You exercise your body to stay physically in shape, so why shouldn't you exercise your brain to stay mentally fit? With these daily exercises you will learn how to flex your mind, improve your creativity and boost your memory. As with any exercise, repetition is necessary for you to see improvement, so pick your favorite exercises from our daily suggestions and repeat them as desired. Try to do some mentalrobics every single day!
adj :: Marked by a lack of civility or graciousness. Surly.
"Being stuck in traffic makes some people act in a churlish manner."
Try doing something that you don't normally do with your nondominant hand. Try brushing your teeth, eating lunch, dialing the telephone, or flipping a coin. By doing this exercise, you are giving the opposite side of your brain a chance to perform this activity. A right-handed person will always be using the left side of their brain and the other side will never get a chance to learn how to do certain activities. Allowing the nondominate side of the brain to do activities it doesn't normally do will quickly create all sorts of new associations in that part of the mind. This is an easy exercise and it has excellent results.
When we worry about something, we cannot get the thought out of our minds and this may interfere with our creativity or ability to get a good nights sleep. Exporting your worries to a notebook is a helpful technique for postponing the worry to another time.
When you come to the time when you must deal with the worry, get out a clean piece of paper and write the worry at the top of the page. Below this write down your goal or what you want to happen. To continue the example above you may write down, "I want my boss to approve my proposal." Now, draw a line down the middle of the page. In the left column write down all the barriers and obstacles that stand in the way of you achieving your goal. In the right column, write down all of your skills and resources that can help you achieve your goal.
On the back of the paper, write down all the ways that you can use the items in the right column to overcome the obstacles in the left column. At the end of the exercise you will have lessened your worries and will have a plan for how best to proceed towards achieving your goal.
For each item in the list below, close your eyes and try to get a mental picture of the object. Try to make it as clear as possible. Are there any sounds, smells or tastes associated with this item?
1. A red rose
2. Your father
3. A cow wearing pants
4. Elvis Presley
5. The world's biggest sandwich
Once you are done, grade yourself on how clear each object appeared in your mind (clear, vague, nothing). The next time you see one of these items, pay special attention to it and try to memorize its features, then repeat this exercise and see if you've improved.
There are some items in the list that you are certain to have never seen before. These are designed to flex your ability to put several memories together into one image.