I read a great Henry Ford quote this morning that is exactly how I feel about learning and explains why I'll never stop trying to learn new things. "Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young." ~~Henry Ford Anyone feel the same? Have you done any online classes or local university classes? I'm ready for my next... just not sure what I want it to be yet.
I totally agree with this idea, @Mari North , and I try to study about something every day. While I would not want to go back to school and learn new things, I do like to study and learn about something I am interested in, and using the Internet has really helped a whole lot with doing that. Sometimes, it is just something whimsical that has caught my attention, so I look it up to learn more about it, and other times, I am trying to learn something that I think will help me to stay healthier, or be beneficial in some other way. I seldom watch television for entertainment, and actually am not interested in most of the programs that are on tv, so unless it is something special that I want to watch, I avoid television. I much prefer reading, and I do enjoy that you can google something and find a multitude of different opinions and facts about the same topic. I think that if we are not learning and keeping our brain active, we are also possibly letting it go stagnant, and maybe from there, into Alzheimer's, or something similar. I know that they advise people to keep their brain and body both active , and it makes good sense to me.
Oh the Internet... sometimes I wonder, @Yvonne Smith , whatever we did without it! I also realize when I'm in that mode of thinking, how much more I would have learned, and how different my life would have been if I'd had the Internet, especially during my high school years. When I first started on the computer in the cave days I was totally amazed that a message (not even email yet!) could get to a friend in Germany in three days. DAYS! Hehe When I finally broke down and got on the 'Net, suddenly email was traveling in 3 SECONDS. I was hooked! That was back in my BBS days and that's how we sent messages to each other. And then there was the hand coding... hour upon hour with hand coding. One little mistake and it was more hours to go back over it all and find it! I used a magazine called Rainbow because it was a Tandy computer (weren't they all?! hehe) Anyone remember that magazine? My first successful programming was of a twinkling Christmas tree... probably around '83.
I never stopped learning when I was younger I was interested in how the mind worked and how can you improve yourself or help others. When I hit my sixties I found that my physical body was falling apart and the medical system told me it was old age and just suffer or we can give you drugs so you will not feel it until you die. That started me on another learning regime and now I have very interesting discussions with some doctors. I have not stopped my research but in the mean time the doctors now tell me that I have blood pressure of a teenager and also have no medical problems. Everyone I see anymore all have medical problems but instead of doing some research themselves they rely on people that only make money off you being sick.
I totally agree. As a member of the Ollie, Lifelong Learning Institute here at Humboldt State University, I love learning. In addition, I also take courses through edx.org. I am currently enrolled in a Contract Law class through HarvardX for free - its an amazing class with lectures, discussions, forums and tests with which I've been doing pretty well this semester. Always good to learn whether receiving just information, a diploma, a degree or certificate - Cheers!!!!
Sounds as if that Contract Law class is something I could definitely use, Sharla... I've had to write out some contracts while holding my breath that it wouldn't turn into a legal problem. I had good advisers and templates, but it's not the same as actually understanding every little word and dot. Welcome to the forum, by the way!