REJUVENATING OUR BRAINS IS NO BIG DEAL, ACTUALLY! (PART I)

I reckon most of us are already fully aware that our brains are hard-wired in some ways.

We also have been told by scientists that our brain cells continue to die or degenerate starting from our 21st birthday onward.

Luckily, we have hell a lot of brain cells to sustain till old age. Thanks to the redundancy phenomenon.

However, scientists have, in recent years, told us that our brain cells could grow & expand through modifying our learning experiences as well as stimulating our living environment. They call it neuro-plasticity.

That's really good news!

We have also been told that each & every one of us has been born with a broad variety of innate intelligences. So, there are a lot of things we can learn & do to make our brains function better, on top of rejuvenating.

Come to think of it, using more of our brains or losing our brainpower rings true after all.

Better still, rejuvenating our brains is no big deal, actually.

In this post, I will share with readers some of my own thoughts & experiences pertaining to the many activities we can learn & do to rejuvenate our brains - or recharge our batteries, as some prefer to think that way - in the long run.

From a tactical perspective, I suggest just think of these activities as catalysts to your brain rejuvenation.

The following ten of them is PART I, while PART II with the remaining ten of them will follow shortly in a subsequent post.

1) AWARENESS:

I interpret awareness as "full consciousness & absolute feeling of the present moment".

The best way to understand awareness is to consider this most common activity at home:

Your spouse is talking to you, & your mind is totally with her, & not distracted or got stuck by some other ongoing thoughts. Your mind is therefore "in the present moment", so to speak.

Under such circumstances, your mind is most receptive to incoming information. There is some sort of clarity on your part & you are truly listening to your spouse. In other words, you can easily focus as well as concentrate on the ongoing conversation with your spouse.

Have you ever noticed fellow Singaporeans who are on a group overseas holiday & yet their minds are still stuck in the office? That's the direct opposite of awareness.

When you are fully aware of your self & your environment, you are more likely to be observant & cognisant of what's going on.

I reckon you can also call it ''mindfulness'. The opposite is, of course, 'mindlessness'.

2) INTEREST:

Having an interest on something is very important.

In reality, interest permeates all learning. With interest, one can readily pursue a lot of things in life.

Favourite hobbies & fun past times are often developed from having an initial interest on something in the first place.

Over the years, I have noted that some Singaporeans upon their retirement could only stare at the four walls at home, or just read newspapers & stare at the television all day long, because they have nothing else to pursue, besides the work while being employed.

With awareness & interest in place, your brain is placed immediately on active mode, ready at your complete disposal, so to speak!

3) FOCUS:

From my experience, without awareness & interest, it is rather difficult to focus on what you want to do or what you are doing at hand. In other words, paying attention is often an uphill task, especially when there are so much distractions around us.

For our brains to function well, we must first be able to focus on something.

For me, focus is a matter of choice. Our power of choice, more precisely.

It boils down to what we choose to see & where we direct our attention. As such, awareness & interest actually play a pivotal role.

That's why goals setting or establishing a purpose in life is important as far as optimum brain performance is concerned. Our brains always follow the direction of our current dominant thoughts.

4) CURIOSITY:

To me, curiosity or inquisitiveness drives interest. In my case, curiosity always keeps me going after my interests.

Yearning to know more about the world or how things work in general helps to fuel one's curiosity.

I am always curious about the brain, especially how to make use of the latest neuroscience research findings to make my brain work better. In the long term, to develop personal mastery.

Invariably, the combination of curiosity & interest actively complements my reading pursuits.

Albert Einstein once said that the only thing which distinguished himself from all others was only his passionate curiosity about the world.

5) INQUIRY:

I have learned that an inquiring mind - asking questions - helps to direct one's thinking, in search of possible answers or alternatives.

It doesn't need to be confined to face-to-face conversations. Nowadays, you can always do it through the cell phone or electronic mail or instant messaging.

In my early years of exploration during the eighties & nineties, I often used fax mail, with occasional snail mail, to communicate with - & asking a lot of questions from - knowledgeable persons in the United States. Most of them responded generously, although some just ignored me.

Asking questions can also be a self-reflective process, especially when one is reading.

Writing your questions in the margins, or in the scratchpads just like I do, is one way to go about developing an inquiring mind.

With questions in mind or on paper, the brain can start its thinking as well as search process for possible answers or alternatives. That's the beauty of the mind.

Interestingly, I always believe that questions always enhance our memory recall.

Just imagine, the graphic symbol of a question looks exactly like a fish hook when inverted. Using questions is just like a fishing endeavour!

6) NOVELTY & CHALLENGE:

From the functional standpoint, as proven in neuroscience research with rats, optimum brain power boils down to one simple piece of advice from the experts: always seek new experiences & create stimulating environments.

Our brains just love novelty & challenge. They are already hard-wired that way. Otherwise, they will be bored, which is not good in the long run.

Our brains are seemingly asking all the time: what's good & new?

