Brilliant. Personally, I think every kid should be able to play with Legos as they stimulate so much of the mind in terms of creativity and logic. I had Tinker Toys and other related toys when I was a child, but nothing topped Legos for flexibility and creativity. I think the most fun I had recently was building Starry Night, which was not simple, but was rewarding. Comparing the Lego set to the original artwork is interesting too.
I own that one! I started putting it together and got about a third of the way done when I realized I had been using the wrong shade of blue -- there are so many blue bricks in that one! I needed to start over but I had a lot of other things going on so I put it in the closet. I expect I will do that one in January, after the season for my Christmas village.
However, I assure you it is all well worth it and the finished project compares favorably with the original (I was fortunate enough to see it at NY MOMA). The cool backstory on its development is a plus as well.
Putting together Lego also gives you a sense of control. It's a reminder that things within our control are worth working on, and can yield success if we have the right tools and guidance. Mistakes are of course still in play but they can be overcome.
I gave one of those flower sets to my wife as a Mother’s Day gift (our daughters were opposed and wanted to give her real flowers, but I still said the LEGO flowers were from them). My wife, as she readily admits, has a black thumb, and most flowers that come into our house meet a terrible end fairly quickly. So the LEGO flowers proved to be great: they do look nice, they are easily reassembled after the girls or the cats get into them, and they have been around for a year-and-a-half now. Success!
I have a Voltron set that I always keep assembled (and the girls always pester me about playing with the LEGO kitties), and my wife also has the grand piano set. The rest of our collection is a heap of disassembled bricks either somewhat sorted into draws, or strewn all over a table with various half-built buildings that come from our girls’ own inventiveness.
I’m sorry to ramble, but LEGOs have been a part of my life since the late 80s, and there’s something very special about them. Thank you for sharing your joy with them!
I know what you mean! I bought a nice four-tier organizational bucket and put my random loose bricks into it, organized neatly. When I get a bigger place I will set up a table just for these and make original creations.
I loved playing with Legos when I was younger. Although we didn't have all these fancy sets and I would usually just make my own things. I often created mazes (and cover them up) and put a tiny ball in them and try to get the ball through the maze by rotating it over.
I thought that was a real typewriter at first. And I hadn't seen the NES Super Mario set before. That's so cool. What a great way to start the morning and workweek off.
Yes!! I wasn't ever able to get a good video of it because two hands aren't enough to operate it and get a good video at the same time, ha ha. But yes, it's wonderful.
It's weird, but your new positive endeavor produces a reluctance to read it . I start out thinking I'm not sure I can take positivity with my morning coffee. Like my coffee I crave bitterness and darkness to rev up my system, to get cranked up (like Oscar). I never related to Pollyanna or taking a look on the bright side approach to life. But, I go ahead and start reading, and just a few sentences in you've captivated me with your ineluctable way of telling a story, or describing a feeling, or relating an experience. I suppose I will just have to accept that you are going to give me a little sunshine, some rays of hope and the warmth of experiencing your little pleasures second-hand. That's a good thing.☺️
Hooray! I know what you mean -- "positive thinking" undertaken deliberately has always seemed weird to me. But I have found I am overall happier if I choose to put some positive things into my mind, even when I don't feel like it. And my job is pretty goddamn miserable these days, so Monday morning positivity is fighting against my natural tendency, which is to give into the abyss if only to save myself the energy of fighting it.
The lighting accessories add greatly to the display. I'm sure I could look it up, but would rather give you the chance to write about it (or not, according entirely to your whim): do the sets include recesses, channels, and brackets for the batteries, switches, wire and lights? Or do you have figure out how and where those things go on your own? Are there timers or sensors? I assume music would not be high on your priorities, but it might enhance some of the constructions. Finally, I believe you have hinted at an underground brickmaker ecosystem, similar to fanfic. If that is the case it might be interesting to see more about that. Also, good luck on your job search. I am confident that one of the many perfect positions will soon draw you into it.
The lighting systems are not made by the LEGO company, but the people who make them are very good at figuring out how to incorporate them into existing builds. The battery pack for the one I got for the truck fits perfectly into the back of the pick-up. No timers or sensors on this one, but there may be on others. This is the only one I've bought a lighting system for. Someday when I have more space I intend to put together the full Hogwarts castle or Titanic, and there are lovely lighting sets for both. There may be better lighting systems for those.
