Effortless Flow: Mind/Body Fitness Report #2

Has it been a week already? It sure doesn't feel like it. These days the posts here are few and far between. Even the previous post, was sort of forced, in that it wasn't really a very pressing topic to share, being neither important or even all that interesting, just another "I may as well post something" type of post, just to keep the wheels moving and the creative juices flowing.

Well anyway, sticking to my promise to give you an update here every Sunday, as mentioned in Mind/Body Fitness Report #1, my current area of study is the brain, and I am now reading my second book on the topic, being a general overview of the latest brain research, since undertaking this new endeavor. Which is really only slightly new, because I've always had an interest in psychology, in understanding mind and consciousness, but just haven't been all that interested in the physical science aspect of it, in terms of biology and chemistry, and in the actual physical organ of the brain and nervous system.

Well, I figured that it might be something worth looking into after all, and have decided to read as much as I can, so long as it doesn't bore me out of mind. I'm kind of a slow learner when it comes to learning technical and scientific material, and topics like biology and physics never much interested me, mostly because its terminology and classification of everything seemed so anti-spiritual and dissociated from real life, where all of life is reduced to mindless matter, and where consciousness and spirit is reduced to the brain, like some kind of meaningless machine without free will and purpose beyond fulfilling one's biological functions.

Well, I think there are mistakes in it, in the way the biology of the body and brain is understood in relation to consciousness, but you cannot make a reasoned argument for or against it, unless you know everything there is about it, the terminology and classification, including everything you disagree with. But either way, I think it's worthwhile for anyone interested in psychology, as well as health and longevity, and metaphysics, and such things as the soul and spirit, would benefit from becoming better acquainted with the latest brain research, even those perspectives that take a more materialistic, atheistic approach. In order to better separate the wheat from the chaff, all perspectives need to be looked at.

So that is what I am doing in my own time. And instead of just reading one or two books on the subject, and then jumping to something else, I'm forcing myself to actually stick with it for awhile, and reading several books about the brain, before jumping around to something else. That is the difference. I learn through repetition, and the truth is, if I read ten books on one topic, I tend to retain the information better than if I read ten books on ten different topics. But the key is retaining interest in the subject, otherwise if you force yourself to read something over a prolonged period of time that you have absolutely no interest in and that you absolutely hate reading, you will tend to tune it out to some extent, and not learn as much as you would if the subject really interested you.

I would say that is the main cause of my scattered reading habits, it's not just a matter of being interested in many different things, it's also a matter of losing interest very quickly. So I'll read one subject, and I'll be like, okay, that was alright, but look at that, that subject is even more interesting, I think I'll read that next. But then I read that, and the same thing happens as before, where you keep jumping around, learning a little bit about a lot of different things, but not really learning a lot about one thing. Which is okay to do to some extent, but sometimes you need to read a few more books on a topic, for it to really get established in your memory, otherwise with all the jumping around you do in your reading habits, there is a good chance that you'll forget much of the essential points of what you read, and it would have all been for nothing.

Reading about the brain, thinking about memory, intelligence, and cognition has got me thinking about my own brain health. Not just mental health, in terms of state of mind and quality of life, but the actual physical, biological health of my brain.

As much as I like to emphasize how healthy and youthful I am, and how despite it being often said that I look at least ten years younger than my actual age (I'm in my 30's but people usually guess that I look like I'm in my early to mid-twenties, and I still get carded when I buy beer), I was wondering if my brain is actually as healthy and youthful as my physical appearance would suggest. Been thinking about my brain fitness, the strength of my memory and concentration and ability to visualize abstract ideas and pictures in my mind, and it is disconcerting to me that I very well may have some cognitive impairment from regular drinking, probably not permanent, but where I am not as sharp and clear-headed as I could be, or like to think I am, if I were completely alcohol-free for a couple months.

It's also unsettling to think that not only may I have some cognitive impairment, in the form of diminished memory and concentration, but also that I may not be as smart as I think I am. That I may have been overestimating my intelligence and creativity, and that instead of being above average, I may very well be at or below average, and not remarkable at all, neither creatively or intellectually.

Of course I will never settle for that, will never accept that diminishing perspective, because doing so would probably destroy my entire confidence in myself as well as all hopes of bettering myself and improving my quality of life. But the point is that my brain may not be functioning at its most optimal level, but the good news is that I think you can do things to improve the health and fitness of your brain, assuming you don't have some underlying neurological disorder that cannot be fixed by mental brain training exercises and nutritional supplementation alone.

Otherwise, if you are a healthy person, whose cognitive decline is due to lack of mental exercise, or from the consumption of drugs and alcohol, a poor diet, and or nutritional deficiencies, there are things you can do to improve your cognitive abilities. It would be in the best interests of anyone who is studying the brain, to not just limit their education to a theoretical perspective of it, that is not just looking at it from the outside as an observer, but of actually becoming a participant by applying specific ideas about how to maximize your brain fitness, and to make the most of your brain, in terms of health and intelligence.

Anyone who studies the brain without working on improving the health and fitness of their own brain, would be missing the entire point.

So the primary message of this Mind/Body Fitness Report #2 is that my current study of the brain is motivated by my interest in improving not only my understanding of the brain, but also improving the health and fitness of my own brain. It all ties into my interests in psychology, spirituality, and metaphysics, as well as my interests in health and longevity.

Source: http://effortlessflow.blogspot.com/2012/12/mindbody-fitness-report-2.html

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