If You Don’t Use It – You’ll Lose It!

My precious mom said to her doctor “Doc, some mornings I just don’t want to get out of bed!” His reply? “The day you decide to do that, count on being bedridden very soon. In essence, he was saying “If you don’t use it – you’ll lose it!” These days – our minds are on overload, so much so, – the opposite is true: If we overuse it – we’ll lose it!

My sis-in-law was coming over to see me. I gave her the easy directions. “Turn into the community at the gate and just turn right at the first street and it’s the first home on the right.” I watched out for her. She turned right but went to the first house on the left. I overheard her talking to her husband on her cell phone: “I can’t do two things at the same time – drive and follow directions.” I get it. We need to be fine-tuned!.

I’ve been reading up on “powering up” our brains and I've found out some things that can boggle our brains – one of which is all the multi-tasking that we do. While on our phones, we’ll be driving, eating, telling our kids to stop arguing, remembering another item for the grocery list, etc. Bottom line – being focused not only saves our brain’s power (over-using it), but it also saves us from 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 (thus my sweet sis-in-law's dilemma).. Sure, we can do simple tasks like walking and talking at the same time – maybe even chewing gum along with it, but when it comes to true multi-tasking, our brain shouldn’t do it.
’t do it. Yikes! Think about all that multi-tasking we’re doing while driving – talking on our phones, eating, etc.

Helping us to not overuse our brain is “powering it down” 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’m making sure I get as many zzzz’s as I can to keep my brain powered up!

And, “powering up” 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. And above all – STOP saying, even in a “just joking” way “I’m losing my mind!” Instead, we should daily “power up” our brains by keeping our minds on God’s Word – even memorizing scriptures that help guarantee sound and healthy minds! Let’s speak these kinds of affirmations from God’s Word:

~ I have the mind of Christ! (1 Corinthians 2:16)
~ My mind is renewed daily! (Romans 12:2)
~ His mind is in me! (Philippians 2:5)
~ My mind is in perfect peace because it stays on God. (Isaiah 26:3)
~ I love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul and MIND. (Matthew 22:37)
~ Daily, I think on whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy. Philippians 4:8

I’m in for the long haul so rather than my mind being used “mindlessly”, I’m “powering up” to be sure I live up to the best version of me that I can be! How about you?

“I refuse to give in to my fears. For God did not give me a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a SOUND mind!”
2 Timothy 1:7

Power Up, BRAIN!

My precious mom would say to her doctor “Doc, some mornings I just don’t want to get out of bed at all!” His reply was always “The day you decide to do that, expect to be bedridden very soon!” In essence, he was saying “If you don’t use it – you’ll lose it!”

This is actually Part 2 of the post I made a few days ago “Use it. Don’t lose it.” 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 “snail mail” 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!!

Continuing to “use” this brain of mine, I’ve 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 “powered up”!

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’t 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 “power up” my brain if I want to improve my game skills.

While I’ve been reading up on “powering up” our brains, I found out some things that can boggle our brains – one of which is all that multi-tasking that we do. While on our phones, we’ll be driving, eating, telling our kids to stop arguing, remembering another item for the grocery list, etc. Bottom line – being focused not only saves our brain’s 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’t and shouldn’t do it. So, then what about driving and all those things we’re doing? Yikes!!

Another “powering up” 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’ve been getting lots of exercise – swimming, aerobics classes and in the fitness center.

“Powering up” our brain is also “powering down” 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’m making sure I get as many zzzz’s as I can to keep my brain powered up!

Back to the “use or lost it” 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’s keep our brains active by teaching ourselves something new – like learning a new technology or a new language or skill. That’s one of the reasons I’ve joined Bible Studies, taking a Spanish Class, learning to play better Mah Jongg, pickle ball and even learning to make some great new recipes.

And, “powering up” 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.

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

I’m in for the long haul so rather than my mind being used “mindlessly”, I’m “powering up” to be sure I live up to the best version of me that I can be! How about you?

Are You a Scatterbrain?

Scatterbrain -- a person who is unable to concentrate or think clearly. If I didn't know better, that's what I would call myself lately. My thoughts seem to be here, there and everywhere. And while they’re everywhere, I've misplaced my keys, my cell phone, my computer cord, my ring and bracelet and even an important document. Yikes!! Thank goodness, I've recovered it all, and now I'm focused on reeling myself in to losing that "scatterbrain" name!

You know the deal. Our thoughts can get so scattered because of so much going on inside these heads of ours. We're multi-tasking -- we're going after something while we're cooking, while at the same time we're talking or texting on our phones. So much to do with so little time to do it all. Being clear headed and clear minded often seems like a lofty goal. But that's the goal I have for myself. I want to have my head on straight, my mind alert and my tasks focused on what God has for me in that moment and in that time.

The crux of the matter is our minds are everywhere except being on the ONE Who brings balance and focus to everything in our lives. Overtaxing our minds is so unnecessary when our Father God promised He'd bring peace to our chaos if we'd keep our minds on Him. "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." (Isaiah 26:3)

I sincerely want the mind of Christ. I want His ways that are so much higher than my ways. I want his thoughts that are so much higher than my thoughts. I know that my life is on purpose. I know that His plans are greater than any plan that I could ever make for myself. So, NO, I am NOT a scatterbrain. I am intuitive, aware, focused, thoughtful, purposeful, attentive, sharp, and creative. I know I can choose my thoughts and think things on purpose. Proverbs 23:7 says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” I want to have that kind of THINK TANK that believes "anything is possible with God". I'm committing to set my mind on He Who knows everything about everything, so that's what I'm doing RIGHT NOW!

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and LEAN NOT to your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will give you (and me) the desires of our hearts!" Proverbs 3:5,6