, darkest challenges.

The Human Genome Project Was a Failure

Scientists were hoping to map out more than 100,000 genes when studying the human genome, in order to find disease markers, and therefore prevent them, but only 25,000 genes were discovered, and ‘junk’ DNA is still a totally mystery to most scientists. Even more interesting is the fact that you can entirely remove the nucleus of a cell and its DNA and it will still function. Contrary to what was once believed, the cell’s nucleus is not its brain. If, however, you destroy the cell membrane, then the cell dies because it can no longer interact with other cells. Are our cells telling us something about how we interact with the world as a whole?

Through his passionate research, Bruce Lipton discovered that, “The cell membrane is a liquid crystal semi conductor with gates and channels.” He also said in Biology of Belief that, ‘our cells are like programmable personal computers.” That means consciousness, namely our emotional state, can lead to some pretty profound changes in the body.

“The major crisis of the human race is not of raising our IQs, it is one of elevating our WILL quotients. We must will ourselves to happiness, and thereby experience true health.”

Our Physical Bodies Alert Us to Emotional States

Maybe it seems strange that we should look at our bodies for evidence of an emotion, after all, don’t we just feel something like anger, pain, frustration, fear, guilt, etc. when it happens? We don’t need to look at the body to understand an emotion, or do we? It’s not always that simple. Our emotions are intertwined with how we get our needs met from a very young age, so, if you weren’t ever allowed to be ‘angry’ even in situations where this would be a natural emotion, then instead of that anger being felt and expressed, and properly released, it becomes waylaid by the conscious mind. Instead, it is seen as ‘wrong’ and then pushed down into the subconscious mind so that you can ‘deal with it later.’

We can do this temporarily quite well, such as when we learn to hold our tongue when having a disagreement, and due to respect or love, or societal pressures, we choose to communicate our feelings at a later time, when they feel less charged. The problem is that when we push emotions down too long, the subconscious mind will start saying ‘hey, you’ve got some stuff to deal with down here.’

Neuropeptides Lead the Game

Every time you think a thought there is probably emotion attached to it. Perhaps it is positive, perhaps negative, but rarely, is it neutral. With every charged thought you think, miniscule neuropeptides, or chemical proteins trigger a specific physiological response to try to keep your overall system in homeostatis. Examples of neuropeptides are endorphins like the ones released when you have sex or go for a jog, and other hormones, like oxytocin, the natural ‘love’ drug, adrenaline, the natural drug of excitement and fear, cortisol, the hormone of stress, and so on. There are dozens of these neuropeptides being released at any given moment.

Whatever your most consistent emotional state is, then, that is also what chemical cocktail being released into your body, and thereby shapes your physical features. The more prolonged the emotional state is experienced, the more profound the changes can be visually

“Never get angry for anger poisons your system.” – Paramahansa Yogananda

Anger Causes High Cholesterol and Happiness Helps You Live Longer

Scientists have now been able to measure emotions, including their physiological response on the body. For example, anger causes higher cholesterol levels and a faster resting heart rate. Prolonged sadness can cause depression, which leads to a depleted immune system. But how do we ‘wear’ these emotions on the physical body?

Emotions, like any other thought, have a vibrational frequency. Emotions of peace, love, excitement, serenity, joy and thankfulness are of a higher vibration and emotions of anger, fear, and sadness hold lower vibrations. Lipton’s work talks in depth about how emotions can even affect DNA.

Part of the reason that emotions affect us so significantly is because the heart emits a stronger electro-magnetic force than the brain, so even if you are intellectually editing yourself, your true emotions are still being broadcast throughout the body, and arguably, beyond it. The brain entrains with the heart, and not vice versa. The brain becomes coherent with the vibration of the heart. It may sound shocking but recent studies show that depression causes more heart disease than smoking! Depressed people even have stickier blood platelets, so they are more likely to ‘die of a broken heart.’

Observing the Body for Emotional Patterns

As a rule, the left side of the body reflects what has happened to you and how you respond emotionally to your past.  The right side of the body will often display what your emotions are about your future. The front side of the body is the emotional self you present to the world; obvious in your facial features, your posture, etc. Your back side will reflect emotions that you don’t want to deal with or expose to other people. Unexpressed or sublimated emotions will get ‘stuck’ in your back, shoulders, calves, etc. When too many negative emotions are stuffed away where you can’t see them, or feel them, they can cause the body to come out of balance.

