brain fitness

Brain Games and Puzzles: Your Brain Craves These Challenges!

by Joi

Brain Games

I buy each and every booklet and book Brain Games comes out with.  They’re fun, challenging, mentally stimulating, and downright addictive.  You can find their booklets in just about any store for less than $4.00 – they’re usually up front near the registers or in the magazine aisle.

Brain Games also has OUTSTANDING lines of books on the market. My advice? My approach?  Keep an eye on Amazon and consistently buy each book you see that you don’t already have.

Yes, as a matter of fact, they’re that good.

To keep your mind sharp, your memory sound, and to do all that you can to prevent Alzheimer’s or Dementia, provide your mind with as much stimulation and with as many challenges as possible.  Having plenty of workbooks and books around will provide you with the easiest way of ensuring you’re doing all you can for your mind.  In addition to physical exercise, a good, healthy diet (remember, anything good for your heart is good for your brain), stress management, and healthy sleep, brain puzzles are fuel your brain needs and even craves.

Below is a brain challenge from the most recent issue of Brain Games (shown above with my trusty pen):

Say What?
Below are a group of words that, when properly arranged in the blanks, reveal a quote from Virginia Woolf.

  • details
  • passionate
  • solitude
  • our
  • lives

“In __________ we give __________ attention to our __________, to __________ memories, to the __________ around us.”


 

Click below for the answer…. after you’ve worked on it sufficiently!

[click to continue…]

How Writing Prompts Can Be Just the Creative Outlet Your Brain Needs

by Joi

365 Things to Write About Writing Journal

365 Things to Write About!
I was sent the writing journal, above, to review on my self help blog, Self Help Daily. As I began using it, it occurred to me that its benefits were twofold:

  1. As a writer, I know that the more you write, the better you write. So having daily writing exercises only makes me better at what I do.
  2. As someone utterly fascinated with and committed to brain health and mental fitness, I know that getting in touch with your creative side each day is like caffeine for the brain.

Naturally, it’s the second benefit that I want to concentrate here!  If, however, you are a blogger, writer, or student – you might want to read my review of 365 Things to Write About.  Trust me, it’ll do wonders for your creative flow.

Our minds need frequent stimulation.  The more we challenge them, the more benefits they reap.  However, it’s important to keep in mind (literally) that our brains need DIFFERENT kinds of stimulation.  We have to “address” each part of our brain (reasoning, literal, creative, problem solving…).  That’s why the individual who reads novels and considers herself to be doing all that she possibly can for mental fitness is sadly mistaken. While it’s wonderful to read, it simply isn’t enough.

To give our brains the workouts they crave, we have to do more than just read books.  We have to actively pursue knowledge and we need to consistently push ourselves beyond our comfort zone.  A wonderful way to do this is to write. Don’t JUST read other people’s words all the time, write your own.  It’s a wonderful way to give the creative part of your brain a workout. It keeps him on his toes!

At the risk of jumping off track for a minute, I want you to think about your arms.  Let’s say you worked out your right arm each day for an hour.  You varied your routine, because your clever like that, but every day included strength training, yoga, and even kettle bells… but just for the right  arm. Now lets say you neglected the left arm, completely ignoring it.

At the end of the year, the right arm will be the stuff dreams are made of! Michelle Obama and Lance Armstrong would have arm envy over that arm.  However, the left arm would be spongy, soft, out of shape – a sad victim of mindless neglect.  Sadly, as in tragically, that’s the approach most people take when it comes to physical health (right arm) and mental health (left arm).  As incidences of memory loss, dementia, and even Alzheimer’s climb, it’s safe to say we’re paying the toll.

I urge you – perhaps even beg you – to begin being JUST as mindful of your mind as you are your body. While it’s important to be physically fit, it’s at least as important to be mentally fit.

I’m beginning a new section here on the mental fitness blog called the Brain Gym. In this area, you’ll find resources, brain games, mental exercises, books, quotes, and more.  Basically, I’ll include anything and everything to do just what you’d expect a Brain Gym to do – give your brain the workout it not only needs, but craves.

