22 May Training the mind: to what end?
The human brain is malleable. Mental training is one of the resources at our disposal to improve and perfect one or more mental processes. It is possible to do this by performing mentally strenuous tasks that, a little at a time, will improve our skills.
Below you will find some tips you can use to train your brain, by putting it to the test so as to reach its maximum potential.
# 1 Writing with your non-dominant hand
That is, with the left if you are right-handed or with the right if you are left-handed.
Occasionally, trying to write (by hand, not by computer) with your “weaker” hand stimulates the synaptic activities in your brain (the synapses are structures that allow communication between nerve cells) that are usually rarely used.
# 2 Recognizing objects by touch
For the brain to recognize an object in this manner, it needs to make many comparisons and analogies with prior experiences, very different from those it needs to make when using sight.
# 3 Playing with numbers
It is a classic but always valid way of training the mind. For example, you can count backwards, so as to stimulate the brain by making it do something normal (such as counting), but in an unusual way.
# 4 Looking at objects ‘in reverse’
Take objects of common use and look at them after they have been flipped around or upside-down. Your brain will certainly recognize the object in question, that is, the usual pattern of shapes and colours that identify it, but it will also notice a series of different relations regarding the object with its surrounding environment.
# 5 Tasting, and above all, smelling
The memory capacity of taste and smell, although not as detailed as the visual one, is not only powerful, but also strongly associated with emotions.
# 6 Brainstorming
Take an activity that is simple and obvious, like opening a bottle, and try to describe at least 20 different ways of doing it.
# 7 Doing mental speed exercises
When you force your brain to do things quickly, you concentrate more, and concentration allows you to better use your mental skills.
# 8 Recollecting things from your pastIt is a very complete exercise that concurrently stimulates concentration, areas of memory and creativity. When you remember, your brain implements processes connected above all with visualization.