Lego sets were, by far, my favorite things to play with as I grew up. Being an author began with Lego--building worlds, creating characters, and enacting stories. As a kid, I generally built my own creations. I'd always build with the instructions first, and then wreck it and build new things to fit the stories I created.
Now as an adult, I generally build the sets. Like you, I find a lot of calm and peace from the building. And it's always kind of startling to note the progress--beginning with just a bunch or seemingly random pieces, and then an hour later you can see something has been created. Even large sets, that take a long time to put together, there's so much you can see built and created in each session.
Even now, my wife knows that my favorite gift she can give me for Christmas or my birthday would be a Lego set.
All 3 of our sons grew up with Legos, and our 5 grandkids also love them. Your collection is amazing. Being very much a senior, I grew up before Lego was well known in the US. But I do make apps for iPhones and iPads, which is similar to building with Lego. It's relaxing and enjoyable for me.
"Art-adjacent" is a good word. I think it fits my AI art efforts, not true art but art-adjacent.
"If I work on a build for an hour, when I walk away there is an hour’s worth of progress."
Very insightful. So much creative stuff requires the creator to wait a long time after creation to attract enough positive attention, that it fulfills the purpose I start with--that is to make something that people appreciate.
"Giving oneself permission to do something that’s purely and only fun is often hard for people, especially people who are troubled. It took me a long time to be able to give myself enthusiastic permission to do things that are just purely fun, but I can do it now. And I love it."
You have been through a lot with PTSD, but you've gained a lot of insight. Early in our marriage, my wife said, she found herself getting mad at my "just good enough" job at cleaning the sink until she realized what upset her is that SHE wanted permission to do less than a perfect job. It helped her a lot to realize that.
I just relate too so much of what you write that I look forward too the next discovery. How do I love LEGO? Let me count the ways...
LEGO is a key factor in my becoming an engineer. I grew up with LEGO. It was one of my favorite childhood activities, that and Hot Wheels/slot cars. My cousin and I would make these elaborate race courses with LEGO pit stops, grand stands, towers etc.
Then I became a father, well it wasn't that suddenly, but you know what I mean 😉 My daughter wasn't really interested in LEGO, but my son was even more into LEGO than I was, and LEGO really started making some cool kits when he was a child. I very much loved building/creating with LEGO with my son, and I still do. He was on the LEGO robotics team at his school, and continues the legacy with my grandsons today. We are very much a LEGO family. My youngest grandson always invites me to "play with LEGO" when I visit.
IMHO LEGO is an excellent way of learning problem solving, developing acute pattern recognition, and nurturing creativity, and creative thinking. LEGO eventually lead to my childhood passion of model building. I built all kinds of models. Cars, large sailing ships, all the characters & spaceships from Star Trek, all the characters from Planet Of The Apes, the rockets from the NASA Space Program and many more. As I got older and my reading interests expanded to more historical non-fiction, I really got into accurate WWII military dioramas, airplanes, and war ships. Then Estes model rockets, and flying model planes. I was definitely a Hobby Store nerd. Wait, I was just an OG nerd all the way around.
It's very interesting that you address the therapeutic value of LEGO, or of more generally being creative as an exercise for peace of mind.
I suffered Traumatic Brain Injury and PTSD from an extremely violent parachuting accident when I was in the Army. It was Thursday 31 January 1985. Exactly 30 days before my first child, my daughter was born. 39 years ago, and that day still has heavy impact on my life, and who I am. PTSD definitely was a major factor in the failure of all 3 of my marriages, alienated me from people who I thought were my friends, and made life an even bigger challenge personally and professionally.
I have went through intense individual & group therapy with the VA. I was a patient at the National PTSD Research Center in Boston MA. for several years. Part of my recovery, and education about my Traumatic Brain Injury/PTSD has been learning to understand, and manage the experience, and how it has effected me. Lot's of CBT. Part of that journey is finding things that bring joy & peace of mind to my life.