Chinese medicine agrees that emotions can create stagnation in the energy of the body, leading to issues with the spleen, heart, kidneys, liver, bladder, gallbladder, etc. They usually categorize the emotions into seven distinct areas – grief, sorrow, worry, fear, joy, anger and fright.  Following are some more general rules about how emotions display in the physical body:

Your head hurts, or your brow is often furrowed: This means you need to stop ignoring your intuition and trust what your ‘higher self’ is trying to tell you about a situation or person. Basically, you need to pay attention to your gut. A pain in the back of the head, instead of the forehead means you haven’t forgiven yourself for perceived faults or past mistakes.

Nearsightedness or Farsightedness: This means you have trouble ‘seeing things clearly.’ Farsighted folks often pine away for the future and nearsighted folks can’t seeing anything but the nose on their own faces. Seeing the here and now accurately is difficult for either person with sight issues. Meditation is one way to offload emotions that cause you to feel uncomfortable in the here and now.

Hearing Problems are similar – it may mean you are tuning out.

Our mouths are associated with our expression of sensuality. If you have lost your taste, it can literally mean you have disconnected from reality because it ‘leaves a bad taste in your mouth.’ This part of the body is also connected with the second chakra, or Swadhistana, which governs all the sexual organs. If you can’t experience pleasure without guilt or over-indulge in sexual gratification, it will also lead to pursed lips or an unattractive mouth.

Your neck and shoulders support the head, but are also the gateway between the head and heart – or the Anahata Chakra (Heart Chakra) and Ajna Chakra (Pineal Gland Center). Issues with the throat, and neck, or tightness in the shoulders may mean you are having a hard time integrating mental acuity and tempering it with compassion. If you are overly intellectual, you may have shoulder and neck problems.  This is the most narrow part of the body between the torso and head, and therefore, a place that easily gets congested energetically. Yoga poses like Matsyasana (Fish Pose) and Halasana (Plow Pose) can help to release blockages here, and the emotions that are stored without conscious awareness.

The Arms and Hands are how you reach out to others. Any stagnation of positive emotion regarding extending yourself to others can manifest as physical symptoms here.

An enclosed and protected heart often means you hunch over and have a constricted chest and lungs. If you have a hard time expressing love or accepting love from others, you will possibly have blockages in your chest, lungs and heart.

There are all kinds of physical issues that can appear based on the health of your spine. Since the spine literally supports your body, ailments regarding the spinal column often reflect feelings of non-support or lack of love. Pain in the mid-back is associated to deficiency in the stomach liver, gallbladder, adrenals, and reproductive organs. Issues with the lower back are connected to the hips, large intestine, immune system, bladder, and kidneys. Childhood trauma that hasn’t been dealt with properly often manifests in lower back problems.

There are literally dozens of other ways that your emotions show on your body, and as recent, paradigm-shifting evidence is showing, feeling happy, calm, and free are the best ways to change not only your health, but your physical appearance. Happiness is better even than plastic surgery, and certainly better than chemotherapy or pharmaceuticals at keeping you profoundly alive and healthy.

While we can’t nor should stuff our emotions down, including negative ones, we can learn to control them and shift our attention to positive feelings as often as possible to dramatically change our bodies – right down to our DNA.

This article originally appeared on wakingtimes.com and is written by Christina Sarich.

Health Benefits of Tai Chi: Meditation in Motion

 This gentle form of exercise can prevent or ease many ills of aging and could be the perfect activity for the rest of your life.

Tai chi is often described as “meditation in motion,” but it might well be called “medication in motion.” There is growing evidence that this mind-body practice, which originated in China as a martial art, has value in treating or preventing many health problems. And you can get started even if you aren’t in top shape or the best of health.

In this low-impact, slow-motion exercise, you go without pausing through a series of motions named for animal actions — for example, “white crane spreads its wings” — or martial arts moves, such as “box both ears.” As you move, you breathe deeply and naturally, focusing your attention — as in some kinds of meditation — on your bodily sensations. Tai chi differs from other types of exercise in several respects. The movements are usually circular and never forced, the muscles are relaxed rather than tensed, the joints are not fully extended or bent, and connective tissues are not stretched. Tai chi can be easily adapted for anyone, from the most fit to people confined to wheelchairs or recovering from surgery.

