Birth of a Note Maker: On Gardening, Obsidian, and Slowing Down
I’ve just noticed an interesting phenomenon about content consumption.
When all I’m doing is allowing the content to flow over my brain, I can take in an awful lot of it, but remember very little afterwards. Even when I highlight passages that stand out, and even when I pay Readwise money to import those passages into my notes app.
But when I think about and write a brief note about the parts that stand out to me from what I read, things are very different. I not only remember more, but I’m fuller, somehow. I’ve started doing this with my Kindle highlights, and with articles I read inside Matter.
Now, I don’t allow myself to highlight something without writing at least a few words about why it resonated with me.
This means that I can’t consume at the same pace as before, because my brain is occupied with processing the idea I’ve made an effort to understand and connect with my life. And this feels like a very good thing.
Intentional Thoughts Attached to Notes Are Brain Food
The effects of ingesting empty calories (or not chewing good food well enough) versus nutrient dense, whole…