I tried revisiting childhood interests like model building, and found it to now be very frustrating. Drawing, and painting are still very beneficial activity, but for the most part the things I did when I was younger no longer capture my passion. Except for one thing. It is something I have been interested in my entire life, but I never pursued in earnest until I was an adult. I have always been a lover of nature, I grew up primitive camping and hiking, and as a summer job, as a teenager me and my best friends worked with my best friend's father landscaping. Which lead to working at a nursery for my first job out of the military with my best friend and the job that put me through college as a single father. That's where I got my first experience with real Bonsai.
Meditation has been the single most important practice in my mission to understand and mitigate PTSD. I meditated twice a day for many years. It was my first step making postive accomplishments in living with the terrible experience that lead to my TBI/PTSD.
Bonsai was originally brought to Japan by Buddhist Monks studying in China, where it's known as Penjing. These monks were introduced to it as a form of meditation. Much like other forms of artistic expression, such as Caligraphy are forms of meditation. Bonsai is very good at developing mindfulness.
Bonsai & especially learning from a Japanese Bonsai Master and of course my absolute all encompassing love of trees is where I find the best medicine for a fractured soul. I feel peace of mind, reassurance, and safety in the company of trees. Especially great trees.
The Redwood forests are the most amazing place on earth... But so is the Hoh Rainforest in Washington State, and the Rainforests of the islands of Hawaii. The triple canopy of Central America is very splendid as well, even if Howler Monkeys are pretty damn scary. Nonetheless, I most often prefer the company of nature and animals to Strangers.
Thank you for this inspiration to be postive, and mindful. You're very courageous and I am grateful for this Substack. It's a very nice respite from the world at large.
Love this! I particularly agree with your comment about how building Lego sets creates frustration tolerance. I worked with my grandson when he was 4 to build small sets helping him read through the directions and sorting out the necessary components. Not only did it help him cognitively, it helped him develop patience - especially when we had to start over - which is naturally lacking in 4 year olds! :D
Love it!
Thank you! 🙏
I love knowing that you have found something that helps you so much.
It is also good to know that you have such a clear understanding of how it helps you.
Brilliant. Personally, I think every kid should be able to play with Legos as they stimulate so much of the mind in terms of creativity and logic. I had Tinker Toys and other related toys when I was a child, but nothing topped Legos for flexibility and creativity. I think the most fun I had recently was building Starry Night, which was not simple, but was rewarding. Comparing the Lego set to the original artwork is interesting too.
I own that one! I started putting it together and got about a third of the way done when I realized I had been using the wrong shade of blue -- there are so many blue bricks in that one! I needed to start over but I had a lot of other things going on so I put it in the closet. I expect I will do that one in January, after the season for my Christmas village.
Yes, I also had that issue 😬 🤣 (several times?)
However, I assure you it is all well worth it and the finished project compares favorably with the original (I was fortunate enough to see it at NY MOMA). The cool backstory on its development is a plus as well.
Putting together Lego also gives you a sense of control. It's a reminder that things within our control are worth working on, and can yield success if we have the right tools and guidance. Mistakes are of course still in play but they can be overcome.
I gave one of those flower sets to my wife as a Mother’s Day gift (our daughters were opposed and wanted to give her real flowers, but I still said the LEGO flowers were from them). My wife, as she readily admits, has a black thumb, and most flowers that come into our house meet a terrible end fairly quickly. So the LEGO flowers proved to be great: they do look nice, they are easily reassembled after the girls or the cats get into them, and they have been around for a year-and-a-half now. Success!
I have a Voltron set that I always keep assembled (and the girls always pester me about playing with the LEGO kitties), and my wife also has the grand piano set. The rest of our collection is a heap of disassembled bricks either somewhat sorted into draws, or strewn all over a table with various half-built buildings that come from our girls’ own inventiveness.
I’m sorry to ramble, but LEGOs have been a part of my life since the late 80s, and there’s something very special about them. Thank you for sharing your joy with them!
I know what you mean! I bought a nice four-tier organizational bucket and put my random loose bricks into it, organized neatly. When I get a bigger place I will set up a table just for these and make original creations.
I loved playing with Legos when I was younger. Although we didn't have all these fancy sets and I would usually just make my own things. I often created mazes (and cover them up) and put a tiny ball in them and try to get the ball through the maze by rotating it over.
