<p><strong>A proactive way of cultivating knowledge, ideas, and thinking in general.</strong></p><p>Instead of passively absorbing random pieces of information while scrolling online, you can make your mind a place that you've cultivated based on what you're actually interested in.</p><p>It's very different from passive consumption - it's like a proactive creation: you come across an idea or a thought which you treat like a seed and plant it, then look for connections between your thoughts or seeds.</p>

What is mind gardening?

<p>More and more people are curious about mind gardening because it is giving them an option to shift in mindset when it comes to their relationship with the internet.</p><p>People want to reclaim more control over the way they use their time and mind.</p>

Why is mind gardening popular?

<p class="ql-align-center"><em>Cultivating your knowledge, creating, whether it is writing or having more interesting conversations, is a very fulfilling goal to have.</em></p>

<p class="ql-align-center"><em>(...) </em>people say that there are ideas that live rent-free in their heads. Basically, mind gardening is the opposite – you're removing all of the weeds, you're only keeping in there what makes you feel happier and more fulfilled, more creative, more knowledgeable, etc. It's like making sure your ideas are welcome tenants instead.</p>

<ul><li>It takes time to get into the habit, but once you do, you'll feel more fulfilled and satisfied.</li><li> You start seeing compound interest in your thoughts and ideas when you invest in them</li></ul>