Tai chi movement

A tai chi class practices a short form at the Tree of Life Tai Chi Center in Watertown, Mass.

“A growing body of carefully conducted research is building a compelling case for tai chi as an adjunct to standard medical treatment for the prevention and rehabilitation of many conditions commonly associated with age,” says Peter M. Wayne, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of the Tai Chi and Mind-Body Research Program at Harvard Medical School’s Osher Research Center. An adjunct therapy is one that’s used together with primary medical treatments, either to address a disease itself or its primary symptoms, or, more generally, to improve a patient’s functioning and quality of life.

Belief systems

You don’t need to subscribe to or learn much about tai chi’s roots in Chinese philosophy to enjoy its health benefits, but these concepts can help make sense of its approach:

• Qi — an energy force thought to flow through the body; tai chi is said to unblock and encourage the proper flow of qi.

• Yin and yang — opposing elements thought to make up the universe that need to be kept in harmony. Tai chi is said to promote this balance.

Tai chi in motion

A tai chi class might include these parts:

Warm-up. Easy motions, such as shoulder circles, turning the head from side to side, or rocking back and forth, help you to loosen your muscles and joints and focus on your breath and body.

Instruction and practice of tai chi forms. Short forms — forms are sets of movements — may include a dozen or fewer movements; long forms may include hundreds. Different styles require smaller or larger movements. A short form with smaller, slower movements is usually recommended at the beginning, especially if you’re older or not in good condition.

Qigong (or chi kung). Translated as “breath work” or “energy work,” this consists of a few minutes of gentle breathing sometimes combined with movement. The idea is to help relax the mind and mobilize the body’s energy. Qigong may be practiced standing, sitting, or lying down.

Getting started

The benefits of tai chi are generally greatest if you begin before you develop a chronic illness or functional limitations. Tai chi is very safe, and no fancy equipment is needed, so it’s easy to get started. Here’s some advice for doing so:

Don’t be intimidated by the language. Names like Yang, Wu, and Cheng are given to various branches of tai chi, in honor of people who devised the sets of movements called forms. Certain programs emphasize the martial arts aspect of tai chi rather than its potential for healing and stress reduction. In some forms, you learn long sequences of movements, while others involve shorter series and more focus on breathing and meditation. The name is less important than finding an approach that matches your interests and needs.

Check with your doctor . If you have a limiting musculoskeletal problem or medical condition — or if you take medications that can make you dizzy or lightheaded — check with your doctor before starting tai chi. Given its excellent safety record, chances are that you’ll be encouraged to try it.

Consider observing and taking a class. Taking a class may be the best way to learn tai chi. Seeing a teacher in action, getting feedback, and experiencing the camaraderie of a group are all pluses. Most teachers will let you observe the class first to see if you feel comfortable with the approach and atmosphere. Instruction can be individualized. Ask about classes at your local Y, senior center, or community education center. The Arthritis Foundation (www.arthritis.org; 800-283-7800, toll-free) can tell you whether its tai chi program, a 12-movement, easy-to-learn sequence, is offered in your area.

If you’d rather learn at home, you can buy or rent videos geared to your interests and fitness needs (see “Selected resources”). Although there are some excellent tai chi books, it can be difficult to appreciate the flow of movements from still photos or illustrations.

Talk to the instructor. There’s no standard training or licensing for tai chi instructors, so you’ll need to rely on recommendations from friends or clinicians and, of course, your own judgment. Look for an experienced teacher who will accommodate individual health concerns or levels of coordination and fitness.

Dress comfortably. Choose loose-fitting clothes that don’t restrict your range of motion. You can practice barefoot or in lightweight, comfortable, and flexible shoes. Tai chi shoes are available, but ones you find in your closet will probably work fine. You’ll need shoes that won’t slip and can provide enough support to help you balance, but have soles thin enough to allow you to feel the ground. Running shoes, designed to propel you forward, are usually unsuitable.

Gauge your progress. Most beginning programs and tai chi interventions tested in medical research last at least 12 weeks, with instruction once or twice a week and practice at home. By the end of that time, you should know whether you enjoy tai chi, and you may already notice positive physical and psychological changes.

