Order and download this entire eight-part audio program.

(…continued from last week)

It’s A Life-Long Process

This good mental health, this mind-body connection, can help you emotionally and physically be healthier, boost what is called longevity factors, which are those predictors of how long and how healthy you’ll be during your life, and also keep your brain more energized and alive. People with good emotional health are aware of their thoughts, their feelings, their behaviors and learn methods for controlling them.

There are many life factors experienced that disrupt this emotional mental health and lead to strong feelings of sadness, anger, stress, anxiety and overwhelm. Some of these may be having problems at work, having a child leave home, or someone moving back home who’s been gone for a while. Perhaps it’s dealing with the death of someone you care about, getting divorced or getting married. It may be suffering from an illness, having an injury, getting a job promotion (though the promotion is a wonderful thing it can increase pressure), having money issues, moving to a new location, adding new members to the family by adoption, by marriage, by having a baby. Some of these are good, some of these are negative, yet either way they can create stressors. We need to be better at managing the pressures of the goods and bads of life.

Push the Boundaries a Bit

In a paper published in November of 2012, Dr. Anne Fabiny, Chief of Geriatrics at Cambridge School of Medicine, and Associate Professor at Harvard School of Medicine, said, “To keep our mental skillsets and our memory in really tip-top shape, we have to take on challenges continuously– always trying new things. You have to get out of your comfort zone a bit and interact with other human beings.”

What she found from her years of research is that if you are not using your brain and physiology, you lose it.

Now most of us already know that, don’t we? If you spend all of your time sitting, how strong and vital and healthy do you think your body is going to be? Though TV can be entertaining and you can learn from it, if all you do is stare at a television set or play video games, how much growth and expansion do you think your brain will have?

Research is showing more and more that dementia for many is at least partially from the lack of ongoing stimulation and learning that is needed to keep the brain vital. How many times have you heard “use it or lose it”? It’s been around forever and applies not just to your body but to your brain, your vitality, and your longevity just as well.

Do Brain Workouts Often

Scientists say that living a mentally active life is as important as regular physical exercise. Just as your muscles grow stronger with use, mental exercise keeps your mental skillsets and memory in better tone.

Just as with physical exercise there are certain kinds of “brain work” that works better than others. Dr. Fabiny said, “Any brain exercise is better than being a total couch potato mentally.” What that means is you have to be doing things with your brain, things that require you to go beyond what is easy and comfortable. Just as in physical weightlifting you have to strain a little bit. Not so much that you hurt yourself but you have to keep increasing and using it just a little bit more so that you both tone and strengthen the muscles. Playing endless rounds of solitaire, watching television, doing the same exact repetitive thing, if it’s too easy will not help you.”

What she found was that those people’s whose brains and bodies work best together, is the result of being a life-long learner.

(to be continued…)

Has this program caught your interest? Just can’t wait to hear the next segment? Or perhaps you’d like to download the entire program to your phone or tablet and listen during your travels? You can purchase and immediately receive this entire program as a digital download. You will receive all of the audio segments, plus a 33 page PDF transcript! Order Now: Using your Brain Effectively

Embracing Change
Four Core Strategies Essential To Managing Change. Change is inevitable. When change occurs it happens on two levels, both of which can be tough to handle. Resistance to change through procrastinating, or trying to sidestep what’s occurring, is absolutely normal. Would you like to learn a way to rapidly control your mental and emotional reactions when stressed or when change hits? Would you like to know a strategy to better handle other people’s negativity toward change? During this program you will learn strategies for effectively dealing with the rapids of change.