So we talked about the importance of brain fitness earlier today and we talked about warming up the brain. Now let’s focus on some brain exercises that you can do. These exercises can be performed in any order and pick and choose the ones you like.
Tweak Your Memory Skills
Have you ever played the game of memory? You spread out 52 to 96 cards face down on to a table. You pick up two and look to see what they are. If they match, you remove them from play and turn over two more. If they don’t match, you turn them face down again and it’s the other person’s turn. You have to keep track of the cards that are revealed so that when you locate their match, you can flip it again.
You practice the skills you use in this game by recalling conversations from a day or more ago. Consider all aspects of the memory as you did in your brain warm up. Practice noticing the little things about the people you talk to. Notice how they dress, how they smell and how they style their hair.
Try to think of the different things you’ve seen them wear. Do you notice a pattern? Do they have a color that seems to be a particular favorite? Keep your memory sharp is the point of this exercise because there are any of number of items that we notice on a regular basis that we may not even be aware of – unless we practice the recall.
Explore New Avenues
Our lives are comprised of what we call a comfort zone and routines that exist within that comfort zone. For example, you probably shop at the same grocery store on a regular basis. If you were asked, you could give accurate directions to locate small items throughout the store. So – go to a different store. Use your senses and your own understanding of arrangement to locate the items you typically buy.
Move your house around so that you alter the environment – does this mean you might bump into some things in the middle of the night? Maybe, but it’s a learning experience. Take your kids to a park you’ve never been to before and check it out. Go to a different mall, explore how it is laid out differently. Take the time to get to know someone you may only know in passing. Chat with a neighbor, a clerk at the store or even a teacher at the school. You want a name to go with the familiar face.
Take a new route to work and don’t get stuck repeating the same patterns over and over and over again. When your routines become so habitual that you can do them in your sleep you are not helping your brain to create new pathways. Enrich the environment you live in so that you are a permanent explorer and not just a resident.
How can you enrich your environment?
Related Article:
Mental Calisthenics to Help Your Workout
Brain Fitness: Understanding Why We Need It