Positivity Creates Superior Brain Functioning

A study of 460 study participants (aged 22-35) from the Human Connectome Project, reported in Nature Neuroscience found a single, stark difference in the way human brains were connected—based on an abundance of positivity or negativity in their lives. In comparing fMRI brain scans to data collected on approximately 280 behavioral, demographic, and psychometric traits—such as the […]

Tapping into the Genius of Hamilton’s Creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda

One of the hallmarks of genius is an ability to spot connections between seemingly disparate things, and then use your discovery to create something original. One of the most potent examples of how your brain births, supports, sustains, and fulfills creative ideas comes from the genius of Lin-Manuel Miranda, the mastermind who brought the highly […]

You Are What You Read: Why Deep Reading Makes You A Better Writer

A study published in the International Journal of Business Administration in May, 2016, found that what students read in college directly effects the level of writing they achieve. In fact, researchers found that reading content and frequency may exert more significant impacts on students’ writing ability than writing instruction and writing frequency. Students who read […]

Yoga and Kirtan Kriya Mediation Bolster Brain Functioning

A study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease in April confirmed that yoga and a form of meditation known as Kirtan Kriya improved brain functioning by increasing connectivity, improving memory, and decreasing mood aberration. See an excerpt where I discuss Kirtan Kriya in Fire Up Your Writing Brain below. Over the course of twelve […]

To Spark Genius, Read Works the Opposite in Style, Genre, or Format of What You Want to Write

Reading works that are very different from what you want to write is a great way to spark ideas and to shake up a tendency to be too rote, traditional, or predictable when writing. If you write historical novels, for example, reading science fiction could loosen up your tendency to be a little rigid when […]

6 Ways Reading Fires Up Your Writing Brain

Our brains are amazing thinking, dreaming, imagining, and producing machines, reliant upon their masters to program, nurture, guide, and direct them.

How Drawing and Painting Keep Your Brain Young – and Fired Up to Write!

Want to keep your writing brain fired up and growing well into old age? Draw or paint an object, a landscape, a person, an abstract, or whatever captures your eyes or occurs to your creative instincts. A recent study reported in PLOS ONE: “How Art Changes Your Brain: Differential Effects of Visual Art Production and Cognitive […]

Use Images to Fire Up Your Writing Neurons

Finding or creating a visual representation of the story you are writing helps your brain get fired up and achieve the sort of global ignition that lights up the neuronal network you’ve created (related to writing that particular story). A University of Toronto meta-analysis, published in the journal Brain and Cognition, found that viewing paintings not only […]

5 Reasons You May Feel Blocked as a Writer & How to Get Fired Up Again

Here’s the simple truth: The very nature of the art of writing incorporates uncertainty, experimentation, and a willingness to create art from the depths of who we are. Writing is a mentally challenging occupation, which requires more hard-core, cognitive expenditure than many other lines of work.