My Daily Passion

At one point in your life, your mind was a steel trap. Life keeps pouring in, and ironically, you seem to retain less and less of it. Fear not because you can actually have a crib sheet of helpful information to help keep your mind working. The key to better mind functions is actually quite simple: stop taking your gray matter for granted. You can add ten years to your brain’s life simply by paying more attention to it. You can now have the mental edge that you need to survive in this cut-throat world and the brain strength necessary to keep your wits about you.

Break mental sweat whenever you can. Just as exercise builds endurance, bolstering your neurological connections creates a reservoir of stamina that you can tap later on in life. Do crossword puzzles or learn another language. This may increase the density of your brain especially in areas that govern attention and memory. Of course, you also need to be more active. Try doing some exercises regularly because vigorous workouts can push your brain’s error radar. Why? Because you absorb more oxygen into your system when your work up a sweat. The oxygen finds its way into the cortex, the area that detects anything wrong in your body.

Food also affects your brain just like a drug. The right nutrients strengthen the communication between brain cells. A diet heavy in calories that come in the form of sugar and saturated fat not only slows down brain functions, you also make yourself more vulnerable to free radicals. Change your habits now and bring an end to this form of regression. Instead, try to enjoy foods (fish, in particular) rich in Omega-3. Plus, never forget to add fruits and vegetables to your daily meals because the antioxidants found in them may protect your brain cells from damage.

Rest is also a good way to keep your mind alert. Don’t feel guilty about spending time with your loved ones. Chat with friends and talk about things that aren’t related to work in any way. Social interaction sharpens your memory because you have to process the information being exchanged while you gauge your response as well. It is important that you give yourself a break every so often. Work could only cloud your mind. In the end, you may find that you’re not making the right decisions when you haven’t given yourself the chance to take a step back and breathe.  When you’re stressed, you become more irrational. As tired as you are, you find yourself sleeping restlessly at night. When things just get too much for you, reserve 20 minutes to just lie down and take a cat nap. It’s not that you want to go into deep slumber. Instead, you’re simply giving your brain a breather from nonstop processing. Your recharged neurons will definitely thank you for it. Just remember, your brain cells are unable to heal themselves, and unlike your other parts, there is no going back and correcting your mistakes.

• Do the work that you love to do When I was eleven years old, I was exposed to my first computer. I loved working on it, entering complex instructions and seeing the computer do what I had told it to do. I drove my Dad nuts until he finally gave in and bought me one of my......
• Resentment Cripples Resentment is an effort to address what has passed, and you cannot influence. It keeps you very much trapped in ego, and keeps you from maintaining much of what you value and want to keep in life, let alone new things. Resentment is an effort to undo something in your......
• Removing a Popcorn Ceiling A lot of people can look up at their ceilings right now, and what they are going to see up there is a textured ceiling that is not unlike popcorn in shape. A lot of people that have a popcorn ceiling actually wish that they did not. This was once......