Photo by: chrisjfry

One of the biggest enemies of a healthy mind is uniformity (lacking diversity or variation in its interactions). That is, having a homogenous interaction with the world and filtering out everything that does not fit one’s interests.

Imagine a John Doe who only watches horror movies, listens only to country music, eats only chicken, watches TV on a single network, spends all his vacations in Jamaica and all his friends are white, middle-class people from Madrid, Spain - and they have the same interests as him. Other than missing out on many of life’s experiences, this person is also narrowing down his outlook on life and the world around him. And not only will he be useless as the member of a focus group or as a consultant, but he will miss ideas that have the potential to improve him and his life, or the life of others.

Avoiding it sounds simple; living a diverse life. But it is a little too simple perhaps, because many of us overlook it’s importance quite often.

Try not to be like the John Doe in my example.

Avoid homogenous films, TV, music, food, people, books, sex, games, sports and places. Experience life by doing things you don’t usually do, spend time with people you don’t usually spent time with, practice some sport that you don’t usually practice, go somewhere you wouldn’t usually go and so on.

In human history, it’s only been recently that our lives turned to be so predictable. Not saying it as a critique, but the more options we get when it comes to choosing what we interact with, the higher the probability of us making wrong decisions regarding those choices. We are capable of more interesting and creative lives than our modern cultures often provide for us.

Go out of our way to find diverse experiences; waiting for them is just not enough.

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