{"id":848,"date":"2017-08-27T10:14:00","date_gmt":"2017-08-27T15:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/power-up-brain\/"},"modified":"2019-02-18T10:10:41","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T16:10:41","slug":"power-up-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=848","title":{"rendered":"Power Up, BRAIN!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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My precious mom would say to her doctor \u201cDoc, some mornings I just don\u2019t want to get out of bed at all!\u201d His reply was always \u201cThe day you decide to do that, expect to be bedridden very soon!\u201d In essence, he was saying \u201cIf you don\u2019t use it \u2013 you\u2019ll lose it!\u201d <\/p>\n

This is actually Part 2 of the post I made a few days ago \u201cUse it. Don\u2019t lose it.\u201d I was referring to how to keep our bodies and minds going strong. So, to put my words to action, I actually hand-wrote out a long message of what a friend means to me in a birthday card. It took me extra time to find the just-right card, look up her address, write the note, seal it and place it in my \u201csnail mail\u201d mailbox, but I did it. And when I was writing the note, I had vivid memories of our kids playing together, even acting up in church and disciplining them for their over-abundance of energy. What fun to recollect the memories! My brain still worked! YAY!! <\/p>\n

Continuing to \u201cuse\u201d this brain of mine, I\u2019ve been playing the Chinese game of Mah Jongg with friends once a week. I started at my community in Tulsa, but this group here in Frisco takes it to a whole new level. They are some serious players so my brain must be \u201cpowered up\u201d!<\/p>\n

It is said that Mah Jongg is an excellent mental workout that helps keep our brains in good health and the mind sharp. I should clarify that this is the 4 player game and not that solitaire version that you see online or on your phone. The game requires considerable mental finesse just to play it, let alone play it well. When I first learned the game, it was all I could do to keep track of all the rules and plan a strategy. That kept me so busy that I barely even noticed what my opponents were up to. If you can\u2019t keep track of what your opponents are doing, you are at a significant disadvantage. You could literally end up playing straight into their hands. In other words, I need to \u201cpower up\u201d my brain if I want to improve my game skills. <\/p>\n

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While I\u2019ve been reading up on \u201cpowering up\u201d our brains, I found out some things that can boggle our brains \u2013 one of which is all that multi-tasking that we do. While on our phones, we\u2019ll be driving, eating, telling our kids to stop arguing, remembering another item for the grocery list, etc. Bottom line \u2013 being focused not only saves our brain\u2019s power, but it also saves us for being distracted and having an accident. I read that a recent neuroscience research proved the human brain is unable to consciously pay full attention to two tasks at the same time. We can do simple tasks like walking and talking at the same time, but when it comes to true multi-tasking, our brain just can\u2019t and shouldn\u2019t do it. So, then what about driving and all those things we\u2019re doing? Yikes!!<\/p>\n

Another \u201cpowering up\u201d our brains technique, is to get some physical activity going. Any form of cardiovascular exercise increases blood flow to every part of our body, including our brain. I\u2019ve been getting lots of exercise \u2013 swimming, aerobics classes and in the fitness center.<\/p>\n

\u201cPowering up\u201d our brain is also \u201cpowering down\u201d our brain when we get the sleep we need. A sleep-deprived brain works harder, but accomplishes less. It becomes more difficult to concentrate, speak clearly, and make decisions. I\u2019m making sure I get as many zzzz\u2019s as I can to keep my brain powered up!<\/p>\n

Back to the \u201cuse or lost it\u201d mentality. A few days ago I posted about the mindless TV watching and mindless games we play on our cell phones. Rather than mindless activities, let\u2019s keep our brains active by teaching ourselves something new \u2013 like learning a new technology or a new language or skill. That\u2019s one of the reasons I\u2019ve joined Bible Studies, taking a Spanish Class, learning to play better Mah Jongg, pickle ball and even learning to make some great new recipes.<\/p>\n

And, \u201cpowering up\u201d our brain is powering up our attitudes that cultivate good habits like, enjoying life, laughing often, developing an optimistic outlook and being sure to free our minds of stress and anxiety.<\/p>\n

And above all \u2013 STOP saying, even in a \u201cjust joking\u201d way \u201cI\u2019m losing my mind!\u201d Instead, we should daily \u201cpower up\u201d our brains by keeping our minds on God\u2019s Word \u2013 even memorizing scriptures that help guarantee sound and healthy minds! Let\u2019s give these kinds of affirmations from God\u2019s Word:
\n~ I have the mind of Christ! (1 Corinthians 2:16)
\n~ My mind is renewed daily! (Romans 12:2)
\n~ His mind is in me! (Philippians 2:5)
\n~ My mind is in perfect peace because it stays on God. (Isaiah 26:3)
\n~ I love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul and MIND. (Matthew 22:37)
\n~ Daily, I think on whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy. Philippians 4:8<\/p>\n

I\u2019m in for the long haul so rather than my mind being used \u201cmindlessly\u201d, I\u2019m \u201cpowering up\u201d to be sure I live up to the best version of me that I can be! How about you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My precious mom would say to her doctor \u201cDoc, some mornings I just don\u2019t want to get out of bed at all!\u201d His reply was always \u201cThe day you decide to do that, expect to be bedridden very soon!\u201d In essence, he was saying \u201cIf you don\u2019t use it \u2013 you\u2019ll lose it!\u201d This is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5034,5035,5036,5037,5038,5039,5040,5041,5042,5043],"class_list":["post-848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bodies-and-mind-strong","tag-brain-power","tag-dont-lose-it","tag-healthy-brain","tag-keeping-our-brains-in-good-health","tag-mah-jongg","tag-mind-of-christ","tag-mind-renewed","tag-power-up-brain","tag-use-it"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=848"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7230,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848\/revisions\/7230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}