No pain, big gains

Although tai chi is slow and gentle and doesn’t leave you breathless, it addresses the key components of fitness — muscle strength, flexibility, balance, and, to a lesser degree, aerobic conditioning. Here’s some of the evidence:

Muscle strength. In a 2006 study published in Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, Stanford University researchers reported benefits of tai chi in 39 women and men, average age 66, with below-average fitness and at least one cardiovascular risk factor. After taking 36 tai chi classes in 12 weeks, they showed improvement in both lower-body strength (measured by the number of times they could rise from a chair in 30 seconds) and upper-body strength (measured by their ability to do arm curls).

In a Japanese study using the same strength measures, 113 older adults were assigned to different 12-week exercise programs, including tai chi, brisk walking, and resistance training. People who did tai chi improved more than 30% in lower-body strength and 25% in arm strength — almost as much as those who participated in resistance training, and more than those assigned to brisk walking.

“Although you aren’t working with weights or resistance bands, the unsupported arm exercise involved in tai chi strengthens your upper body,” says internist Dr. Gloria Yeh, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. “Tai chi strengthens both the lower and upper extremities and also the core muscles of the back and abdomen.”

Flexibility. Women in the 2006 Stanford study significantly boosted upper- and lower-body flexibility as well as strength.

Balance. Tai chi improves balance and, according to some studies, reduces falls. Proprioception — the ability to sense the position of one’s body in space — declines with age. Tai chi helps train this sense, which is a function of sensory neurons in the inner ear and stretch receptors in the muscles and ligaments. Tai chi also improves muscle strength and flexibility, which makes it easier to recover from a stumble. Fear of falling can make you more likely to fall; some studies have found that tai chi training helps reduce that fear.

Aerobic conditioning. Depending on the speed and size of the movements, tai chi can provide some aerobic benefits. But in the Japanese study, only participants assigned to brisk walking gained much aerobic fitness. If your clinician advises a more intense cardio workout with a higher heart rate than tai chi can offer, you may need something more aerobic as well.

Selected resources

Tai Chi Healthwww.taichihealth.com

Tai Chi Productionswww.taichiforhealth.com

Tree of Life Tai Chi Centerwww.treeoflifetaichi.com

Tai chi for medical conditions

When combined with standard treatment, tai chi appears to be helpful for several medical conditions. For example:

Arthritis. In a 40-person study at Tufts University, presented in October 2008 at a meeting of the American College of Rheumatology, an hour of tai chi twice a week for 12 weeks reduced pain and improved mood and physical functioning more than standard stretching exercises in people with severe knee osteoarthritis. According to a Korean study published in December 2008 in Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, eight weeks of tai chi classes followed by eight weeks of home practice significantly improved flexibility and slowed the disease process in patients with ankylosing spondylitis, a painful and debilitating inflammatory form of arthritis that affects the spine.

Low bone density. A review of six controlled studies by Dr. Wayne and other Harvard researchers indicates that tai chi may be a safe and effective way to maintain bone density in postmenopausal women. A controlled study of tai chi in women with osteopenia (diminished bone density not as severe as osteoporosis) is under way at the Osher Research Center and Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Breast cancer. Tai chi has shown potential for improving quality of life and functional capacity (the physical ability to carry out normal daily activities, such as work or exercise) in women suffering from breast cancer or the side effects of breast cancer treatment. For example, a 2008 study at the University of Rochester, published in Medicine and Sport Science, found that quality of life and functional capacity (including aerobic capacity, muscular strength, and flexibility) improved in women with breast cancer who did 12 weeks of tai chi, while declining in a control group that received only supportive therapy.

Heart disease. A 53-person study at National Taiwan University found that a year of tai chi significantly boosted exercise capacity, lowered blood pressure, and improved levels of cholesterol, triglycerides, insulin, and C-reactive protein in people at high risk for heart disease. The study, which was published in the September 2008 Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, found no improvement in a control group that did not practice tai chi.

Heart failure. In a 30-person pilot study at Harvard Medical School, 12 weeks of tai chi improved participants’ ability to walk and quality of life. It also reduced blood levels of B-type natriuretic protein, an indicator of heart failure. A 150-patient controlled trial is under way.

Hypertension. In a review of 26 studies in English or Chinese published in Preventive Cardiology (Spring 2008), Dr. Yeh reported that in 85% of trials, tai chi lowered blood pressure — with improvements ranging from 3 to 32 mm Hg in systolic pressure and from 2 to 18 mm Hg in diastolic pressure.

