Somnium Exertus The home of my 365 day metaproject.

 This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.

Haha! I tricked you, I painted a red pill to look like a blue one, you're screwed now! Actually I was going to give you a choice and do some web trickery to actually reflect that, but it would have required making 2 pages constantly and keeping one hidden. The other obvious thing is that if you're reading this blog it's a good bet that you like it since it gives you a window into things about me you'd otherwise not know, so you'd probably have taken the red pill regardless.


That being said, today is March 1st. Thirty-one days in March, each one an opportunity for a change. I'm hereby going to mention something small every day that I'm going to try, the things won't always be permanent changes or life overhauls, but in general the theme will be that they'll be good for you. Consequently I challenge you to follow along, whether you mention it or not, and will routinely encourage and prod you on here to try. Of course I'll only know if you don't do these things if you tell me on your own, but if you are doing them than you can reap the benefits that go along with them!


Today's challenge is geared towards encouraging the flexibility of your brain. We still learn and shape our brains well into our lives, it just seems that the brain stops learning in your 20s because you're generally set in routines and don't stray far from them. Essentially you've found the path of least resistance, and since we're inherently lazy, why change? Whether you realize it or not, this is true. Think of any motor skill you've learned and you'll see that initially you suck at it, spending lots of energy to keep yourself steady or get some part of your body from A to B. With practice you get better and it seems easier, what's actually happening is your brain has optimized the sequence of instructions to complete that task.

Now when you pour a glass of milk you, without thinking, know how hard to grip the container, can judge what angle to hold it to initiate the flow of the milk, how quickly to change the angle in order to modify the milk flow rate, estimate when you should reduce the pouring motion, etc. As a kid, you probably dropped the carton, filled a glass until it was overflowing or some other mistake that was a learning experience and likely only happens now when you're drunk.

Changing your routine forces the brain to think in new ways by challenging the norm. That's why today's task is so easy to try, but will probably make you want to give up halfway through when you realize there's an easier way. Today's challenge is to brush your teeth entirely with your non-dominant hand! Personally I'm going to keep this one going for as long as I can stand it; knowing my stubbornness, this means that I'll be doing it all month or to the point where it becomes just as easy as with my dominant hand, whichever comes first.

Damn red pill, look what it's done! I'm totally using blue toothpaste in spite...

Song of the day: Szerencsétlen by Venetian Snares - unless you've listened to his stuff before it'll probably throw your brain for a loop...
Video of the day: Real-time brain mapping video!
Page of the day: Real-time brain mapping explained