Mind gardening can become a natural part of your life

<img src="https://www.refinery29.com/images/10332360.jpg?format=webp&amp;width=720&amp;height=864&amp;quality=85" srcset="https://www.refinery29.com/images/10332360.jpg?format=webp&amp;width=1440&amp;height=1728&amp;quality=85 2x" alt="Illustration of a woman in a garden full of flowers and plants framed by bushes in the shape of a head to represent the mind" width="720" height="864"><div>Illustrated by Charlotte Leadley.</div><div dir="ltr">People have been describing thoughts, images, and ideas as "living in their head rent-free" for years now. <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Urban Dictionary (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Rent%20Free" data-tracker-added="true" dir="ltr">Urban Dictionary</a> (the font of all knowledge) first published the phrase back in 2017, though it really took on a <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/josephbernstein/living-in-your-head-rent-free-is-the-perfect-insult-of-our" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" data-tracker-added="true" dir="ltr">life of its own in 2018</a>. The phrase became shorthand for the unprompted or uninvited trivia your brain stores — like the <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/02/9451416/tiktok-songs-2020-playlist" data-tracker-added="true" dir="ltr">TikTok songs</a> consistently playing in the background of your thoughts, or the fact that you can recall your first crush's home phone number but not what you had for lunch yesterday. The use of the phrase articulates a real phenomenon that we are always, passively absorbing and retaining information. A lot of the thoughts and ideas that populate our heads include stuff that doesn't pay rent, and... probably doesn't deserve to be there.</div><div><span>Advertisement</span></div><div>Sometimes the things that accidentally stick in our brains are welcome. I often blow my own mind by reminding myself that Cleopatra lived nearer the time when the first iPhone was developed than the time when the pyramids were built (I KNOW). But more often than not, these sticky thoughts are unwelcome and mysterious in how they got there. It can make you feel like your mind is a cluttered, crowded place, full of images, objects, and ideas you didn't choose to bring in.</div><div dir="ltr">This is why the concept of "<a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="mind gardening (opens in a new tab)" href="https://medium.com/mind-cafe/how-to-cultivate-your-mind-garden-d193a7a481a6" data-tracker-added="true" dir="ltr">mind gardening</a>" is so refreshing. It takes the idea of gardening (planting, cultivating, nurturing, and pruning) and applies it to the web of thoughts that cloud your brain. It's not just that mind gardening sweeps out the cobwebs (though that can be a great side effect); it's a whole new way to think about knowledge, creativity, and how we learn. Instead of passively absorbing random pieces of information while scrolling online, you can make your mind a place that you've cultivated based on what you're actually interested in.</div><div dir="ltr"><a href="https://nesslabs.com/about" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" data-tracker-added="true" dir="ltr">Anne-Laure Le Cunff</a>, MSc, is the CEO of Ness Labs,&nbsp;a learning platform dedicated to mindful productivity. She has long been a proponent of <a href="https://nesslabs.com/mind-garden" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" data-tracker-added="true" dir="ltr">mind gardening</a> as a way to embrace creativity and soothe an overworked mind. We asked her to explain what it is, why it works, and how to use the technique without it feeling like homework.</div><div><strong>What is mind gardening?</strong></div><div><span>Advertisement</span></div><div>Mind gardening is a proactive way of cultivating knowledge, ideas, and thinking in general. It's very different from passive consumption — it's like a proactive creation.</div><div>Instead of just passively reading content, when you're mind gardening you come across an idea or a thought which you treat like a seed. You plant it by making a note of it either physically or digitally. The cultivation comes in when you look for connections between your thoughts or seeds. As they grow they branch out and form unexpected connections. This is then harvested as new thoughts, new ideas, new content, or just a great conversation with friends.</div><div dir="ltr">There's really a creation aspect, which you don't really have with <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/07/9889706/social-media-sleep-deprivation" data-tracker-added="true" dir="ltr">passively scrolling on social media</a>.</div><div><strong>Where did the concept originate?</strong></div><div dir="ltr">For me, I started thinking about these topics when I realized that I was having a very <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/09/10002175/social-media-effects-the-social-dilemma-netflix-documentary" data-tracker-added="true" dir="ltr">unhealthy relationship with the internet</a> in general and social media in particular, where I felt like I was consuming much more than I was creating. I have a few friends who really <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2021/08/10624956/ultra-expensive-rare-plant-collectors?utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=twitter_share" data-tracker-added="true" dir="ltr">got into gardening</a> in the past couple of years. Looking at them really investing and growing their actual physical garden made me think that it may be possible to apply a similar approach to our knowledge. And we have this expression in French called "cultiver son jardin intérieur" which roughly translates to "cultivating your internal garden." This is when it clicked for me. I figured that there are so many things that we can borrow from actual gardening and apply to cultivating what's in our mind.</div><div><span>Advertisement</span></div><div><strong>Why is it having a surge in popularity?</strong></div><div dir="ltr">I think people want to reclaim more control over the way they use their time and the way they use their mind. We've seen lots of people <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2021/09/10692458/burnout-work-millennials-ambition-scam" data-tracker-added="true" dir="ltr">going through burnout</a>, for example. Even the fact that <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/10/10118455/doomscrolling-twitter-benefits-2020" data-tracker-added="true" dir="ltr">doomscrolling</a> [has become so popular] shows that people are really struggling when it comes to their relationship with the internet. More and more people are curious about mind gardening because it is giving them an option to shift in mindset when it comes to their relationship with the internet. And cultivating your knowledge, creating, whether it is writing or having more interesting conversations, is a very fulfilling goal to have. I think that's partly why we stretch ourselves too far when it comes to lack of control with the way we engage with the internet. Now people are trying to find ways to balance that relationship a bit more.</div><div><strong>Why is that active attention important?</strong></div><div dir="ltr">It reminds me of when people say that there are ideas that live rent-free in their heads. Basically, mind gardening is the opposite – you're removing all of the weeds, you're only keeping in there what makes you feel happier and more fulfilled, <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/how-to-be-creative-thinking-ideas" data-tracker-added="true" dir="ltr">more creative,</a> more knowledgeable, etc. It's like making sure your ideas are welcome tenants instead.</div><div><strong>How does mind gardening affect your memory, if at all?</strong></div><div dir="ltr">I absolutely don't want to make claims as to whether it changes the makeup of your memory. However, a lot of mind gardening actually happens <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/5-days-of-journaling" data-tracker-added="true" dir="ltr">through writing</a> [and] taking notes. And it has been shown that actually writing stuff down and engaging with it helps you both understand and remember stuff better. It's called the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3556209/" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" data-tracker-added="true" dir="ltr">generation effect</a>. There are research papers showing that by creating your own version of a piece of information, you will understand and remember it better.</div><div><span>Advertisement</span></div><div><strong>This sounds a lot like studying (which might put people off).</strong></div><div dir="ltr">Something I think traditional education is not doing very well is that they basically teach kids that you need to learn in order to build a career and apply it when you become an adult. There's this very transactional approach to learning. But I think a lot more people are starting to embrace <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/2021/02/10297430/allow-yourself-to-be-a-beginner-learning-new-skills" data-tracker-added="true" dir="ltr">lifelong learning</a> — a way of learning that is more playful, that is driven by curiosity rather than a strict goal of improving your career, and that is more exploratory. You can start reading about a topic without really knowing what you're going to discover or how you're going to use it. But you're learning for the sake of learning, which is beautiful and it's amazing...</div><div><strong>Even if it feels like effort at first, can mind gardening quickly become a natural part of your life?</strong></div><div dir="ltr">Absolutely, it's like everything. You start seeing compound interest in your thoughts when you invest in them, when you invest in your ideas and thinking, when you invest in your curiosity. It's the same as lots of <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/01/9183127/21-day-rule-form-a-habit-in-21-days" data-tracker-added="true" dir="ltr">beneficial habits</a>. It sometimes takes a little bit of time at the beginning to get into it, to make it part of your routine. But once you've managed to do that, you are usually feeling more fulfilled, like you know more, you're really happy that you got started in the first place.</div><div><em>This story was originally published on Refinery29 UK and has been lightly edited. </em></div>

It's like making sure your ideas are welcome tenants, instead of living rent-free in your head.

Mindset

<em>This story was originally published on Refinery29 UK and has been lightly edited. </em>

Bite-sized knowledge
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Too Many Thoughts Living Rent-Free In Your Head? Try Mind Gardening

What is mind gardening?

Why is mind gardening popular?

SADHBH O'SULLIVAN

SADHBH O'SULLIVAN

Mind gardening can become a natural part of your life

IDEAS ABOUT

MORE LIKE THIS

Does Your Brain have too many tabs open? Try Writing Morning Pages. -

Stop Spending So Much Time In Your Head

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Bite-sized knowledgeto upgradeyour career

Too Many Thoughts Living Rent-Free In Your Head? Try Mind Gardening

What is mind gardening?

Why is mind gardening popular?

SADHBH O'SULLIVAN

SADHBH O'SULLIVAN

Mind gardening can become a natural part of your life

IDEAS ABOUT

MORE LIKE THIS

Does Your Brain have too many tabs open? Try Writing Morning Pages. -

Stop Spending So Much Time In Your Head

How To Be A Happy And Productive Remote Worker

It's time to

READ

LIKE

A PRO!

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career