Parkinson’s disease. A 33-person pilot study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, published in Gait and Posture (October 2008), found that people with mild to moderately severe Parkinson’s disease showed improved balance, walking ability, and overall well-being after 20 tai chi sessions.

Sleep problems. In a University of California, Los Angeles, study of 112 healthy older adults with moderate sleep complaints, 16 weeks of tai chi improved the quality and duration of sleep significantly more than standard sleep education. The study was published in the July 2008 issue of the journal Sleep.

Stroke. In 136 patients who’d had a stroke at least six months earlier, 12 weeks of tai chi improved standing balance more than a general exercise program that entailed breathing, stretching, and mobilizing muscles and joints involved in sitting and walking. Findings were published in the January 2009 issue of Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair.

This article originally appeared on harvard.edu

Writing makes you happier

It seems much of the literature on the benefits of writing deals with “expressive writing,” or putting what you think and feel to paper (or, let’s be honest, to the keyboard).

For instance, one form of expressive writing might be thinking about and writing out your goals in life—an activity that research [1] has shown is beneficial for motivation.

Even blogging “undoubtedly affords similar benefits” [2] to private expressive writing in terms of the therapeutic value.

Expressive writing has also been linked to improved mood, well-being, and reduced stress levels for those who engage in it regularly.

Research [3] by Laura King shows that writing about achieving future goals and dreams can make people happier and healthier. Similarly, there’s plenty of evidence [4] that keeping a gratitude journal can increase happiness and health by making the good things in life more salient.

And Jane Dutton and I found [5] that when people doing stressful fundraising jobs kept a journal for a few days about how their work made a difference, they increased their hourly effort by 29% over the next two weeks.

Many people shun expressive writing because they don’t fully understand what it means. It doesn’t necessarily mean spilling your guts in essays starting with “Dear Diary.”

Writing leads to better thinking + communicating

Laziness with words creates difficulty in describing feelings, sharing experiences, and communicating with others.

Constantly having that “tip of the tongue” [6] feeling, or being able to flesh out thoughts in your mind only to have them come stumbling out when you speak is very frustrating. It paints an unfair picture of you, and regular writing can keep this from happening.

In both emotional intelligence and in “hard sciences” like mathematics, writing has been shown [7] to help people communicate highly complex ideas more effectively.

Writing helps eliminate “it sounded good in my head” syndrome. It forces ideas to be laid out bare for the thinker to see, where it is much less likely that they will be jumbled up like they are in your head (hey, it’s crowded up there).

Is writing an outlet for handling hard times?

The connection with expressive writing and traumatic events is quite complex.

On one hand, I’ve seen a study or two that shows especially stoic people tend not to receive many benefits when they write about their troubling times.

On the other hand, there are some pretty amazing studies that conclusively show writing about trauma is a powerful way to come to terms with what happened, and to accept the outcome.

In one interesting study [8] that followed recently fired engineers, the researchers found that those engineers who consistently engaged with expressive writing were able to find another job faster.

The engineers who wrote down their thoughts and feelings about losing their jobs reported feeling less anger and hostility toward their former employer. They also reported drinking less. Eight months later, less than 19% of the engineers in the control groups were reemployed full-time, compared with more than 52% of the engineers in the expressive writing group.

In an older study [9], writing about traumatic events actually made the participants more depressed… until about ~6 months later, when the emotional benefits started to stick.

One participant noted: “Although I have not talked with anyone about what I wrote, I was finally able to deal with it, work through the pain instead of trying to block it out. Now it doesn’t hurt to think about it.”

It seems that timing is critical for expressive writing to have an impact. “Forcing” the process to happen may only worsen things, but if it is an activity that is engaged in naturally, the benefits seem to be clear for many traumas [10].

Writing keeps you sharp with age

Writing is a thinking exercise, and like physical exercise, it can help keep you “in shape” as you age.

While the only research that I’ve seen discussed [11] mentions hand written ideas as a good cognitive exercise, I don’t think the leap to typing is all that far.

Just like how friendships help keep you happy and healthy through their ties to social interaction and dialogue, writing seems like the private equivalent — it keeps you thinking regularly and helps keeps the mental rust from forming.

Writing leads to increased gratitude

Counting your blessings is an activity that is proven to enhance one’s outlook on life.

