flynn012

Thinking about abstractions and examining cause-and-effect relationships are an integral part of intelligence strengthening. The more you utilize your introspective imagination, the greater your ability to conceptualize and to be creative. The mere notion of thinking about the nature of your mind, and of consciousness itself is a wonderful Braintenance exercise.  Give these questions some thought. Some of them require that you think about thinking -- a kind of recursive, "fractal logic": Have you ever wondered about the nature of your mind? Is the mind separate from the brain or is the thinking, working mind merely a manifestation of the biological brain's self realization? Do we imagine the existence of our minds? Does the mind animate the brain? Or does the brain animate (or generate) the mind? Are the brain and the mind somehow symbionts? Can one exist without the other? If the brain dies, does the mind die automatically? Can consciousness, as we understand it, exist i...

Analogies Are Mind Expanders If you'd like to truly sharpen your ability to think associatively and to open up some exciting neural pathways in the bargain, doing exercises involving analogies may be just the think to add to your Braintenance regimen. These exercises even improve you pattern recognition, total cognition and creative thinking. If you'd like to think outside of the box (and keep your mind fresh in the process), analogies are wonderful tools. An analogy ( dog is to puppy as cat is to kitten , or, as it commonly appears on standardized tests, especially in higher grades: dog : puppy :: cat : kitten ) is a comparison between two things that are usually thought to be different from each other, but have some similarities. They help us understand things by making connections and seeing relationships between them based on knowledge we already possess. Analogies are a ubiquitous staple of standardized tests. This type of comparison plays a significant role not only in im...

Your brain is a perpetual motion machine which is operating continuously on various "settings" in order to address certain functions crucial to our physiological and psychological existence. As long as you are alive, your brain is a muscle being applied, tested and, hopefully, strengthened. Despite this, we are constantly told by others to "give our brains a rest," or something similar. Although this is a well-intended suggestion for those of us who have been categorized as either workaholics or obsessives, it is advice that cannot be followed literally. Having said this, an over-reactive, challenged brain needs rest, even though it cannot cease its operations. Too much cerebration leads to frustration, fatigue and an excess secretion of cortisol, each and all of which are inherently unhealthy. This begs the question: "What can we do to 'give our brains a rest' even though we cannot cease ongoing mental processes? There is a solution. The key is to re-f...