So, find new ways to do things. Also, do old things differently for a change.

For example, take a new route to work. Take the MRT or a bus instead of the car. Jump into a double decker, just to get a different view of where you are going.

You can also change or enhance your environment to make it more conducive for the brain. For learning better & faster.

Use natural lighting as much as possible; if not, install full spectrum lighting for a change, as conventional fluorescent lamps are quite bad.

Use light pastel colours for decor . Put some natural green plants in the room. Remove the distractions, if any.

Read stuff you have not read before.

Interestingly, I read that planet Earth's friendly genius & inventor of the geodesic dome, architect & engineer R Buckminster Fuller, would often grabbed whatever magazine was on the top right hand cover of a display stand.

His winning idea of the geodesic dome came from a blown-up eye diagram of a housefly displayed in a nature magazine.

Involve yourself in new activities once in a while. For me, I am still learning & tinkering with digital photography.

In fact, doing some of things you hate to do poses a challenge to your brain.

Play some jigsaw puzzles or brain teasers. Engage in some lateral thinking games on the net. The boggling effect challenges the mind.

On a different note, from time to time, don't hesitate to challenge your own assumptions or viewpoints. It definitely adds novelty to your thinking!

7) RANDOM STIMULI:

There is a huge & exciting world out there, beyond the confined space of your home. Go out there & explore. Observe the sidewalks. Listen to the sounds of traffic or conversations of strangers. Feel the natural elements. Smell the roses. Expose yourself (of course, I don't mean the crude way!).

It is part of human nature to respond to random stimuli. I reckon this has to do with our evolutionary pressures & survival instincts. Hence, they often create novel sensory experiences.

For example, my wife & I just love to get out of the house, at least once or twice a week: to go to the shopping malls for window-shopping, as well as to hang out in the supermarkets for our weekly groceries. There are horrendous amounts of different things, besides people, to gawk at.

I am always amazed by the torrents of random stimuli. I often get my AHA! moments. Please read the spotlights in my weblog.

Random stimuli can often trigger new insights.

Dr Christopher Chia, former CEO of the National Library Board, noticed the pink stamps on farm eggs. He thought: If, like eggs, library books could be tagged individually, borrowing & returning could be automated fully. His project team eventually came up with the Electronic Library Management System (ELIMS), a patented system that is a world's first.

By now, you probably have heard of "Street University". Hard knocks are considered true learning experiences as far as the brain is concerned. They give us wisdom.

All you need to do is just be prepared.

8) READING:

Read a book. I read everyday. I read before I go to bed. I find reading intellectually very stimulating.

I know I can't dabble in everything on planet Earth or visit all the beautiful places around the world, but at least I can read about them.

Best of all, I can read about other people's bad experiences. So I don't have to reinvent the wheel.

In addition, I also review books for Amazon as well as for my own weblog as part of my reading pursuits.

One good advice: You can also experiment with syntopical reading - reading several books in the same genre simultaneously - which I have mentioned in many earlier posts.

I suggest reading with a pen or pencil as a pacer, although I prefer a fine-tip colour marker. It is guaranteed to hold your personal attention.

As Steve Leveen, CEO of Levenger, says: You can "read with your ears". He means, you can use audio tapes. Zig Ziglar calls such an activity as attending the "Automobile University".

9) CONFERENCES, SEMINARS & WORKSHOPS:

Besides keeping yourself abreast of new developments in the marketspace, I do concur that conferences, seminars & workshops are great opportunities to rub shoulders - thus forming mastermind networks - with fellow explorers.

However, be very selective, since nowadays there are a lot of fly-by-night or smooth operators. Always check their credentials first through the power of the Internet or from knowledgeable persons.

Such events are also great in helping you to spark off new ideas as they often can offer you more perspectives.

Always remember, it's not what you have picked up from them. It's what you are doing with the stuff in your own lives that matters.

I know the high energy & warm feelings of these events can sometimes get you carried away by the novelty or even perturbation, to use that fancy term from Ilya Prigogine who won the Nobel Prize for his 'Theory of Dissipative Structures'.

Don't hesitate to ask questions or probe the presenters. Take a lot of good notes, but review & reflect on them for action & implementation.

Also, maximise & leverage on your learning preferences. Understanding them certainly motivates you to learn faster.

10) THINKING:

The easiest way to start thinking is to constantly explore what you have read or observed around yourself.

Just think how you can make use of what you have learned. Always think about personal application possibilities.

During the peak of my strategy consulting & training development, I often think about how to help my clients with the knowledge I have gained from reading.

Playing scenarios inside your head is also a form of thinking. When we were in school, to our dismay, it was - a painful reminder from our teachers - daydreaming, but to Albert Einstein, it was "thought experiments".

With a little bit of imagination, your thinking can soar!

I like to add further about thinking: Think positive! Avoid negativity, as it is counter-productive; worst still, it slows down your brainpower!

[to be continued in PART II]