A creative challenge

Do you enjoy music? Do you play any musical instrument?

Do you enjoy literature? Do you ever write poems or stories?

Do you enjoy art? Do you ever draw, paint or sculpt?

What are you doing on a weekly basis that would fit into the category of ‘creative’? Perhaps you make things, fix things, draw, paint, play music, dance, write.

If not, why not? Perhaps an inner voice pops up and says ‘I’m no good at that. It’s not my natural talent.’ But how do you know if you’ve never tried it and you don’t have to be Rembrandt to enjoy painting or Jimi Hendrix to enjoy playing a guitar.

It is never too late to learn a musical instrument, or take up creative writing, or art. Why not join a local course or attend a workshop or find yourself a teacher? Maybe a drumming group.

Ever written a poem? It’s good to be creative with words. Here’s a challenge. Write about something that concerns you and think what the core issue is and somehow put it into words. Shorter the better. Even better of it rhymes. Give it a go. Join a writing class, if you like. Keep a note of sayings you hear or expressions you like.

Here’s a few:

“Experience is what you learn just after you needed to know it.” Isabelle Allende.

“Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” George Bernard Shaw.

“I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy” Anon.

Words are fun.

Being bad at something is good. Embracing failure is necessary to become good at anything. But do you need to be ‘good’? is there some inner perfectionist that stops you learning something new and creative just because you’ll never be a maestro? Who cares? Who are you trying to impress? All that counts is that you enjoy it, have some fun and stretch your experience in some new direction. Anything creative is good for your brain.

Make a list of three new creative skills you’d like to develop. Pick one and go for it.

 

Further info

How to improve your mood

If you find yourself becoming enthusiastically negative, not happy most of the time, stuck in a black hole, not enjoying your life and not seeing a way forward read on to discover the six essentials to improve your mood.

A staggering, and increasing number of people feel like this, with one in six being prescribed anti-depressants. We strongly believe the combination of psychological and nutritional solutions is the way up from down, not drugs.

 

Read the Report in your Library.

As well as giving you some suggestions on the psychological side, there’s plenty you can do on the nutritional side. Almost every recommendation also reduces future risk for cognitive decline so you might already be doing a few of these if you’ve brought other domains, such as BRAIN FATS (including omega-3 and vitamin D) and SLEEP & CALM into the green.

In summary, the way up from down is to:

• eat a low carb low GL diet, with plenty of oily fish,
• avoid sugar, cut back on stimulants and alcohol
• make sure your daily supplements include omega-3, vitamins B, D, zinc, chromium, plus the amino acids 5- HTP, tyrosine and TMG. This might sound like a lot but you can find combination supplements that contain most of them, except omega-3, which is an oil and has to be taken as a separate capsule. Read the report ‘The Way Up from Down’

 

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Getting social

As water is to fish, social interaction is to us humans. When was the last time you went to a social gathering? This could be meeting friends, going to the movies, a museum, a gallery, a show, church or temple, or a restaurant? Anything that had you exchange ideas with others? When was the last time you met new people?

Best of all, for your mind, is to expose yourself to new ideas, new ways of seeing or thinking, and have the opportunity to discuss these with others. Something that gets you thinking and feeling differently and swapping ideas. There are many opportunities, for example, to volunteer, perhaps helping others, planting trees or supporting the local arts club. Your goal this week is to make sure you have, at least, one social gathering where you either meet new people, or share some new learning, like a film or a museum, and get to discuss this with another, be it your partner, friend or fellow ‘groupie’ if you join a book club, for example.

Check out what’s on near you. Your local bookshop or library will know about book clubs. Your local art centre will know about what’s happening in that arena. Your local allotment will know about gardening groups. Perhaps, call up someone you haven’t seen in ages. When we were teenagers we’d explore and exchange new ideas, try new things. Who did you hang out with? Who challenged your thinking? Get in touch with them.

If you walk in the park, or walk your dog if you have one, say hi to people. Make the effort to make a connection. Drop in on a neighbour. Invite them round for a cup of tea.

