How to Train Your Brain
WE CAN TRAIN OUR BODIES, YES. BUT, LET’S FACE IT: TRAINING OUR MINDS…WELL, MY FRIENDS, THIS IS WHERE THE REAL POWER LIES.
Every single action we take, and every outcome of our life, begins with our thoughts. Whether you want a beautiful body, a successful relationship or a stellar career, it all begins with what you think.
🏋️♀️ If you want more success in life, train your brain.
The brain is like a muscle--it gets bigger the more we use it. Working out our brain increases our focus, results in more effective action-taking and increases our sense of well-being.
There are many ways to grow our brains; to actually create new neural connections. My life’s work is to teach influencers and organizations how to do just that. And there is a lot of buzz right now about mindfulness and meditative practices.
BUT THERE ARE OTHER WAYS TO ACHIEVE A BIGGER BRAIN. HERE ARE SOME OF MY FAVORITES:
Practice reframing your thoughts. Aim to think a better feeling thought when you observe yourself getting pulled into negative thinking.
Look for the good in anything that makes you feel bad. Negative emotion is there to tell you that you are off-track with your thinking. When you feel bad, one way to get back on track is to find the good in any given situation.
Get quiet and notice what the hell is going on in your mind. This is, in a nutshell, mindfulness to thoughts. It may be torture at first to get honest with yourself about what you are really thinking all day. But it’s the most powerful thing you can do with your time. And the key to everything.
Stop multi-tasking. The research is clear: the more you multi-task, the less effective you will be with your thinking and your actions. This leads to ADD, poor results and stress.
Batch tasks so you can focus. At the beginning of each week, schedule similar tasks for each chunk of time. The time you spent on each segment will produce better results because of your increased focus. This will help you achieve much more and you will be able to process what you learn along the way.
Meditate. This is the grand-daddy of them all, so I had to give a mention here to try it. But start small. One minute a day of emptying your thoughts and connecting to Higher wisdom. Then build from there. Do this and your brain will be enormously powerful. I know — I’m a master meditator.
Validate opposing points of view. It takes a big brain to be able to see where someone else is coming from. It also activates a completely different area of your brain to be able to find the words to let someone know you understand. Brilliant stuff. And your relationships will be better for it.
Be clear on your personal vision and align actions with it. If your thoughts dictate which action you will take, first get crystal clear on what your overall objectives are. Otherwise, you are going to get so caught up in others’ motives that you lose track of what you are wanting to accomplish.
See other’s points of view while keeping your own perspective. Based on Mentalization Based Therapy (MBT), this is a brain strengthening technique you’ll never regret. Practicing this will help you to develop your own value system, improve your relationships, and increase critical thinking skills.
Think of ways you can extend compassion to others. This is a mini-version of Compassion Meditation and has been shown to have some of the most profound and sustained effects of increasing brain capacity.