Math, Meaning and Mulch (Part 1)

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I was out mulching our apple tree in the front yard, when some thoughts came to me. One of them was that I can see how gardening can be such great contemplative avocation.

I’m not a gardener, and have never been very good at things like that, but I can weed, I can mulch, and I can mow the lawn. All of which are sort of brain-dead activities which can lead you into a trance-like state.

If you had been contemplating something just before you get into that state, or have had something preying on your mind, it is easy to let thoughts about it come to you while you are in that state. They can wash over you in a pleasant way. The trick is to catch them, and get them recorded somehow, so you can recall them later, and work them into something and take advantage of them.

Having a pencil and paper, or small voice recorder is a good Idea. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any of those when I was mulching, so I’ll have to try the trick I sometimes use when I wake up from a dream that I want to remember, but can’t recall the details of - I go back to sleep and hope I can pick up where I left off. I’m not going to go to sleep now, I’m going to go back to mulching and weeding (it never ends anyhow!)

Trying to go back doesn’t often work, but often I at least get other Ideas that are useful, and this time I’ll make sure I have a catch.

According to “Mind Performance Hacks - Tips and Tools for Overclocking your Brain” by Ron Hale-Evans, a catch is ” … an advanced system for collecting every thought, from everywhere in your life, and bringing them together.” (Page 43)

Well, we’re not quite going to go that far with this today - I’m not trying to collect every thought, but part of a catch is simply something to record your random thoughts with.

Normally, I try to have a something to write with and something to write on with me at all times - a pad and a pen (with a little lightbulb in it so I don’t have to turn on a light and wake up my patient wife when I want to write an Idea fresh out of a dream); a little car notebook (for when I can pull over and record a thought); a hipster PDA when I am out,

I will be writing more about the hipster, because I believe that using it is one of the best things you can do while learning something, like math techniques, or concepts.

So I’ll be taking my little digital recorder out with me to mulch with this time.

See you at the next post!

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