I thought that was a real typewriter at first. And I hadn't seen the NES Super Mario set before. That's so cool. What a great way to start the morning and workweek off.
The Mario set has a crank that you can turn and Mario will really move. It's really amazing.
I saw you wrote it moved. That is truly amazing. I had to look that up on YouTube. https://youtu.be/eyMX0SyzdAQ
Yes!! I wasn't ever able to get a good video of it because two hands aren't enough to operate it and get a good video at the same time, ha ha. But yes, it's wonderful.
It's weird, but your new positive endeavor produces a reluctance to read it . I start out thinking I'm not sure I can take positivity with my morning coffee. Like my coffee I crave bitterness and darkness to rev up my system, to get cranked up (like Oscar). I never related to Pollyanna or taking a look on the bright side approach to life. But, I go ahead and start reading, and just a few sentences in you've captivated me with your ineluctable way of telling a story, or describing a feeling, or relating an experience. I suppose I will just have to accept that you are going to give me a little sunshine, some rays of hope and the warmth of experiencing your little pleasures second-hand. That's a good thing.☺️
Hooray! I know what you mean -- "positive thinking" undertaken deliberately has always seemed weird to me. But I have found I am overall happier if I choose to put some positive things into my mind, even when I don't feel like it. And my job is pretty goddamn miserable these days, so Monday morning positivity is fighting against my natural tendency, which is to give into the abyss if only to save myself the energy of fighting it.
Great column! My eyes have been opened to a wonderful world. So glad I didn’t leave, Holly. Thank you!
(By the way, I enjoyed your column in the Great Brain books, too.)
There’s just a sense of pride in building something. “I did that.”
The lighting accessories add greatly to the display. I'm sure I could look it up, but would rather give you the chance to write about it (or not, according entirely to your whim): do the sets include recesses, channels, and brackets for the batteries, switches, wire and lights? Or do you have figure out how and where those things go on your own? Are there timers or sensors? I assume music would not be high on your priorities, but it might enhance some of the constructions. Finally, I believe you have hinted at an underground brickmaker ecosystem, similar to fanfic. If that is the case it might be interesting to see more about that. Also, good luck on your job search. I am confident that one of the many perfect positions will soon draw you into it.
The lighting systems are not made by the LEGO company, but the people who make them are very good at figuring out how to incorporate them into existing builds. The battery pack for the one I got for the truck fits perfectly into the back of the pick-up. No timers or sensors on this one, but there may be on others. This is the only one I've bought a lighting system for. Someday when I have more space I intend to put together the full Hogwarts castle or Titanic, and there are lovely lighting sets for both. There may be better lighting systems for those.
Lego sets were, by far, my favorite things to play with as I grew up. Being an author began with Lego--building worlds, creating characters, and enacting stories. As a kid, I generally built my own creations. I'd always build with the instructions first, and then wreck it and build new things to fit the stories I created.
Now as an adult, I generally build the sets. Like you, I find a lot of calm and peace from the building. And it's always kind of startling to note the progress--beginning with just a bunch or seemingly random pieces, and then an hour later you can see something has been created. Even large sets, that take a long time to put together, there's so much you can see built and created in each session.
Even now, my wife knows that my favorite gift she can give me for Christmas or my birthday would be a Lego set.
All 3 of our sons grew up with Legos, and our 5 grandkids also love them. Your collection is amazing. Being very much a senior, I grew up before Lego was well known in the US. But I do make apps for iPhones and iPads, which is similar to building with Lego. It's relaxing and enjoyable for me.
"Art-adjacent" is a good word. I think it fits my AI art efforts, not true art but art-adjacent.
"If I work on a build for an hour, when I walk away there is an hour’s worth of progress."
Very insightful. So much creative stuff requires the creator to wait a long time after creation to attract enough positive attention, that it fulfills the purpose I start with--that is to make something that people appreciate.
"Giving oneself permission to do something that’s purely and only fun is often hard for people, especially people who are troubled. It took me a long time to be able to give myself enthusiastic permission to do things that are just purely fun, but I can do it now. And I love it."
You have been through a lot with PTSD, but you've gained a lot of insight. Early in our marriage, my wife said, she found herself getting mad at my "just good enough" job at cleaning the sink until she realized what upset her is that SHE wanted permission to do less than a perfect job. It helped her a lot to realize that.
