Exercise your brain not just your body
When people hear the term "exercising" they immediately think about lifting weights, going for a run or anything else related to achieving a fit and functional body. Rarely do people ever think of mental exercise.
Your brain, just like your body needs exercise although it's not obvious how to exercise the brain. Although your brain does benefit from physical exercise I believe that there are many different aspects of the mind that can be exercised. Things like memory and recall, focus or concentration I think can all be improved with the right brain training.
"Your mind is not a cage. It is a garden. And it requires cultivating." - Libba Bray
To cultivate a good mental garden requires good inputs:
- Mental diet - Are you constantly scrolling through feeds, watching porn or other instant gratification activities? Stop, start reading longform articles, writing and curating the content you put into your brain more carefully.
- Meditation - This is a huge one and one that I'm guilty of not doing. I think every time you medidate and you notice your monkey mind returning, you conciousely catch your thoughts wandering and bring your attention back to the breath, you've just completed one bicep curl for your brain.
- Nutrition - Your brain is made up of fats, it uses approximately 20% of your calories to sustain it. There are sodium, potassium, calcium and chloride gated ion channels, countless neurotransmitters and neurons which all needs fuel. Most of us lack the micronutrients to really get the most out of our brains. We have a V8 engine and we're putting 2 stroke fuel in.
Clean your damn room
If you live in a messy environment your mind will be a mess. Clean things, bring about order to your physical environment and create a habitat to allow mental order to flourish.
