The two best things about Geneva, Florida may be our friend Richard and the Greater Geneva Grande Award Marching Band, but thanks to Jon I've discovered a third: Stephen Jepson. Take time to watch this Growing Bolder video. It's less than eight minutes long and will show you why I'm enthusiastic about this 73-year-old man's ideas.
I'm looking forward to exploring his Never Leave the Playground website. After watching the Growing Bolder interview, my only negative reaction was that keeping so mentally and physically fit takes up so much of his time he can't possibly fit in anything else, and few people can (or would want to) live that way. But clearly that's not true—he's an artist, an inventor, and a motivational speaker—and his website promises you can begin with easy baby steps.
I wonder if we've passed him among the spectators at our Independence Day parades. Nah, he'd more likely be in the parade himself. But I'll keep my eye out this year for someone juggling on a skateboard.
Here's another video that shows some of his ideas and equipment in more detail.
Neat. What's the first step for those of us who have left the playground?
The first step seems to be the first step in most projects: Act. Do something, no matter how small. Stand on one foot. Stir with your non-dominant hand. Pick up marbles with your toes and drop them into a bowl. Learn to juggle. In the second video, he tells of a study that compared brain scans of two sets of people: a control group and one that spent 20 minutes a day for two months trying to learn to juggle. After that two months, the control group showed no brain changes, as was expected. About half the juggling group learned to juggle quite well and showed big changes in their brains. But the kicker? The other half of the juggling group did not succeed at learning to juggle, but still showed the same brain changes. At least for this purpose, the process is more important than the progress. He would approve, I'm sure, of your love of the beginnings of learning a skill, since he says that's when the most brain growth occurs.
Impressive and inspiring! I agree with the person who said just watching him is tiring. And I agree with Linda that doing something/anything is the way to start.
I was trying to come up with a way to incorporate yoga moves (from my once a week class) into my daily life, and I came up with this: Random Acts of Yoga! While waiting for the pot to boil, or in line, or ..... So far it works for me.
Downward facing dog in the grocery line might cause a bit of a stir...
I'll have to watch the video again and see if I can come up with a few things to start with. I think we have juggling bean bags around here somewhere.
Sarah