It’s all too easy to get locked into a way of living that removes any form of challenging social interaction yet this is not only how we learn, it also nourishes the social aspect of who we are. So, make sure you have a significant social event or interaction every week, starting with this week.

 

 

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Are you mindful?

Do you have control over your mind or does it have control over you? A guru was once asked ‘Does your mind think?’ The guru replied ‘Only when I want it to.” Does that sound almost impossible?  Is your mind ‘out of control’ going wherever it wants, and often in the direction of negativity, cynicism, fear, worry or anxiety?

There are various different forms of meditation, such as mindfulness, who purpose it to draw your attention back to the space in which those thoughts and feelings occur. A 9^th century Indian sage, Vasugupta says “I am happy, I am sad, I am frustrated, etc. These thoughts are like beads on a necklace of I am.” All forms of meditation have the same goal to bring your awareness to awareness itself. This might sound lofty but this process of observing your thoughts, feelings or mood states buys you enough distance or freedom to be able to move beyond those repetitive and negative thoughts which, according to research at Stanford University, make up the majority of our thoughts.

It’s all a question of where you choose to put your attention. What we call ‘my mind’ is really a construct we create from thoughts, feelings and sensations that we label as ‘depressed’, ‘stressed’, ‘anxious’. By training your attention to observe these thoughts, feelings, sensations but not being ‘attached’ to them you gain more control over your mind.

If you are particularly ‘in your head’ there are more heart-centred ways of developing this meditative ability such as Heartmath. In some meditative techniques one puts ones attention in the space between the eyebrows, the ‘third eye’, which correlates with the pineal gland in the centre of the head. In others, for example from the zen or t’ao traditions, just below the belly, known as the ‘tan t’ien in t’ai chi’ or the ‘hara’ in the Japanese martial arts. This is the centre of gravity. In others, the attention is directed towards the heart.

A great book to read is Sally Kempton’s ‘Meditation for the Love of it’ both for simple exercises it leads you through but also for understanding this territory. Just reading it will give you a new perspective.

So, you have some options. In your area there will be someone teaching mindfulness meditation. This was made popular by Jon Kabat-Zinn. If you’d like a taste of this here’s a 1-hour mindfulness training session he led at Google on you tube here.

There is likely to be someone teaching Heartmath near you and, if not, you can do this by zoom. Check out this directory of certified practitioners.

Headspace is one of the most highly rated apps in this arena.

Like everything, if you’d like to move your attention away from negative thoughts, it takes a bit of training or effort. The world is as you see it. Do you see it as a wonderful world or a terrible place?

Watch this 3-minute music video , absorb the words, and understand that how we interpret the world defines how we feel.

 

 

Further info

Have you joined our Facebook Group?

Have you signed up to our Friends Facebook group? If not, it’s really easy to do. All you do is request to join here.

The group is there for you to ask questions, give feedback, share what has worked for you with others and interact with our growing community of people who want to ‘expand’ their mind or, at least, protect it. We want to hear from you.

 

 

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Learn something new and physical with others

The brain makes new connections for you when you challenge it. It’s important to learn something new and share that learning with others. What are you doing, or would like to do, that involves new learning that you can share with others?

Examples could be some new physical exercise such as attending yoga, t’ai chi, kick boxing, pilates or dance. If you say ‘good heavens, no. I’m clumsy or that’s not my kind of thing’ which means it is outside of your comfort zone, all the better. It’s good to have the attitude that you’re not learning if you’re not failing. You cannot learn without making mistakes. Mistakes are something you want to make every day by doing things outside of your immediate skill zone.

There is a great danger to narrow your life down into only those things you have complete mastery or control over until everything is in its right place, and your routine is just the same and then you get bored.

Take a risk. Join a book club if you prefer, or an interactive course, perhaps on gardening or growing vegetables, but, especially if you’re rather intellectually oriented, do something physical with others. Something like t’ai chi really engages your mind and body. You have to simultaneously engage many senses. Your mind, your breath, movement and balance. You’ll make mistakes. Others will help you. You get to meet a new group of people.