As the authors noted one study [12], subjects who reflected on the good things in their life once a week (by writing them down) were more positive and motivated about their current situation and their future.

The thing was, when they wrote about them every day, the benefits were minimal.

This makes sense. Too much of any activity, especially something like reflecting on one’s blessings, can feel disingenuous and just plain boring if it is done too often.

In spite of this, it is interesting to me that writing about the good things in your life has such an impact. Perhaps because it forces you to really look at why those things make you happy.

Writing closes out your “mental tabs”

Have you ever had too many Internet tabs open at once? It is a madhouse of distraction.

Sometimes I feel like my brain has too many tabs open at once. This is often the result of trying to mentally juggle too many thoughts at the same time.

Writing allows abstract information to cross over into the tangible world. It frees up mental bandwidth, and will stop your Google Chrome brain from crashing due to tab overload.

Although I’ve heard it argued [13] that the information age might be making memories worse, I’m inclined to cite the quote about Hemingway from that very same article:

Hemingway’s words came from experience. When his wife lost a suitcase that contained all existing copies of his short stories, the work was, to his mind, gone for good. He had written himself out the first time around. He couldn’t recapture it–whatever it was–again.

Getting important ideas down alleviates the stress caused by anticipating this dreadful outcome. I’ve personally never felt inclined to not work on something just because I “archived” the idea with some notes or an outline—in fact, I’m more likely to work on it since it has already been started!

Remember these wise words from Mitch Hedberg:

I sit at my hotel at night, I think of something that’s funny, then I go get a pen and I write it down. Or if the pen’s too far away, I have to convince myself that what I thought of ain’t funny.

Don’t let that happen to you!

Writing leads to better learning

Information often better stays with us when learn as though we need to teach.

This concept of having a “writer’s ear” never fully clicked with me until I started writing regularly.

There’s a certain discipline required to create interesting written work that demands the individual be receptive and focused on finding new sources of information, inspiration, and insight. I’ve read books, listened to podcasts/radio, and watched videos I may have normally put off in order to learn something interesting that I might write about later.

Simply being a curator of good ideas encourages deeper thinking, research, and “heading down the rabbit hole” in order to find unique takes on topics that matter to you.

Committing to creating a volume of work also allows you to tackle big ideas more effectively.

From humble beginnings, writing around a certain topic for some time will allow you to build off of older thoughts, utilizing what you’ve already written down to develop ideas on a grander scale (I’m sure many writers have had a paragraph lead to an essay, which lead to a series of articles, which lead to a book).

In this way, writing encourages a specific style of personal development. You’ll begin to want to build on ideas, which will lead to a further exploration of your interests and a better understanding of your subject matter as you push onward into new topics and angles.

Writing is leadership at scale

Despite the fact that the world is now being suffocated by ‘new media,’ there are obviously a lot of interesting opportunities that an “anyone can publish” world brings about.

The ability to leave an impact at scale through your words alone is a pretty amazing concept.

The emails I’ve personally received, both for my personal work and my writing at Help Scout have been truly humbling. There’s a bit of a “creative shock” the first time someone emails you thanking you for the work you’ve put how, and how it has helped them.

Without a doubt, the positive feedback for this “leadership at scale” leads to a feeling of gratitude and happiness for the writer.

Even in the face of criticism, writers learn to build thick skin like few others. Criticism, even unwarranted criticism, is the breakfast of champions.

(More ideas on how to be a happier person here)

Sources

[1] http://psp.sagepub.com/content/27/7/798.abstract

[2] http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-healthy-type/

[3] http://psp.sagepub.com/content/27/7/798.abstract

[4] http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/84/2/377/

[5] http://pss.sagepub.com/content/23/9/1033.short

[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip_of_the_tongue#Causes

[7] http://www.edutopia.org/blog/writing-executive-function-brain-research-judy-willis

[8] http://amj.aom.org/content/37/3/722.short

[9] http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&uid=1987-01227-001

[10] http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/171/1/78

[11] http://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704631504575531932754922518

[12] http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/gpr/9/2/111/

[13] http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/literally-psyched/2012/04/30/on-writing-memory-and-forgetting-socrates-and-hemingway-take-on-zeigarnik/

Article originally appeared on sparringmind.com and is written by Gregory Ciotti