Why Is Cursive So Good For The Brain?
I hear from time to time how cursive writing is a thing of the past. I don’t believe that. There are many reasons why cursive is so good for the brain, it’s not only beneficial for students to learn, but for teens and adults too.
Why is cursive so good for the brain?
I remember when I was in the second grade how I was excited to become a third grader. Why third grade? Because that’s when we would learn cursive writing. Not only did Mrs. King teach us cursive writing, but we were required to use it with our class work. And not only were we required to use it that year, but we used it all the way through high school, and beyond.
Of course, I wasn’t thinking about all the reasons why cursive was so good for my brain when I was nine years old. However, learning cursive meant I took pride in how my assignments looked and felt that real sense of satisfaction. A super boost for the brain!
Use Cursive for Notetaking
Notetaking can provide the information you need and help to prepare you to have everything you need to move forward. Whether it is for a class, a business meeting, or research, taking notes is valuable.
Notes for Class
No matter if you are in middle school, high school, college, or beyond, taking good notes can mean the difference between doing ok on a quiz or even passing an important test.
Using cursive to take notes helps you to write faster. This means you will have the opportunity to not only write information down but organize it and make it easier to go back to read and study.
Journal in Cursive
Journaling is a very simple yet powerful tool that can help us process many things. Sometimes things can seem complicated and unmanageable, however, journaling can help to get clarity, release thoughts, and move forward. Using cursive while journaling will help you to write faster, getting your thoughts down quicker. It helps to keep a flow since writing in cursive is faster than writing in print.
Brainstorming
Feeling stuck and need to find new ideas? Need a plan for a goal or a dream you have? Doing a brainstorming session in your journal can not only get your thoughts on paper, but you will find that once you start writing, and push yourself a little, you will come up with lots of new ideas that will amaze and inspire you.
You have may have heard of challenges where people write 100 items on a list whether for a business or for a class. If you try this challenge in your journal you will be amazed how the challenge will push your brain to come up with ideas that you never thought of before and wonder where they came from! It’s a cool experience. Writing in cursive will help keep the flow, letting the ideas and thoughts roll onto the page, allowing your hand to keep up with the speed of your thought process.
Don’t edit, don’t question your thoughts or ideas when brainstorming, let them flow onto the paper, taking advantage of the speed of cursive that helps you to quickly document all your ideas and thoughts.
Brainstorming will get all your thoughts and ideas out of your head and on paper. Writing in cursive helps you to do this quickly. I love looking back in my journals to see the ideas I came up with, what I used what worked, and what I still want to work on.
Processing Thoughts
Writing in a journal can be more than getting our thoughts onto paper. It can help to get emotions out that have had stuck in your brain. Putting complicated situations on paper, writing your way through all of the emotions, and even sharing what you are grateful for can be life-changing. Going back and looking at my journals, like my prayer journals, it’s super cool to see prayers answered, or situations that I wrote about that have come to fruition.
I highly encourage you to try journaling to help process your thoughts, write in cursive to keep your flow going, and notice how your brain changes.
If you have been resistant to journaling before, give it a try with a beautiful notebook and pen. I love using highlighter markers to highlight ideas, bullet points, and dates.
Good for the Brain Function
There are many reasons why cursive writing helps the brain. Because of that, it is confusing as to why more and more schools are not teaching kids unless learners attend a charter school, homeschool, or online classes.
Some say that cursive is dated and going out of style, and lost art. I don’t believe that. We can choose to continue the tradition of this, not only a beautiful art form but good for the brain in many ways including memory and focus.
Memory
Putting pen to paper helps the brain to work on both sides, left and right. It has been said that writing in cursive helps to increase overall mental effectiveness. Because of this, it helps with language, writing, and memory. Imagine if one was writing with repetition and how that can improve memory and retain information! Cursive and repetition could be a superpower!
Focus
Writing in your journal can help your focus by:
- letting the words flow, expanding your ideas
- process everything that happened in a day
- getting laser-focused on a specific issue or finding solutions
Staying stuck in your head and not journaling will keep all your thoughts and ideas in your head. Writing it all down helps you to get it all on paper, and decide where you want to focus and what is important to you. Plus you will have it all documented.
I know from personal experience that I physically and emotionally feel better when I have journaled and I have all my thoughts on paper. It allows me to get some relief and feel like I can be more focused on what is important. I can leave all my thoughts on the paper instead of the concerns, ideas, worries, and more playing a loop round and round in my head. For me that becomes overwhelming.
Once I write in my journal and let all the thoughts flow, especially writing in cursive being able to write at a faster pace, I get more clear, have more ideas, and am more relaxed. I can be more focused!
CONCLUSION
With so many reasons why cursive writing is good for the brain, give it a try and see how it can help you. The benefits of writing out your thoughts and processing them, clearing your mind, and working your whole brain.
This is a wonderful habit to start as young as possible. Young people may not like the idea of journaling but it can be made fun by interesting notebooks, fun stickers, and pens, and maybe even giving them journal prompts to help them get started.
Have fun!