Time to Upgrade Your Brain? Fun and Easy Ways to Maximize Your Unlimited Brain Power

re: Time to Upgrade Your Brain? Fun and Easy Ways to Maximize Your Unlimited Brain Power

HiddenLamb — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 16:31:50 GMT

Click your amygdala, reach nirvana by popping your frontal lobes. www.neilslade.com

re: Time to Upgrade Your Brain? Fun and Easy Ways to Maximize Your Unlimited Brain Power

Chrisso — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 10:40:33 GMT

So many comments here, so forgive me if this has been said. Cocoa and green tea are excellent and fun neuro-stimulants, but also offer fantastic health benefits. After a cup of hot almond-cocoa-agave drink or a cup of green tea, my brain activity goes through the roof! It's almost like cards are shuffling in my head, and things are prioritised and simplified without fail. Solutions to problems and the correct way to communicate with different people to get the best response also becomes apparent. This usually lasts for about two hours. Try this one people, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

re: Time to Upgrade Your Brain? Fun and Easy Ways to Maximize Your Unlimited Brain Power

DrKaren — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 20:19:33 GMT

I provide neurofeedback training - brain-based biofeedback -- and of course I think that's the best to get the most out of your brain ;-), BUT there are some other ways to promote the functioning of your brain.

One of the best is to harness the power of your heart -- your heart's brain, that is. By creating what is called "heart coherence", you can re-balance your stressed out system, enhance your head brain's capacity, and sharpen your intuition. And it's all based on very hard science.

I have a short article on my blog you can read for the 3 minute exploration. It's called The Heart of Neurofeedback and there are some related articles if you click on the left category menu for "heart intelligence".

If you're really fascinated and want to know more, go to the HeartMath Institute -- they have lots of free resources. (I do have introductory teleseminars from time to time -- if anyone is interested, feel free to ask. - not trying to promote anything, though...)

Another point is that your brain is in a constant process of maintaining or changing its connections based on what you ask it to do. So if you want to be better at something, do more of it, and imagine yourself doing it well as often as possible. (There is evidence that the brain responds the same way whether you imagine doing something or actually do it.)

If you want to get rid of something (like negative thoughts or a habit), stop yourself from doing it as often as you can and imagine yourself in specific situations NOT doing it. Give yourself replacements.

Finally, there are some "positive psychology" strategies to keep your brain from looping in negative ways, but I've run out of room!

Dr. Karen

re: Time to Upgrade Your Brain? Fun and Easy Ways to Maximize Your Unlimited Brain Power

DrKaren — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 20:17:44 GMT

re: Time to Upgrade Your Brain? Fun and Easy Ways to Maximize Your Unlimited Brain Power

pinkskittles — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 16:11:10 GMT

I've actually read in my psychology text that we in fact use all of our brain all of the time, and that this idea of only using only a fraction of your brain is completely false. Brain studies show that every part of our brain is at least somewhat active in every thinking process.

Good ideas nonetheless. :o)

re: Time to Upgrade Your Brain? Fun and Easy Ways to Maximize Your Unlimited Brain Power

longfeu — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 12:05:08 GMT

I prefer a less restrictive and more proactive approach. Are you acquainted with the Habits of Mind formulated by a group of educators seeking to pinpoint the characteristics of people who have made outstanding intellectual and creative contributions? They're currently being taught in some middle schools, especially, with great success... and I don't doubt they'd be just as beneficial to mature adults as to adolescents.

re: Time to Upgrade Your Brain? Fun and Easy Ways to Maximize Your Unlimited Brain Power

drasw — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 11:21:17 GMT

Workout Smart - Use Your Brain

If you have ever been given a new born to hold, the first thing a mother will say is, “Hold the baby’s head!” The brains of newborns are not developed enough to enable them to hold their own heads up. As the brain develops, the muscles on the back of the neck (extensors) develop and babies are then capable of holding their heads up.

The next sign of brain development is the ability for babies to straighten or extend their arms using the triceps. The infant’s use of the tricep muscles helps to increase brain activity for further development. It has been noted that orchestra conductors use mostly tricep muscles and may be the reason they live so long.

Since the brain and brain stem are a homologous (sharing a similar or related structure, position, function, or value) column, what affects one thing in the column, affects all things in the column. When conductors wave their arms, it affects everything in the brainstem and in the controlling centers of heart and respiration. This is why the Upper Body Ergometer is the therapy of choice for cardiac rehabilitation. It is the reason the HealthVest™ (www.healthvest.com) was invented - to allow the average person to have their own wearable Upper Body Ergometer to really stimulate their brain.

re: Time to Upgrade Your Brain? Fun and Easy Ways to Maximize Your Unlimited Brain Power

Rogway — Sat, 26 May 2007 01:12:15 GMT

I plan to keep investigating you article Dr. Mercola, and what other limited info i have on the subject. Seems my thought and creativity pattern changes so much i cannot get past the second chapter on my next novel. It took me several years to finish my first one, a year to finish the second one and it needs to be looked at closely, and now, everytime i begin to write on another i find myself laying it down for extended periods of time while i start yet another. I have four novels going right now and for some reason just cannot get myself to pick at least ONE up and try to finish. Maybe procrastination plays a game there, but i tend to think it is all in my childhood years. You know-you can't, your never going to amount to nothing, you will never be able to complete nothing because you CAN"T do it. I'm sure you know the rest of the story. I just cannot seem to stay on one subject using EFT either. Awesome isn it?

re: Time to Upgrade Your Brain? Fun and Easy Ways to Maximize Your Unlimited Brain Power

mmc88121 — Fri, 25 May 2007 17:55:36 GMT

I found the list very interesting. There are several of them that I do already. Many of them I have done for a long time without even realizing it. I guess that is why people think my memory is better than average.

Mary

re: Time to Upgrade Your Brain? Fun and Easy Ways to Maximize Your Unlimited Brain Power

Russ Bianchi — Fri, 25 May 2007 14:54:51 GMT

Simplify & be satisfied.

re: Time to Upgrade Your Brain? Fun and Easy Ways to Maximize Your Unlimited Brain Power

Josh Rubin — Fri, 25 May 2007 14:49:06 GMT

What I have done and use with my clients to maximize my brain are:

1. Learn how to acknowledge and learn from your programming so you can develop your own "I"dentity
2. R brained activities for growth such as Mandala's
3. Qi Gong meditation

re: Time to Upgrade Your Brain? Fun and Easy Ways to Maximize Your Unlimited Brain Power

davidBZ — Fri, 25 May 2007 14:26:22 GMT

"Some are classics like organizing your space for mental work, as cluttered surroundings lead to cluttered thoughts and reinforces the chaos"

The benefits of this principle depend on the type of thought desired. I often find myself unable to think creatively or artistically in a well organized environment. Sterile space leads to sterile ideas. I have found that a moderate level of entropy in my surroundings creates a much more effective breeding ground for creative thought.

re: Time to Upgrade Your Brain? Fun and Easy Ways to Maximize Your Unlimited Brain Power

LM36 — Fri, 25 May 2007 13:56:31 GMT

They said that a holistic approach to thinking was one of the more "advanced" tools for tapping into brain potential. Now that makes sense in more ways than one!

I am going to try and implement some of these ideas. We all need to remind ourselves on a daily basis that "thoughts matter"!