Your mind is a powerful part of who you are. Do you think you can improve it? Do you think you should work on it? How do you work on your mind? What's the difference between the mind and the brain?
Let's start with the brain. The brain is the physical organ that houses your mind. We understand that the human brain is one of the most advanced and efficient systems in our known universe, and countless amazing facts about your brain can be found with a quick search.
Our mind however, is our own personal manifestation of all our thoughts, emotions, perceptions, memories, and imagination. While our brains are similar in structure, our minds are very different, and that is why we each think and act differently.
Our brain does adapt overtime, and can have physical growth or deterioration. This affects how we do everything from processing thoughts and feelings, to coordinating mobility and speech, to responding to stimulus and threats, to regulating body temperature and appetite. The brain controls everything! Subconscious reactions, automatic responses, reflexes, movement, sensation, all of it.
Our mind is where we thought process. Our mind is where we can reflect and make conscious choices. By developing our mind, we can increase the health of the brain with adaptive changes over time.
Starting with, do you think you can improve your mind? The answer is yes. You certainly can improve you mind. It has already changed throughout your lifetime resulting in the personality you have and the way you process reason. It's always changing.
Now, do you think you should work on it? Well, you're always working on it for better or for worse. If you aren't improving it, or at least maintaining it, then it's diminishing. It's always evolving, and like so many things in the human body, it's use it or lose it.
Finally, how do you work on it? You may already have a strategy that you don't realize. So often we do things because we like them, not because they are good for us. Turns out that things that feel good usually are good for us.
Here are six strategies to use everyday to work on improving your mind. Each is backed by research, but we don't need research to tell us what's good for us.
Silence - Spend time in silence everyday. This can be meditation, reflection, or prayer. Find time to be with your thoughts without distraction from the outside world.
Affirmation - Give yourself encouragement to attain your own goals. Provide yourself with support about your future and the plans you have. Be your own biggest advocate.
Visualization - Close your eyes and imagine where you want to be. Imagine all the details as specific as you can. See yourself in the place you want, doing what you want, with who you want. The more detailed you can be the better.
Exercise - Spend time everyday exercising. Exercise can be in many different forms, but all exercise is both mentally and physically engaging, promoting healthy blood flow to your brain, which allows your mind to work more effectively.
Read - Reading stimulates part of your mind that isn't stimulated with other activities. Not only do books provide an incredible resource of knowledge, but reading can reduce stress, improve memory, and practice empathy.
Scribe - Take time to write. Writing can have similar effects as reading, but writing stimulates another area of your mind. With writing, you must plan ahead and be decisive, which translates to everyday life.
Silence, Affirmation, Visualization, Exercise, Read, Scribe - SAVERS
Spend time to work on your mind today, to have a stronger, better, and more resilient mind tomorrow, and everyday after. #snowbeastperformance
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