The 365 Things to Write About! writing journal has the distinction of being the first “workout” in the Brain Gym.  I hope you’ll order your copy today. The paperback edition is just a little over $10 now on Amazon and, you’ll love this, the Kindle edition is under $1!  Click through the link to learn more.

I’m assuming you’ll be ordering your own copy of this writing journal, but I’m eager for you to start getting your creative juices flowing.  Below, you’ll find 2 words or phrases from the book.  Over the next 2 days, use each word to write a poem, short story, or dissertation.  Let your brain run amok!

On the third day, write a short story using BOTH words… and, yes, I did choose two that I thought would be particularly challenging for that!

  1. 24 Hour Diner
  2. Taj Mahal

Bonus use of this writing journal: Not only are the writing prompts beneficial to the creative corners of your mind, you’ll have the opportunity to read, learn, and grow. When you come to a word, name, or phrase (such as Taj Mahal) that you want to know more about, do a little research. You can feel your brain cells buzzing.  As I was working through the writing journal, I chose Medusa to write a story about. I realized that it’d been quite a few years since I’d read about the lovely lady (shhh, let’s not let her know she’s earth-shatteringly unattractive).  I realized that I couldn’t name 10 facts about her (my personal test for judging how well I know something or someone), so I set off on a journey of research.

It’s funny, when I was in school, the thought of spending an hour researching made me coil in horror but now few things are funner than seeking out information, writing it down, and then launching off into other areas of exploration. Each time I read someone else’s name I wasn’t familiar with, he or she got the research treatment.

Suffice to say, I got a great deal of mental stimulation – all from one writing prompt.

Make each moment count double!

~ Joi

Coming Tomorrow: I’ll give you my favorite Mentally Challenging apps for brain fitness.  Get this, they’re free AND fun!

How Exercise Strenghtens Your Mind, Body, and Soul: Get That Body Moving!

by Joi

Panther Creek Park Hiking Trail Owensboro Kentucky

Exercise, such as hiking a great trail, is great for your mind, your body, and even your emotions. Exercise reduces stress and brings about a feeling of contentment and happiness.

Everyone knows that exercise is GREAT for you.  Being physically active isn’t only beneficial for the way you look, it’ s healthy for your bones, your cardiovascular system, your respiratory system, your brain, and even your emotional state.  When we exercise, we release endorphins.  Endorphins help reduce stress, improve our mood, and even bring about a feeling of happiness.  Endorphins could give dogs a run for “man’s best friend!”

Exercise also helps us to relax and even improves our sleep.  Obviously these add greatly to the physical and emotional benefits of exercise.

Exercise has also been shown to improve memory and mental ability and is believed by experts to be vital for maintaining desired brain function as we get grow older. Our generation is, for very good reason, concerned about Alzheimer’s prevention, dementia prevention, preserving our memory, and staying mentally fit.  We read everything we can get our hands on and vow to eat better, exercise more, and challenge our minds each and every day.

The problem is, many people stop right there! They don’t change their diet, they don’t seek out ways to become more active, and they keep doing and reading the same things over and over again.

On the mental fitness blog, we spend a great deal of time talking about brain food (foods we should be eating and not eating for optimum brain health) and we certainly look at different brain games and ways to challenge our minds.  Over the past year, we’ve spent more time discussing how exercise benefits the brain and strengthens the mind.   However, we have to remind ourselves daily that thinking about these things or reading about them isn’t going to bring about the desired results.  We have to make up our mind to actively pursue mental fitness.  We must be proactive about all aspects of our health: mental, emotional, and physical.

I hope you’ll vow, today, to become more physically active. The great thing is you don’t have to join a gym, get on a bike, or even play sports.  All of those things are great, mind you, but not everyone has the time or inclination to do any of these activities.  My advice is this: Simply MOVE MORE!