Your task for today is to find out what’s available in your area, pick two that you find most attractive, even if ‘scary’, then take a risk – pick one and sign up. You have nothing to lose except your mind and body if you don’t exercise them.

 

Further info

Stimulate your mind in the morning

When you wake up in the morning does it take a while for your mind to click into gear or do you scroll through all your problems and worries until you generate enough adrenal stress hormones to get you going?

Here’s a different strategy. Make yourself a hot drink and play a mind game. One of the most popular is Wordle. The New York Times one is freely available here. Others like a bit of Sodoku which you can play online or in books and newspapers.

Two apps that have high ratings are Brain HQ and Lumosity. Brain HQ  adapts according to your needs – do you want better memory, better attention or faster processing? The recommendation is to do at least 60-90 minutes training a week, perhaps in three 20-minute sessions: https://www.brainhq.com

Lumosity is also adaptive and achieves much the same improvement in cognition: https://www.lumosity.com/en/

Both Lumosity and Brain HQ initially require your attention for up to half an hour to give you a series of exercises to establish your baseline. So, when you’re ready to check these out, make sure you have that uninterrupted time available.

 

Further info

Activating your mind starts today

In the weeks that follow, starting now we are going to guide you in taking simple steps to improve your mind’s agility, as well as your mood and social interaction.

While optimum nutrition can give you the essential ingredients for the ‘hardware’ of your brain, it is a living, ever-changing network of connections. New connections can be made, and old connections can be lost.

Having an inactive mind is much like having a car in the garage. Even if you eat the right food, or have serviced your car, it’s not going to work if it’s parked up.

Also, where you put your mind’s activity is critical. A guru was once asked ‘Does your mind think?’ The guru replied, ‘Only when I want it to.” Research at Stanford University found that the average person has about 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day. Of those, 80% are negative and 95% are exactly the same repetitive thoughts.

If the thoughts you have generate negative feelings such as anxiety, depression, or stress, you now have adrenal hormones pumping around your brain, which also ages you.

There is a balance to be struck between not being under-stimulated, as in bored and lonely, and over-stimulated as in wired and unable to calm down.

Activity that engages your mind and get you thinking, is generally good, while ‘mindless’ mental activity, such as watching endless relatively meaningless TV shows, can just be a way of ‘numbing out’ – a way of occupying your attention with no real meaning or learning.

In the next four weeks we are going to encourage you to engage your mind in ways that activate your brain, build connections, and reduce future risk of cognitive decline. There is no reason for your mental faculties to slow down with age other than neglect.

Also, we are not just intellectual beings. We are emotional, physical, and spiritual. Even atheists have a ‘spiritual’ domain which contemplates the deeper meaning and purpose of life. We are also social. We need connection with others and nature. When you learn something physical, such as dance or yoga, you are rewiring the brain. When you are touched by something emotional, learning is hard-wired. When you contemplate the deeper meaning of something the learning goes deep. When you socialise and share ideas, question, and have your ideas questioned, this activates your mind and builds new connections.

Be open, enquiring, exploratory, imaginative and try new things, new activities. Take a risk. Think different. Remember, the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results.

Further info

Your SLEEP and CALM domain – how have you progressed?

Congratulations. You’ve finished a month focussing on improving your sleep and building stress resilience.

Now is the time to find out how much difference improving your sleep and building stress resilience has made to your future brain health. To see how much of a reduction you’ve achieved in your Dementia Risk Index click the button below to complete only the ‘sleep & calm’ related questions. This will show you, specifically, what level of improvement you’ve made over these past 4 weeks, what effect that has on your ‘sleep & calm’ domain score, and your overall Dementia Risk Index.

You will then be asked to choose the next domain you’d like to focus on for the next 4 weeks. Note: if you got distracted and didn’t make many changes such that ‘sleep 7 calm’ is still in your top two weakest domains you can choose to focus on this again with more resolve.

