Friday 3 January 2020

Mind over matter


I’m sure it used to sizzle and spark and fizzle and twitch, that it flickered and flashed far more quickly and frequently than it does now.  To be honest, now it feels somewhat flaccid – flabby, even.  I need to find a way to fire it right up again and push it to its full potential.

My brain.

Even writing this seems to take more effort than it used to.  I sort of splutter now... I used to be more fluid, I’m sure, with ideas and thoughts almost falling over themselves to get out and onto the page, vocabulary vying for attention, sometimes a little wit (hopefully) teasing at the edges.  Is it just age, or lack of practice, or even lack of discipline, that slowly starts to erode our faculties?  Do our brains get full after so many years absorbing everything and take it upon themselves to do a bit of arbitrary weeding?  If so, I think mine has accidentally chucked out some of my more exotic blooms.   Perhaps it’s a combination of all these factors.  I’m in awe at my younger self soaking up so much in those early educational years because it was just what you did - even with all those growing up distractions like hula-hoops, The Banana Splits and boys.  Now I wonder how the hell did I manage to switch between understanding topography one minute to memorising the conditional tense in French the next?  Then go home and listen to the Clash’s first album and remember every single word in the lyrics too...

Of course, I don’t want a flabby floppy brain!  I reckon it needs a good work-out.  I want its cells to flash like fireworks, each spark igniting another until my head practically lights up with mental energy so that I can subtract 57 from 124 without breaking into a sweat and remember the name of that actor who was in that film which had that scene with that curly-haired man who was in that programme called...oh.... (definitely having more of a problem remembering names than ever).    I even bought a book once, ‘The Memory Booster Workout’, but I keep forgetting to look at it....(ba-dum tish).   In fact I feel like my brain needs a good kick up the arse, if you see what I mean.

But there is hope!   Recent research has shown it IS possible to grow new brain cells throughout our lives and keep things changing more positively.  So maybe it's worth making a concerted effort to buff up those weaker zones, and this is why I decided yesterday, albeit with a certain degree of trepidation, to put myself through the rather grandly named  ‘Great British Intelligence Test’.  Ooh!

I won’t give anything away, except to say that if you fancy doing the same it’s quite good fun in a strangely masochistic kind of way and I felt quite reassured by the results, as well as getting some insights, which isn’t a bad way to start off a new year (if you ignore the state of the world, political landscape, climate crisis, etc....)

However, my brain does still need a kick up the arse.

Read more here , test your brain power too and your results will contribute to further research (you don’t have to be UK citizen to participate).

And all the best for 2020! x

14 comments:

  1. I know what you mean. I feel blunt, compared to how I used to feel. It is a worry...

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    1. I'm sure you're a lot sharper than me, Martin! But yes it is a worry. Aside from the medical conditions that we can't control, I think we just have to think of our minds as needing more exercise as we age in the same way we think about the physical benefits.
      (And just another reason to love your musical crosswords and Rol's Saturday Snapshots!)

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    2. I don't know, C. Without sounding like a dick, I used to think of my brain as a precision instrument and now it just feels like...a club hammer. Capable of fulfilling certain tasks through blunt application but no good for refined work.

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    3. I really think it happens to everyone with age, sadly... so all we can do is keep trying, keep pushing. That feeling of bluntness is exactly what I wanted to get across too.

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  2. Bring back the 'Reasoning' books we used to have at school. I used to love those. Really.

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    1. I'm intrigued, John, this doesn't ring any bells with me. Or have I just forgotten...? :-/

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    2. In our last year of primary school I remember the 'syllabus', such that it was comprised three text books: Maths (blue), English (red), and Reasoning (green). Museum pieces now.

      These days I get my cerebral kicks from Zygolex.

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    3. I can't remember my last year primary school text books at all - best I can do is remember (most of?) the colours of those wooden counting rods (the lovely long orange one for ten!)
      Ooh - thanks for the link to Zygolex. Definitely need to try those, your cerebral kicks appear to be working very well.

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  3. Far too scared to click that link. Ignorance is bliss.

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    1. I was scared too - but my curiosity got the better of me (and it's anonymous). Honestly though it's quite good fun, like a series of computer games/puzzles, I could feel the burn!

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  4. DD used to have a little machine where I practiced Brain Training and much of it was down to practice and learning the techniques of how to get a good score. Having just done this test I did ok on all of them except the memory ones which is a bit concerning. Mr WIAA just said, "oh great now you have something else to worry about"! That said I think we can sharpen up with practice and as for blogging, the more we do of it the easier the words fly onto the screen (and no you've not lost any of your wit). I'm feeling a bit sluggish at the moment and am finding it hard to get started again in the new year but that's more to do with trying to avoid any negative subjects, which leaves me with nothing. On that happy note - All the best for 2020, another Roaring Twenties?

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    1. Hope you enjoyed the test - I too struggled with the memory ones and then felt a bit panicked by it but at least it's now confirmed that it's an area that needs some work. Don't let's make it another thing to worry about though... there's far too much already. I totally get the sluggish feeling and the negative subjects - I can hardly bear to look at the news at the moment - but feel we need to feed our souls with good stuff and blogging/bloggers is one of them.
      All the best for 2020 to you too Alyson, I guess it's more like the Whimpering Twenties at the moment but there's still time...

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  5. Boy, this one speaks to me. I help my 13-year-old son with his homework, and I often wonder how he's able to keep up with all that is expected of him. We all did it, obviously, but my tired brain sees it from a different perspective now.

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    1. Oh - if we could only harness our brain's capacity when we're 13! How did we cope with it all?!

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