It’s a simple idea, but one that intuitively gels: Navigating without technological aids like Google Maps or Navman works an important part of the brain associated with a sense of self. Finding where you are helps you find yourself, says a study from Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet.
It goes like this:
Exerting ourselves spatially, extending ourselves to have a better sense of our relative relationship to the world connects us with the part of the brain that craves to know where we are and, thus, who we are.
My take is that the more we work this muscle, the more we get a sense of where and who we are. So often with matters of the mind, mere striving is enough. It plonks us on the path and then “life” takes over from there.
For me, bike riding and hiking totally connect me into myself. They’re instant techniques for this. I reckon it’s in part because of