I just relate too so much of what you write that I look forward too the next discovery. How do I love LEGO? Let me count the ways...
LEGO is a key factor in my becoming an engineer. I grew up with LEGO. It was one of my favorite childhood activities, that and Hot Wheels/slot cars. My cousin and I would make these elaborate race courses with LEGO pit stops, grand stands, towers etc.
Then I became a father, well it wasn't that suddenly, but you know what I mean 😉 My daughter wasn't really interested in LEGO, but my son was even more into LEGO than I was, and LEGO really started making some cool kits when he was a child. I very much loved building/creating with LEGO with my son, and I still do. He was on the LEGO robotics team at his school, and continues the legacy with my grandsons today. We are very much a LEGO family. My youngest grandson always invites me to "play with LEGO" when I visit.
IMHO LEGO is an excellent way of learning problem solving, developing acute pattern recognition, and nurturing creativity, and creative thinking. LEGO eventually lead to my childhood passion of model building. I built all kinds of models. Cars, large sailing ships, all the characters & spaceships from Star Trek, all the characters from Planet Of The Apes, the rockets from the NASA Space Program and many more. As I got older and my reading interests expanded to more historical non-fiction, I really got into accurate WWII military dioramas, airplanes, and war ships. Then Estes model rockets, and flying model planes. I was definitely a Hobby Store nerd. Wait, I was just an OG nerd all the way around.
It's very interesting that you address the therapeutic value of LEGO, or of more generally being creative as an exercise for peace of mind.
I suffered Traumatic Brain Injury and PTSD from an extremely violent parachuting accident when I was in the Army. It was Thursday 31 January 1985. Exactly 30 days before my first child, my daughter was born. 39 years ago, and that day still has heavy impact on my life, and who I am. PTSD definitely was a major factor in the failure of all 3 of my marriages, alienated me from people who I thought were my friends, and made life an even bigger challenge personally and professionally.
I have went through intense individual & group therapy with the VA. I was a patient at the National PTSD Research Center in Boston MA. for several years. Part of my recovery, and education about my Traumatic Brain Injury/PTSD has been learning to understand, and manage the experience, and how it has effected me. Lot's of CBT. Part of that journey is finding things that bring joy & peace of mind to my life.
I tried revisiting childhood interests like model building, and found it to now be very frustrating. Drawing, and painting are still very beneficial activity, but for the most part the things I did when I was younger no longer capture my passion. Except for one thing. It is something I have been interested in my entire life, but I never pursued in earnest until I was an adult. I have always been a lover of nature, I grew up primitive camping and hiking, and as a summer job, as a teenager me and my best friends worked with my best friend's father landscaping. Which lead to working at a nursery for my first job out of the military with my best friend and the job that put me through college as a single father. That's where I got my first experience with real Bonsai.
Meditation has been the single most important practice in my mission to understand and mitigate PTSD. I meditated twice a day for many years. It was my first step making postive accomplishments in living with the terrible experience that lead to my TBI/PTSD.
Bonsai was originally brought to Japan by Buddhist Monks studying in China, where it's known as Penjing. These monks were introduced to it as a form of meditation. Much like other forms of artistic expression, such as Caligraphy are forms of meditation. Bonsai is very good at developing mindfulness.
Bonsai & especially learning from a Japanese Bonsai Master and of course my absolute all encompassing love of trees is where I find the best medicine for a fractured soul. I feel peace of mind, reassurance, and safety in the company of trees. Especially great trees.
The Redwood forests are the most amazing place on earth... But so is the Hoh Rainforest in Washington State, and the Rainforests of the islands of Hawaii. The triple canopy of Central America is very splendid as well, even if Howler Monkeys are pretty damn scary. Nonetheless, I most often prefer the company of nature and animals to Strangers.
Thank you for this inspiration to be postive, and mindful. You're very courageous and I am grateful for this Substack. It's a very nice respite from the world at large.
Love this! I particularly agree with your comment about how building Lego sets creates frustration tolerance. I worked with my grandson when he was 4 to build small sets helping him read through the directions and sorting out the necessary components. Not only did it help him cognitively, it helped him develop patience - especially when we had to start over - which is naturally lacking in 4 year olds! :D