Dr. David Eagleman

But it's, I'm seeing new things.

I'm observing new things about the neighborhood or whatever that I hadn't noticed before.

One thing that's very easy to do is just rearrange your office, like push your desk over here, take two paintings and just swap them on the wall.

All this stuff is super easy, but it really matters.

It's important because what it's doing is

enhancing brain plasticity in the sense of just challenging, you know, your internal model says, okay, I've got this world.

And then suddenly it says, oh, there's something new.

There's something interesting going on in this world.

And it makes it seem as though you've lived longer because you're writing down more memories about everything.

It could be that by establishing Ulysses contracts in many aspects of our lives, we get more of an opportunity to be in the present because we know, look, I don't have to worry about my future self.

I'm not going to eat that cookie.

I am going to go to the gym, whatever, because I've already set up these contracts.

I don't have any cookies in my house.

I'm meeting my buddy at the gym, whatever.

Then you have more of an opportunity to be in the present.

You don't have to simulate all kinds of futures.

Yeah, I think paying attention to things matters a lot, but we have to be smart about what we pay attention to.

I mean, it might be lovely to really love the water and so on, but not, you know, your Instagram feed or something.

So it's just a matter of...

of thinking clearly about what you want to pay attention to and devote your memories to.