Below are ways to “sneak” more activity into your days:

  • When you go to the store, park as far away from the door as you possibly can!
  • Be mindful of the number of steps you take a day – the more the better.  You may even want to buy a pedometer to keep track of your steps. It’s actually a lot of fun to wear one on your waist and try to hit 10,000 (or more) steps each day.
  • Clean house like you mean it! Clean for a straight 30 minutes, exaggerating each movement.
  • When in the grocery store, take the long route to each item on your list. Remember, get your step count up.
  • Use a push mower for all, or at least part, of your yard.
  • Get in the habit of taking a 10-15 minute walk after breakfast and again after supper.
  • Take your dog for long walks – it’s great for both of you.
  • While watching television, lift weights, do yoga, or simply walk in place.
  • If you have a sedentary job, get up often and stretch, do lunges, and even jumping jacks (this is assuming no one else is around!)
  • If you’re a homemaker or work from home, make a point of having 3 fifteen minute activity bursts during the day. During each burst, get up and walk briskly through the house, turn on music and dance, or simply get in the floor and do the exercises you learned in gym class, circa 1970.  (jumping jacks, leg lifts, push ups…)
  • Find great hiking trails in your area. You’ll have so much fun you’ll want to go again and again and again. That, of course, is the idea.

Bottom line: Get that body moving and don’t ever let it stop.  A body in motion tends to stay in motion. A body NOT in motion tends to succumb to atrophy.  How’s that for shocking imagery?

Make each move count double!

~ Joi

4 Ways to Improve Your Memory and Strengthen Your Mind

by Joi

How can you strengthen your mind?
How do you improve your memory?
How do you prevent mental decline?
How do you guard against supposed “age-related” memory problems?

If you’re looking for ways to strengthen your mind, improve your memory, and enhance your brain’s fitness – look no further  than the mirror.

More specifically, look at four simple promises you have to MAKE, then KEEP. Obviously, just making them isn’t going to do a bit of good. :)

Promise # 1:  Keep Your Mind Engaged

Experts tell us again and again and again (think they’re trying to drive their point home?!) that we need to keep mentally active if we want to keep mentally fit.  We have to keep our minds occupied.  If we fill our mind, our time, and our days with nothing but fluff – our minds aren’t going to be stimulated enough to stretch or grow.  In fact, the mind will regress and weaken.  Think about lifting weights.  Which will produce better-defined, more attractive, and stronger arms – working out with a 10 pound weight in each hand or a jumbo marshmallow in each?  You have to challenge something to bring out its best.

But here’s the thing I think most people miss:  You have to keep on challenging anew.  You can’t get to a point and rest thinking, “I’ve arrived. I’ll rest.”  The person who does that will soon learn just how wrong they were.

Anyone who has embarked on an exercise regime to lose weight knows the importance of adding distance or time to their workouts.  If you don’t keep challenging your body, the weight will simply stop coming off.  If you start out walking a nice, comfortable pace everyday for a month, you’ll lose weight.  How much depends upon your eating habits.  However, after a period of time, your body isn’t impressed by this distance or challenged by your pace.  It refuses to budge any more. Hello, plateau.

This is why fitness trainers preach the importance of changing your routine up, adding distance, and incorporating interval training into your workout – it keeps the body challenged.  It keeps the body improving.  It keeps the body engaged.

How do we keep our mind engaged?  If you’re reading these words, you already have a keen interest in mental fitness and brain health. You’re already ahead of the game.  You probably read each day, love brain games, and are probably a Crossword Puzzle working machine.  But here’s the thing:  Are you reading the same things each day?  Are you working the same types of puzzles each day?  Do you visit the same types of websites?  Do you watch the same types of television shows?

Are you working out with jumbo marshmallows?

It’s not enough to just read educational blogs, websites, magazines, books, and so on.  You have to make sure you aren’t reading the same subjects over and over and over again.  Many so-called experts who are cemented in particular subjects aren’t giving their minds the workout they think they are.  They aren’t stretching their minds at all, actually.  The mind gets accustomed to and comfortable with all of the articles about the same thing.

How much growth do you think occurs between accustomed to and comfortable with? Virtually none.

Here’s what I like to do.  I take a different subject area every couple of weeks and try to learn as much about that subject as possible.  I’m the biggest animal lover in the world, so I use animals often as subjects.  I recently chose one of my favorites – the great white shark.  Fascinating guy!

I also love history, so I’ll often choose a period of time, a war, or an individual and learn all I can.   Flowers, herbs, plants, natural remedies, baseball – they’re all personal favorite directions to take off and explore.  There’s something mentally stimulating for the mind to immerse itself in, say, sharks one week (or month) and Andrew Jackson the next. Personally, I’m fonder of the shark.

