Mental Fitness

Let me tell you about my Train Your Brain session today.  TYB is a fun session.. one hour each month..  where we try to break simple puzzles of all kinds.  The leader is very good at finding topical puzzles for us.  While the puzzles are seldom very taxing on our brains, the session causes us to look at the world a little differently, at least for a little while.

Before each session, the leader talks to us about articles and books she has read on how to keep our old tired brains functioning.  Today, she mentioned five easy steps that we can take to attain Mental Fitness:

1.  Visualize goals

I am able to do this, usually.

2.  Meditate

I have  been unsuccessful at meditation.  Probably because I can't shut off the two programs that are constantly "on" inside my head. 

The first program plays Morse Code for everything I think or say.  I don't always pay attention to this and it is always a surprise to suddenly zero in on the dots and dashes circulating in my cranium.

For example:  Let's say that I'm reading about classical music in the BBC Music magazine.  If I stop and listen to my Morse Code, it could be spelling Mozart or Verdi or the name of a musical instrument.  Weird!

The second program plays music all the time. Usually it is tunes that I have heard a couple of days ago.  Sometimes it might be the theme music for a TV sitcom that I liked years ago... often from the Mary Tyler Moore Show. (Again: Weird!)

For example:  Now that we have brought Alexa into our home, I ask her to play some favorite music that Elaine and I like:  Usually:  The Carpenters.  In that case, when I concentrate, I can hear Karen Carpenter singing one of her songs..in my head... everywhere and at all times.

Surely, someone else somewhere suffers from these brain maladies..  actually, it doesn't bother me.. I kind of enjoy it.  When I  read of some nutjob doing something dumb because the voices in his head told him to, I believe him that he has heard something.  He probably just has misconstrued the meaning of what he has heard.

3.  Stop Multi-tasking

I have always been unable to do this.  Life is too complicated.  However, I must admit that when I concentrate a little on the task at hand, I do a better job than otherwise.

4.  Keep a Journal

I think my  blogs count.  I've kept diary type writing for years and have fun reading old entries. 

5.  Read Books and Magazines

Of Course.   Saint Augustine wrote that the most valuable thing he learned in school was READING.  Without  the reading skill, nothing else can be easily learned.  How true. 

Why can't politicians pass a law allowing free schooling for all children?  We are being overshadowed by students in other countries, where students do not have to worry about amassing a large student loan debt.  And now, I believe that our new GOP Tax Scam eliminates a deduction for student loan payments.  I could be wrong.

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