bodner088

The statement above captures the essence of a form of Braintenance "cross-training" and "confusion training," wherein your brain is forced to break through its ordinary routines and to coordinate different tasks in a different matter. These exercises are very simple, but yield tremendous benefits in terms of your ability to focus and to be creative. Following is a sampling of exercises which may prove challenging enough to 'wake up your mind' and to capture your brain's attention. When dealing with the brain, more exercise, and greater diversity of cerebral tasks is always better. Try these: 1) If you are right-handed, try doing as many things as possible with your left hand, and vice versa; 2) Stir beverages, soups, and the like in a clockwise fashion, instead of in the traditional and popular counter-clockwise fashion; 3) Read a page of text from the bottom up, with the last sentences first; 4) Try working backwards for a while (be careful, and avoid t...

Two essential components of intelligence are the ability to recognize (and extrapolate) patterns, and the ability to simply memorize strings of randomized data. Each requires the use of different parts of the brain. Alternating between one and the other creates an increase in both abilities plus increases neuronal plasticity and problem-solving ability. For each of the following strings of data, do the following: 1) Recite all of the data points from memory after looking at the data for no longer than two minutes; 2) Recite all of the data points backwards from memory after looking at the data for another minute; 3) If you recognize a pattern, find the next data point. NOTE: Do not look back to previous strings in working on this exercise! --------------- STRING A: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 ... STRING B: 1, 3, 2, 4, 3, 5, 4, 6, 5, 7 ... STRING C: 3, 7, 5, 8, 3, 9, 6, 11, 2 ... STRING D: Apple, Bicycle, Carnival, Donut, Energy, Footprint ... STRING E: Carbon, Log, Melon, River, Wheel, Toe ...

Being extraordinary is a choice , according to Daniel Burris (a very extraordinary blogger) of BigThink , one of my favorite publications... "Every now and then we hear about people who are doing extraordinary things. It could be a world leader saving millions of lives, a businessperson revolutionizing an industry, or even the person down the street helping to make life much better for underserved people in the community. When we hear of these extraordinary people, the vast majority of people think, “I could never do that because I’m just an average, ordinary person.” In reality, we can all be extraordinary. The key is to realize that being extraordinary is a personal choice. And it doesn’t matter whether you’re rich or financially struggling, whether you’re male or female, whether you’re old or young, or whether you fit into any other categories. Anyone can choose to be extraordinary." If you are reading this article in The Braintenance Blog , you are already inter...

Dear Brain Trainers : We are taught using metaphors , parables and " sayings ." We call them sayings because someone once said them. That is not an assurance of their quality. It is just a statement of the obvious. To make things worse (or more worser yet still), the older they are, the more wisdom is to be assumed to be contained in them. And to further worsen things (to make the worst even more worser yet), the more that people say them, the truer they are. This is interesting, because apparently, there are degrees of truth -- I'll have to consult neighbor Bill Clinton regarding the particulars of this issue. Here, for you pleasure, live (somewhat) from The Braintenance Blog Of Blockbusting Brilliance, we offer you the three stupidest things I've ever heard, excluding such conversational Moronyms as "Notary Republic," Redundons [trite, expressions spoken by members of the Order of Illiterati such as " I'll be here for the duration ," and...