Challenge your mind and, whatever you do, KEEP YOUR MIND ENGAGED.

Promise # 2:  Keep Your Body Moving

Experts also tell us that staying physically active is as important for our minds as it is for our bodies.  Try to get more activity each day in any way you can. Below are various ideas to do just that.

  1. Walk everyday for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Garden!  Planting flowers, herbs, veggies, and plants – then tending to them calls for a lot of activity and burns a lot of calories. You get fresh air, sunshine, and physical fitness. If you engage your mind by reading about many new, fascinating plants, you’ll be overachieving!
  3. If the weather is too cool to walk outdoors, consider buying  a treadmill.  I wouldn’t take anything for mine.
  4. Clean house like you mean it!
  5. Wash your car yourself instead of taking it through a car wash.
  6. When shopping, take the long route to everything on your list.
  7. Make it a habit to park as far as possible from your destination.
  8. Put the laundry up one item at a time.

You get the idea – find more ways to move your body more often.  Pedometers are outstanding.  They let you know how many steps you’ve gotten that day – so you can try to stay on pace or push yourself beyond pace.  Always fun.  Just KEEP YOUR BODY MOVING.

Promise # 3:  Keep Your Lungs Clear

Smoking isn’t just unhealthy for your lungs and body – it’s a nightmare for your brain. If you are a smoker who wants to improve your memory and strengthen your mind – you simply must quit smoking.   What’s more, if you’re around smokers – even if you don’t smoke – your lungs aren’t as clear as they’d like to be.  Avoid second hand smoke whenever possible.  It’s horrible for every part of your body and mind.

If you’re after optimum physical and mental health- KEEP YOUR LUNGS CLEAR.

Promise # 4:  Keep Your Appointment with Your ZZZZZZs

One of the surest signs that you aren’t getting enough sleep is mental fogginess.  Forgetting names, misplacing things, and simply not feeling on top of your game are all signs of a lack of rest.  You may think you’re getting all the sleep you need, but that may not be the case.  Try to add a few more ZZZs and see if you feel more like your old self.

Sleep is required for our bodies and minds to repair themselves from all they do during the day.  If you rob yourself of the sleep your body and mind crave, you’re running on empty – and that never ends well.

Even if you’re keeping your mind engaged, keeping your body moving, and keeping your lungs clear… you won’t achieve all that’s yours to achieve if you don’t KEEP YOUR APPOINTMENT WITH YOUR ZZZZZZZZs.

Make each promise and make each promise stick!
~ Joi

Why Your Brain Loves and Responds to Brain Games

by Joi

I’m pretty sure I’m beginning to sound like a broken record when it comes to brain games, but it can’t be helped! I know the importance of brain games for brain fitness and intend to nag everyone until they’re up to their gray matter in brain games!

Just why is it that brain games are so incredible for the fitness and health of your brain? These helpful, healthy, and fun exercises for the mind activate several different neurological functions and stimulate them, which in turn helps with thought processes across the board, including memory.

Remember in my last post (Brain Puzzles and Mental Fitness, Fun Birds of a Feather), I said that I planned on ordering the 365 Brain Puzzles? Well, I headed to Amazon and did just that as soon as I published the post.

Get this: It came the very next day!

It’s everything I’d hoped it’d be and more. In fact, there was information on the first page of this interactive desk calendar that told me how to get another desk calendar free. I like freebies. I love freebies.

I’ve been sharing these brain games with the rest of my family and we all are getting a huge kick out of the challenging puzzles.

