Want a More Effective Brain?

Do you think of your brain as a tool? Or have you confused your brain, your processes, your thoughts with your very being? You are not your brain, yet exercising your brain can do wonders for your experience of life, and your writing as well. Here are ten ways to stretch your brain:

http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2007/08/22/10-habits-of-highly-effective-brains/

Personally, I like Art Kramer’s advice: “Ide­ally, com­bine both phys­i­cal and men­tal stim­u­la­tion along with social inter­ac­tions. Why not take a good walk with friends to dis­cuss a book?” Yes!

And for a real breakthrough in learning, find a Brain Gym teacher.

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Text © Gwyn Nichols 2012. All rights reserved. WritersResort.com

Writing Detox

Sheila Patel, MD, of the Chopra Center suggests “9 Practices for Seasonal Detoxification,” many of which you might expect from a “board-certified family physician and Ayurvedic expert.” She prescribes an organized or do-it-yourself healing retreat of meditation, mind-body exercise, foods, herbs, sauna, massage, rest, nature–and writing.

9.)  Keep a Journal
Writing is an extremely useful tool for self-reflection and emotional detoxification. Take time each evening to write about what you have been feeling both physically and emotionally. Note what you are grateful for, and then try to identify things in your life that you would like to eliminate. Write about how it will feel when these things have been eliminated—and also identify what you would like to bring into this space that you will create in your life.

Writing will change your life! Here Dr. Patel touches on several reasons for that. Self-reflection is good for brain functioning, stress reduction, and creativity, especially when focused on gratitude, and when it leads to making positive changes.

And for the writing retreats I often recommend, you may spend more time writing, but I hope you’ll also incorporate many of Dr. Patel’s suggestions. Enjoy the rest of her article here: http://www.chopracenterhealingwisdom.com/?p=452

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Text © Gwyn Nichols 2012. All rights reserved. WritersResort.com

My Favorite Kind of Payday

In my introductory college skills class this quarter, a student told me about repeatedly sabotaging his final Naval promotion because at that level, he’d be required to write reports galore. Writing terrified him. This week he submitted his report on this quarter’s learning–one of the best reports I’ve ever received. It was thoughtfully written, and formatted and illustrated with accuracy and artistry. Here’s my favorite paragraph: ”This is how I learn best: learn, then apply, then do it all over again. When I was in school, I felt like the teachers asked me to put a bike together that had tons of bolts, screws, and nuts and only gave me a fork and told me to put it together in the dark. Now I have the tools and I can see.”

I cried. Now that’s a teacher payday! This is why we do it, so these beautiful, brilliant people can see what we see in them, and achieve what we know they are capable of.

The student must show up and submit to the work, and it helps if that student arrives humble and scared, but willing. Once again, I’ve seen the proof that writing is a learnable skill. And got to feel like the miracle worker. (That would be the student, really, but I did show him how.)

For another touching teacher payday, catch Amanda Lucille’s day in Ukraine with the Peace Corp:

• little victories (suddenlybeautiful.wordpress.com)