bodner088

Memorizing and being able to repeat certain types of sentences does more than build up your facility for rote memorization. The improvement in simple recall is actually the least of it! Memorizing the sentences which follow will strengthen your ability to visualize, organize and to think creatively. Memorize each of the seven sentences (or groups of sentences) which follow, one at a time. Then recite each one aloud several times. Get smarter, make more associative connections and have a bit of neural plasticity on the house! Ahoy, Braintenancers : 1) Let me repeat your order. You bought twenty apples, thirty oranges and fifteen bananas which you paid for using your Discover Card. 2) The parties agree that due to the many variables surrounding each business transaction that will occur because of this agreement, the commission to be paid between the parties may vary. 3) Contrarians don't generally agree with veterinarians who refuse to treat planarians with microscopic plantar wart...

One of the keys to eliminating anxiety, depression and distraction is the meditative exercise of living in the moment. Doing this requires that you focus intently on all of the myriad sensations which you are experiencing in a single moment of conscious living. This is a challenge for most individuals, who are more accustomed to ruminating over the past or anticipating the future. Even the most intelligent persons (and certainly all followers and dedicated practitioners of Braintenance ) are preoccupied with thoughts which are "out of sync" with the living, full-sensory experience of the present moment. While the meditative exercise of present-moment living will not, per se , increase your mental magnitude and specific sets of thinking and problem-solving brain skills, it will indirectly benefit your thought processing mechanisms by allowing your overly-conscious mind to take a brief vacation from excessive cerebration. The mind, as any other muscle, needs its rest. Try to t...

The following fabulous memory hacks (I'm using the term "hacks" in the non-pejorative sense of the term) were recently described in an article by Bruce Price in the Blog “Mental_Floss” which I happened to stumble upon while casually surfing about the labyrinth of, well, StumbleUpon. While the original article listed “10 Mnemonic Tricks,” I found the first 7 of them to be worth sharing; the other three (probably added in the interest of making an even 10), where either impractical or (pun intended) unmemorable. Use these as part of your memorization mastery regimen for better Braintenance, my dear Cranial Campers. But be advised that they are not substitutes for true native memory development – they are merely shortcuts where our underdeveloped memories would otherwise fail us. Those few of us blessed with eidetic or photographic memories may simply skim over this article rapidly. 1. The rhyme. For hundreds of years, schoolchildren started the study of American history w...

Suicide Deaths The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) collects data about mortality in the U.S., including deaths by suicide. In 2013 (the most recent year for which full data are available), 41,149 suicides were reported, making suicide the 10th leading cause of death for Americans . In that year, someone in the country died by suicide every 12.8 minutes. Suicide Warning Signs The following signs may mean someone is at risk for suicide. The risk of suicide is greater if a behavior is new or has increased and if it seems related to a painful event, loss, or change. If you or someone you know exhibits any of these signs, seek help as soon as possible by calling the Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Talking about wanting to die or to kill themselves. Looking for a way to kill themselves, such as searching online or buying a gun Talking about feeling hopeless or having no reason to live. Talking about feeling trapped or in unbearable pain. Talking about being ...

 ? In Braintenance, confusion is the magic which creates new neurological pathways, greater plasticity, and enhanced creative skills. The brain and mind are strengthened in the same fashion as the bodybuilder builds and defines new muscle -- by changing the workout regimen to "shock" the body into over-compensation. The mental exercises which follow are gearing toward forcing you to think (and problem-solve) in a different manner than you usually do by changing the entire problem-solving scenario. Want to strengthen your mind? of course you do. Simply find the missing numbers or letters in each of the following sequences. You'll notice that you are not trying to find the next number or letter in each sequence (as you are accustomed to doing) -- you are being asked to think interpolatively instead of extrapolatively: 1)   A C _ D C E D _ E G 2)   _ 4 9 _ 25 _ 49 3)   2 4 _ _ 10 _ 14 4)   P_S_ENG_RS  O_  A  T_AIN 5)   _...

Six Degrees Of Separation: Getting Connected By Douglas E. Castle For The Braintenance Blog There is a theoretical maximum of only six persons (connections, similar to links in a chain) between you and anyone whom you'd like to meet in the entire world. Some quick background information follows: Six degrees of separation is the theory that anyone on the planet can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of acquaintances that has no more than five intermediaries. The theory was first proposed in 1929 by the Hungarian writer Frigyes Karinthy in a short story called "Chains." In the 1950's, Ithiel de Sola Pool (MIT) and Manfred Kochen (IBM) set out to prove the theory mathematically. Although they were able to phrase the question (given a set N of people, what is the probability that each member of N is connected to another member via k_1, k_2, k_3...k_n links?), after twenty years they were still unable to solve the problem to their o...

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...