Below are other ways to play Brain Games and stimulate your mind throughout the day:

  • In your newspaper, work the Crossword Puzzle, Sudoku, and Jumble puzzles.  Don’t give up halfway through the crossword puzzles ever again.  Research and find the answers!  You’ll feel so great after you’ve filled in every box and you’ll literally feel the stimulation in your brain.
  • Look in the book’s section of your favorite store – there are lots of outstanding Brain Games on the market.  Some of these are large books, while others are small workb00ks for just a few dollars.  I recently bought a very small “Brain Teasers for Dummies” in the bargain section at Target.  I liked what they wrote on the back of the booklet, “Flex your memory muscle with a variety of puzzles in varying degrees of difficulty.  Studies have shown that puzzles like Sudoku, crosswords, cryptograms, and other “mental aerobics” can help reduce memory loss due to normal aging and minimize the risk of developing neurodegenerative diseases.”  This Pocket Edition Brain Teasers for Dummies is available in many stores as well as on Amazon (Brain Games on Amazon).
  • Learn 3 new things each day and recite them to your cat each night.  At the end of the week, try to tell her all 21 things you learned that week!  When searching out the 3 new things, one place you might want to check is Dummies.com.  Not only do they make amazing books, they have videos and phone apps.  You could learn something new each day on their site alone.
  • Pay more attention to words around you and play brain games with them.  You can even do this while riding down the road.  Below are a few word games:
  1. Take the letters of the word and rearrange them to make new words.  For example, if you see the word McDonald’s, think:  mad, sand, scald…
  2. When the word is out of site, try spelling it backwards – trickier than it seems!
  3. When you spot a word, think of a different word you could create by changing just one letter. For example, if you see the word SPEED, you could create a new word by changing the second E to an N – SPEND.
  4. “Collect” 6 different words and make a coherent sentence with the words.
  5. “Collect” 10 words and, in order, try to remember them at the end of your trip.

Surround yourself with brain games and brain puzzles – keep one in each of the rooms of your house that you spend the most time in…. along with a pen or pencil, of course.  Your brain will be very grateful… and will reward you handsomely.

    3 Ways to Boost Your Brainpower

    by Joi

    Image of Thinking Man's Brain Through Bowler Hat
    Image of Thinking Man’s Brain Through Bowler Hat Photographic Print
    Buy at AllPosters.com

    3 Ways to Boost Your Brainpower

    The following guest article is by Carol Smith.

    It’s the most complicated machine in the world, one that can never be duplicated no matter how much man may try. It’s God’s creation at its best, and even though we don’t use it as often as we should, the human brain is capable of feats that may seem inhuman at times. It’s the most important organ in our body and when it stops functioning or even begins to slow down, our lives are affected like never before. We are dead even when we are alive, a fact that is confirmed when we see people affected by dementia, Alzheimer’s and other diseases that affect the brain.

    It’s a natural part of aging that our brains begin to deteriorate and lose their effectiveness. But there are other factors besides age that hasten the onset of dementia and mental illnesses, and if we’re able to control and manage these, we could stave off the deterioration process of our neurons and their connections. If you want to boost your brainpower and ensure that this important organ works efficiently throughout your life, read on:
    Reduce your reliance on technology: While it’s wonderful that we have so many gadgets and appliances at our disposal today, they have all served to make us lazy and inefficient. We no longer feel the need to remember simple details like addresses and phone numbers because our phone memories do that for us. We have complicated software that makes life so much more convenient, but at the same time, it wreaks havoc on our brains because it relegates our neurons to a backseat where they are not used anymore. And with less and less usage, they become rusty (for want of a better word) and slowly lose their effectiveness with the passage of time. So if you want your brain cells to remain active and not atrophy, you must use them. Try to dial numbers from memory; use your sense of direction without relying on your GPS; and remember your ATM pin number instead of storing it on your phone or PDA.

    Find ways to tax your brain cells: The brain is just like any other muscle in your body – the more you exercise it, the more developed it becomes. So tax it a little by involving yourself in new tasks – solve crossword puzzles, do the Sudoku, learn a new language, try to play a musical instrument, or play games that stimulate you mentally. When you continuously push your brain to try new things, you keep all your neurons active and form new connections, all of which keep your brain from becoming useless as you age.

    Shake up your routine: When you are used to a routine that you follow every day, your brain becomes accustomed to it. You don’t tax it too much because it functions on its version of autopilot. To ensure that you use all your brain cells, change your routine in some way or the other – take a new route to work so that you have to concentrate on getting to work in time without losing your way; try reading a different newspaper whose layout you are unfamiliar with; or cook without using your favorite recipe book. Even the smallest form of change can jog your brain cells and keep them active.