 

Further info

Finding your Meaning and Purpose

So – what is it that gives you a sense of purpose? Of course, your sense of purpose may change at different times in your life; for example, taking care of your family may give you your feeling of purpose. But, when your children grow up, or leave home, or if they disappoint you, what happens to your sense of purpose? Many people gain a sense of purpose through doing work that feels important and meaningful. This could be training in a profession, or setting up in business and making it work. But often, once they’ve achieved the goal, they begin to lose their feeling of purpose.

However, there are certain ways of finding purpose that can carry us through life. For most of us, being of service to others gives a sense of purpose. Your service could take many forms. It might be service to your children or grandchildren, or to the community. It could include political action, supporting worthy causes that you feel passionate about or simply helping people you meet. Another powerful and ongoing feeling of purpose can come from your connection to nature, and doing what you can to nurture the earth – from gardening to recycling, to being involved in environmental issues. For some, doing everything with love, or with excellence, gives a sense of purpose. What is it that gives you a sense of purpose? In a moment we’ll give you an exercise to help you, if you are unclear.

Another purpose can be your own self-development – becoming the best you can be. Sometimes, this is originally motivated through our own desire to be happy and free of emotional pain, but through the process of our own transformation – however we have achieved it – and learning how to let go of our own limited concepts, negative patterns, selfishness and pettiness, we become more able to be of service to others.

For some, being of service to the greater good is what gives life a sense of purpose. Some people practise this by identifying with a figure who represents what they aspire to be – be it Jesus, the Dalai Lama or whoever. The Dalai Lama once said that every human being has a desire to be happy, and to be free of pain, and that his daily practice is to remember that his desire to be happy and free of pain is of no greater, or lesser importance than that of those he interacts with. This kind of active compassionate practice can also give you a sense of purpose.

An ever-changing journey

Of course, your purpose changes at different times of your life. As you get older you may realise your purpose is not so much your job, but your calling as to what you are here to do – although they can be one and the same. People who struggle with retirement are often struggling with re-discovering their purpose. There’s a description of increasing maturity as the expansion of your circle of caring: from yourself, to your family and immediate friends, to the community, and then to the world.

As Bertrand Russell so aptly said, having a purpose larger than yourself is what makes life meaningful. Here’s a simple exercise that will help you find your purpose. You’ll need a pen and some pieces of paper and a place to sit quietly and comfortably.

Exercise: finding your purpose 1

1. Sit comfortably in a quiet place. Recollect how you felt at the age of ten. What gave you your sense of purpose then?
2. What was your sense of purpose at ages 15, 20, 26 and 35? Write down whatever comes to mind without too much deliberation, making a list of different purposes you’ve been aware of at different times in your life.
3. Now, ask yourself, ‘What gives me a sense of purpose now?’ Write down as many of your current purposes as you can.
4. Now, become still, perhaps by doing a meditative practice, or just focussing on your breath, and ask your innate wisdom, your higher intelligence, ‘What is my true purpose?’ Offer this question without ‘thinking’ the answer, and write down, without censorship, whatever comes to your mind, starting with the words, ‘My purpose in life is …’

Exercise: finding your purpose 2

Another way to become clearer on your purpose is to answer these questions:

1. What do you love to do or enjoy doing?
2. What makes you feel good? What gives you a sense of satisfaction and fulfilment?
3. What are you good at?
4. We all have certain gifts or talents. For some it’s the ability to listen; for others it’s having a clear mind. What are
   some of your gifts?
5. What is needed now in the world, in your community or your family?
6. How can you use your gifts to help or to serve?

When you contemplate these questions, and put the answers together, you will find some powerful insights into your own purpose.

Your homework today is to give yourself some time to do these exercises. Here’s a tip. In the Indian tradition there’s a visualisation exercise called Yoga Nidra, which takes 20 minutes, to help you find your purpose. It’s a bit strange, really relaxing and works. We like Swami Jakananda’s twenty minute ‘little Yoga Nidra exercise called ‘Wholeness of Your Nature’. This is available for free on youtube or you can download a digital version from www.yogameditationshop.com. It’s also a great way to de-stress, reenergise and end the day. Doing this first might get you in the right receptive mind frame for the above exercises.

 

Further info