Can Doing Puzzles Improve Your Mind?

It has long been known that certain mental activities can improve memory and mind power. Just as physical exercise can improve strength, stamina and dexterity, so mental exercises can improve brain power. The brain is a muscle and just like any other muscle in the body, exercise can improve its capabilities.

About a dozen years ago, in my career as a long haul truck driver, I fell out of the back of a trailer and landed on the back of my head on the pavement. I awoke 24 hours later in hospital not knowing how I got there.

What followed was fifteen months of Worker's Compensation and a slow recovery from what turned out to be a severe concussion. At the end of that time I was able to retain my class 1 drivers licence and go back to earning my living as the driver of an 18-wheeler. Most of my recovery can be credited to the fact that just prior to the accident I had acquired a personal computer. Internet was in it's very early stages at that time, but my wife helped me get a dial-up connection and I spent many hours over the ensuing months learning how to use the computer and surfing the internet.

Admittedly much of my computer time was spent in playing games of various kinds, and I especially enjoyed the ones that required me to stretch my memory and creative capabilities. It seems such exercises helped my brain to build new pathways to replace the ones that had been destroyed. I can only think that if such activities can help to rebuild a damaged brain how much more beneficial would they be to help strengthen a healthy brain?

Of course there are thousands of games available nowadays. Facebook is loaded with them, new computers come with some already preloaded, there are numerous gaming platforms with thousands of available titles. The trouble is that many of these games are time wasters. Try to tear your child away from his Wii or PlayStation 2 and you'll realize how addictive they are.

This can be the harmful aspect of games. If they start to replace healthier and more productive aspects of our lives they can present a real problem. However, games that challenge our deductive capacity and the creative side of our brains can really help to exercise the brain muscle and I believe go a long way in prolonging our overall brain health.

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6 Mindfulness Exercises

Being mindful is a powerful process that can truly change the way you look at the world. Monks from many different traditions work for years to learn to be mindful all of the time. This is a hard concept for most Western people to even try to understand. But being mindful can help you to feel better and have a different view of the world. There are some easy and simple exercises that you can do to help you be more mindful.

One Minute Breathing - This mindfulness exercise can be done any time of the day as many times as you feel called to do it. All you have to do it check the time and focus on your breathing for one minute. Your mind will try and distract you with other things, but try to just watch your breath for one minute throughout the day.

Mindful Observation - This mindfulness exercise is good to do throughout the day. Pick an object that is within your sight and watch it for one minute. You should not critique, examine, or make comments on the object; just watch it. Observe it for one full minute.

Mindful Listening - This is the same as above, except for one minute you will listen, just listen. This mindfulness exercise is best done outdoors, but it can be done anywhere. Allow your ears to open up and hear the noises around you. Don't try and determine what they are or give them a name; just listen.

Touchstones - For some people a cue for mindfulness is the key to doing the practice. Take something that is going to happen every day, hopefully more than once. For example when you touch a door knob. At that moment when you touch the door knob you allow yourself to be completely mindful of where you are, how you feel, and what you are doing. Cues don't have to be physical; it could be that every time your phone rings you take a mindful moment. It could be that every time you smell food you take a mindful moment. Choose a touchstone that resonates with you.

Regular Routines - Take a regular routine that you don't think about and make it a mindful one. For example when you clean your house pay attention to every detail of cleaning. Be mindful of what you are doing. Watch as you sweep the floor or scrub the toilet. Be hyper aware of what you are doing. This can be done with any activity that you do on a regular basis on auto-pilot.

Five Things - This is another mindfulness practice that can be done several times a day, but it works especially well when you are being triggered by something. All you have to do is notice five things. They could be things you hear, smell, feel on your body, or see. Ideally you will pick at least one from each of the senses, but it doesn't have to be that way. For example you could say; I see the carpet, feel my shirt on my neck, smell the rain coming, taste my morning coffee, and hear my music playing in the background.

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Got Choices? Get Answers!

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