    By-line:
    This article is contributed by Carol Smith, who regularly writes on the topic of  ultrasound tech schools.  She invites your questions, comments at her email address: smithcarol.311@rediffmail.com

    Reasons to Watch Your Weight – From Your Brain’s Perspective

    by Joi

    We all know the physical reasons to watch our weight:  Diabetes, heart disease, cholesterol, respiratory problems, and even cancer have all been linked to weight related problems.

    Experts now tell us that there’s yet another reason to keep our weight where it needs to be.

    If you are a healthy weight, your mind is more youthful than if you are carrying extra weight.  In a recent UCLA study, overweight people were found to have 4 percent less brain tissue than normal-weight adults.  If this were broken down into brain age, their minds are about 8 years older than the minds of people who are in their normal weight range.

    One possible cause is the fact that high calorie, high fat diets clog arteries in the brain, restrict blood flow, and cause cells to shrink.

    Makes you want to have a salad for lunch, doesn’t it? Someone call Panera Bread and tell them to have my salad and green tea waiting for me!

    Online Brain Games and Crossword Puzzles

    by Joi

    Crossword Puzzle
    Crossword Puzzle Art Print
    Buy at AllPosters.com

    Experts agree that one of the best ways to give our minds a workout is crossword puzzles. Even if we don’t solve the entire puzzle, our mind delights in the challenge. If we don’t provide it with the challenges it craves, it will begin to slow down and… basically… turn to mush.

    For crying out loud, none of us want that to happen!

    Click HERE for some very challenging and fun crossword puzzles you can work online. You’re going to love these.

    On the site, you’ll also find some outstanding articles and other mentally challenging brain games.

    Make  each moment count double,
    ~ Joi

    You Can Sharpen Your Brain at Any Age

    by Joi

    The Memory Bible Did you know that most memory functions can continue to sharpen over the years? If, that is, they’re exercised and challenged.

    “Memory can be trained just like muscles,” says Gary Small, M.D., author of Memory Bible, The: An Innovative Strategy For Keeping Your Brain Young and director of the University of California-Los Angeles Center on Aging. “If you make the most of your memory and use it regularly, that portion of your brain can actually get better as you get older.”

    To sharpen your memory and strengthen your mind, do mind-challenging activities, on a daily basis. “Try to do a crossword puzzle every day to help build and maintain vocabulary and memory,” recommends Small.  The experts also agree that learning a second language is beneficial.

    As we’ve been learning in recent posts, certain foods can also age-proof the brain.

    “A 2008 British study found that eating blueberries can enhance memory and learning, and drinking apple juice may improve memory by preventing the decline of an important neurotransmitter, according to a study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.” – Everyday Health

    DID YOU KNOW?
    According to Mamas Health.com, a cooked potato can jump start your brain when you’re feeling mentally sluggish. Click the link to go directly to a page filled with fascinating facts about the brain. They’re presented in a list that will most definitely teach you a few new things.

    QUOTE
    “I’m hoping that I rewrote the rules for anyone who wants to do something and they think they’re too old to do it.” Dara Torres (41), the only swimmer to medal in five Olympics

    The Benefits of Learning Something New Every Day

    by Joi

    Never let your education end!

    If you’ve read this blog (or my Self Help Blog) very long, you probably already know that I home schooled my three daughters from Kindergarten through 12th grade. Right from the start, I taught them the importance of learning something new every day. Beginning in Kindergarten, at bedtime, each had to tell me three new things they’d learned that day. Naturally, most nights saw them listing off more than just three – but they never went under.

    It’s an approach that we should take to each day as well.

    What would happen to our muscles if they didn’t get daily exercise? Imagine, for a minute, that you were confined to bed for months – unable to walk. Your leg muscles would become so weak that, when you were able to leave the bed, they would struggle to even support you, let alone walk or run.

    Our brains need stimulation and activity to function as well. In fact, as we age, our brains need more activity – not less. Yet, the average person between the ages of 35 – 65 begin to stimulate and challenge their minds less. They become comfortable with what they’ve already learned in life, and frankly don’t see the need to expand on this knowledge.

    Can you say, “Danger zone!?”

