What a fascinating organ it is. And for all the research I understand there is still so much we don't know about it.
Can you stop your brain from thinking? Is that what meditation is all about? I ask this because I find it impossible not to think. It would be so good if, when I wake at 4am I could just relax in my snug warm bed and lay there thinking about absolutely nothing. Can some people do this or is everyone like me?
I woke up at four this morning; woke up thinking about the days of the week in French. Why? And as I lay there going through them over and over again I could only think of six! Eventually I drifted off to sleep again. Half way through eating my fruity breakfast a word popped into my head from nowhere.........Mercredi!!!
So please dear readers put me out if my misery. a) have I got them right? b) are they in the right order? and c) have I spelt them correctly? Can't be bothered to look them up myself (truthfully that should read (can't remember how):
Lundi, Mardi, Mercredi, Jeudi, Vendredi, Samedi, Dimanche.
But, joking apart, isn't it a fascinating organ? The older I get the more words (especially names of people, places and things) escape me at the moment I want them. Long after I have stopped searching for the word I want, the old brain will be working on it and will suddenly (no roll of drums, no fanfare) pop it into my mind. Sadly by that time I might have forgotten what I wanted it for.
And to end - a rather daft connection, but one that fascinates me every morning.
Opposite my window is a small, smart red mail box on a black metal stalk. On their morning walkies every male dog in the vicinity stops at that stalk for the same purpose. It goes like this:
Stop (and refuse to walk on however taut the lead goes):
Sniff from top to bottom (if it is a labrador, or as far up as possible if a chi hua hua),
Raise appropriate hind leg.
Pee for as long as possble.
Is this instinct? Does the brain control instinct or is instinct inate in us all? The dog has no words (except the few he/she learns which are to their advantage: Walkies, Tea Time,) so what makes them do this every single day? Yes, I know they are covering up - or trying to - every drenching which has preceded theirs that morning in order to attract every passing bitch. But without words they can't think ' I fancy that beautiful Basset Hound' can they?
I'll stop there. Sex comes into everything sooner or later doesn't it?
Have a nice day. And do pop over to Si's 'Careering Through Nature' to view his superb photographs of Spring flowers - especially that cheeky long-stalked dandelion who pops up to almost steal the show from those dark blue Bluebells. Does it know that yellow is the complementary colour to blue? Don't let's go down that route.