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Mad Scientist

Sometimes I go mad scientist. My love for history, and teaching, is bolstered by my tendency to seek information. It is healthy, and the acquisition of new information on a subject that I find fascinating certainly helps me teach - which is what I get paid by the state to do...
But once I start down that rabbit hole of info grab and history research, I often can not find the brake. I start digging for more, and thinking about these things a lot.  Eventually, it actually starts to make me somewhat anxious.  So some years ago, I made a conscious decision to pace myself. Mostly, I decided to stop reading so many books about..well.. more information. I starting seeking less books on data - and more books on KISS, and Percy Jackson.   
I mean - I basically allowed the following questions to drive my discernment: Does this help me enjoy the moments of my life more?  Does gaining more and more information on so many things, events, people, and phenomena lead to a more fulfilling life?  
And sometimes, reading and gaining more info on topics of interest does indeed help me enjoy and appreciate my life more (ie: anything about the history of punk rock bands).  But as I have gotten older - I mostly want to spend my days doing rather than reading about...  And this approach has actually changed the manner in which I research and learn.  Nowadays, I most often find myself in a moment of experience that becomes a catalyst for questions.  Doing has led to more reading about...  The reversal has helped me gain perspective about all sorts of things.

Generally, I have more trust in my wider world, and am more comfortable with my place in it.  And my comfort is what led me to so enjoy reading Malcom Gladwell's David and Goliath this summer.  It is a data book, so I was hesitant to wade back in to that world.  The book looks at the roles and motivations of underdogs throughout history, and in contemporary society - starting (of course) with the biblical battle of David and Goliath.  It focuses on class sizes, crime prevention, and dyslexia to make points about how our perceptions are often not our realities.  I read the entire book, and it was fascinating, and is helping to give more meaning to my daily experience as I returned to school.  But when I finished it, I returned it to the library, and moved on.
And now I am reading Percy Jackson, and not constantly seeking more information on class size research and crime.  It is a big step for me, as I am (slowly) working towards some balance in my mad scientist mind.

Now if only I could find out the origin of this one greek myth........ 


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