    As a person gets older, they lose some muscle – that’s why it’s so important to exercise, physically. In addition, as a person ages, their brain loses its ability to withstand neurological damage that results from aging. This neurological damage can bring about memory loss and slow down the thought process.

    However, we can give our brains the “muscle” it needs to fight off this decline by doing the following:

    • We need to eat a healthy diet – rich in vegetables, fruit, and fish.
    • We need to exercise daily.  Walking is an activity that all experts agree on, whether your goal is weight loss, better heart health, increased lung capacity, or sharper minds.
    • We need to challenge our minds every single day.  We should never become lax or content in our knowledge.

    There are many important facets to eating and being healthy. One of the most important aspects is not overdoing alcohol consumption. Alcohol Rehab can help you get healthy and on track.

    I’ve spent a few weeks focusing on the diet aspect and when it comes to the physical aspect, little more can be written than MOVE THAT BODY!

    So, let’s shift our attention to, arguably, the most important of the group: Challenging our minds. Let’s make a pact, right now. We will start learning at least three new things each and every day.  Then we should hold ourselves accountable each evening by asking, “What three things have I learned today?” What should you do on an evening when you can only name 2? Get out of bed and find #3, that’s what!

    Each night of the week, try to remember each night before’s 3 as well.  By the end of  the week, coming up with the 21 may be tough, but your brain will absolutely thrive on the challenge.

    Of course, it goes without saying, if the three a day and 21 a week isn’t challenging enough – increase the number!

    This is my own, personal approach. I’m a huge history buff. Huge, huge, huge. So it’s no surprise that one of the areas I challenge myself daily is in one of my favorite subjects: History. I also love spelling, Grammar, and literature – so I also try to learn something new every day in this area as well. The following are some of my favorite websites when I’m on an educational scavenger hunt:

    Links for American History Buffs

    White House.org

    The History Channel

    American Revolution.com

    Civil War.com

    I have each of the above historical websites bookmarked and visit them regularly.  I love to take a period of history and delve into it as deeply as I can.  I try to find out everything I can about each individual, each place, each battle, etc.   I’m trying to branch out from my favorite periods of history (named above!) and explore the World Wars, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome, World History, early settlers, etc.

    I actually started this year with every intention of learning all that I could about China and it’s fascinating history.  Somehow, though, I wound up sitting at the table with John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Paul Revere.  All they wanted to talk about was Valley Forge, the Boston Tea Party, and the Declaration of Independence (Mr. Jefferson’s favorite subject).   I was outnumbered, so I gave in.  Confucius said he’d wait for me.

    I also have committed myself to learn more about geography. Places simply

    Literature Websites

    The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

    Books and Classic Literature

    Classic Authors.net

    While reading, period, is great for our minds – reading more challenging material is even better.  It really doesn’t get more challenging that Shakespeare or the classics, does it?  A funny thing will happen along the way, however – you’ll fall head over heels in love with them and wonder how you ever survived without them.   Shakespeare is beautiful and fascinating.  His stories make today’s television shows and movies pale in comparison.  Big time.

    I’m going to begin giving little DID YOU KNOW? nuggets at the end of  my posts as well as a quote.  Memorizing the facts and quotes will, hopefully, prove to be a delicious little mental workout.

    Tomorrow, I’ll post some other great educational websites – covering science, math, foreign language (personally, I’m brushing up on my Spanish, then I want to move along to Italian), geography, and world history.

    Just remember, your education should never, ever stop.  Just because most of us are no longer in a structured school any longer doesn’t mean we can’t learn just as much as we did when we were.  In fact, we should be able to learn more! Our brain cells won’t  know what hit them – but they’ll feel better than they’ve felt in years.

    Make each moment count double,
    ~ Joi

    DID YOU KNOW?
    When George Washington died (in 1799), Martha Washington was so overcome with grief that she was unable to attend his funeral. She reportedly burned all of their letters to one another to protect their privacy. However, it appears a few which had been kept in her desk were spared.

    Martha closed off their bedroom as well as George Washington’s study to guard herself from painful memories. She, herself, died in 1802 from a “severe fever.”

    QUOTE

    Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company. – George Washington

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