As we get older it is our short term memory that fades rather than our long term memory. Perhaps we have evolved like this so that we are able to tell the younger generation about the stories and experiences that have formed us which may be important to subsequent generations if they are to thrive.I worry though, about what might happen to our minds if most of the stories we hear are about greed, war, and atrocity

If you start from a position of I'm a no-hoper, in a paradoxical kind of way you are not risking being vulnerable.

In order to stretch ourselves we do need to experience the vulnerability of not knowing the outcome.

After a stroke we can re-learn how to talk, because by practicing we can establish different pathways in the brain, circumnavigating the damaged part.

If we are not using our brains' capacity for challenge it feels to me as though it atrophies like an unused muscle.

When we had to survive on our wits, gather and kill our food from scratch and be more at the mercy of our environment than we are today, we probably had enough challenge to keep our brains healthy.

I am talking about being optimistic enough to sow some seeds in the hope that some of them will germinate and grow into flowers.