Giving your mental self a workout...

Most of us have some idea of what a mental workout is...but how often do we practice it? A mental workout is where we give our brain the chance to build strength and memory. We can perform specific exercises, like counting or reciting the alphabet backwards, or doing mind puzzles (crosswords or sudoku). This is a form of mental workout that has long-term benefits as we age. We have all heard the 'use it or lose it' phrase but how many of us actually use our brain for things beyond our 'regular' needs? We use it for work but how many 'mindless' activities do we perform? We don't have to think very much once we get the hang of something. We need to use the creative side more often. My son and I used to practice creativity on a regular basis but we have gotten away from it. This is not good and I think it's time to bring back the practice. What we would do was to always 'think of another way' to do something. We used it all the time. If we were going to have spaghetti for dinner & wanted garlic bread, we would ask "how can we do this without the oven"? Once we tried the toasted & spread the bread with garlic butter after (eehhhh, not so good) but, another time we grilled it in the frying pan like you would a grilled cheese. This was awesome because we grilled both sides....yummy! Another time he wanted chicken ramen noodles for dinner & his brother wanted mac & cheese. I said 'what if we tried mixing them together' and believe it or not...it is still one of their favorites. I have to admit-it IS real good. I will say that not everything turned out well & more than one 'another way' ended up in the garbage & we called for pizza to be delivered. :-) All in all, creativity is a good way to work a little mental workout into a busy day...
But perhaps one of the best workouts we can give our minds...and therefore, ourselves, is to use positive affirmations. When we are bombarded every day by negative conversations, people and events...our mind can become worn out and drained. We can't avoid negativity unless we close ourselves up in our house with only positive family members. Ideal maybe but impossible, right? So, how do we best counteract the anger, fear or worry that we have experienced in any given day? When we have taken the time to 'use our brain' in a positive way, the bad is easily over-ruled and washed away. The positive mental workout includes 'boosting our moral' and self-esteem to improve our mind-body-spirit health on a day-to-day basis. Giving ourselves 2 positive comments for every negative 1 that is heard...a good start towards a positive mental workout. Good thoughts everyone...!