You Could Be Another Lincoln

Since we picked our brains last week (hah! hidden pun caught me by surprise!) I've managed to honor the needs of mine, in spite of the huge bite of life I have been chewin' on. How about you?

I've been taking my fish oil, eating nuts and using olive oil aplenty, challenging my brain with new research and unearthing my old copywriting chops. I've given the ol' noggin a rest here and there, too. Watching Ken Burns' documentary, The National Parks, on the DVR has had a wonderful calming PLUS inspiring effect. In fact, the subtitle to that film is "America's Best Idea" and it got me to thinkin'...

(flashback to lead up to the connection)
The landscape was already there, but the thought that the country could own the land for public enjoyment as parks, and preserve its wildness for the future, turned out to be genius. The idea wasn't without opposition, and its execution wasn't simple or easy. But in the end, the National Parks system of the United States is a treasure not just for our nation, but also for our planet. The idea is gem. The parks showcase the evolution of Earth and return us to our roots as a species. It's pretty incredible. Thank goodness someone followed through on this.

All that from an idea, which blossomed and grew and was shared and accepted. And now due to Burns' documentary, is hopefully more appreciated by masses. Good idea for Burns, too.

But ideas like these don't come along every day, to just anybody, right? Wrong. It's the exact opposite. Ideas do come along every day, more than every day, and they come along to you. They come through your brain, which is responsible for making you figure out and do the actions that bring your ideas to life. Actually, most of the thoughts you have in general could be called ideas. Unless you only think in facts.

Like, say you're going to make lasagna for dinner this weekend. Knowing how to make lasagna step by step, or digging out the recipe and getting the list of ingredients together are tasks for your fact based brain. But the original thought you had wasn't a fact. It's not as if lasagna is a must, or a legal issue, or a deadline. It's simply an option.

So why are you making it? Is it because you've had such a taste for it but never tried making it yourself? Because you thought you mightbe comforted by a hearty family recipe on a cold autumn Sunday? Because it's someone's birthday and you want surprise them? See, these thoughts are ideas: they turn making lasagna into more than a task--now it's an occasion! A tradition or a desire met or an experiment.

Ideas are the stuff of a rich, rewarding, evolving life. Just like the idea to create national parks as treasures for all time, the idea to create lasagna this weekend is a gem. It might not change the future of our nation, but it will change the rest of your week, maybe the rest of your life, depending on why you had the idea in the first place and what you do with it after. (Tip: eat plenty of olive oil on your salad and bread to offset the saturated fat in the cheese, and add some spinach to the ricotta.)

You know, you could win a woman's heart if you make her a lasagna on her birthday. You could finally heal some secret part of you when you learn that you can cook like your grandma after all. If you thought of it, and you did something about it, then it matters. It's part of your life now!

Some of us are very action oriented and energetic. Some of us are logical and pragmatic. Some of us are wistful and laid back. But all of us could use a little lasagna and a nice view of a pine forest once in a while.

Let your ideas through. Let them blossom and shine. Believe in them. Your brain isn't only filled with facts and blood vessels. It's your thoughts-as-ideas that make your life unique. They make you, you, because they are how you decide to do things and view things. This week, recognize the personal side of your brain for all its worth, beyond the stuff it knows and beyond its role in your anatomy.

Give your personal brain the recognition it needs, to realize what it has had, all along.

Scarecrow:
I could while away the hours, conferrin' with the flowers
Consultin' with the rain.
And my head I'd be scratchin' while my thoughts were busy hatchin'
If I only had a brain.
I'd unravel every riddle for any individ'le, in trouble or in pain.
Dorothy:
With the thoughts you'll be thinkin' you could be another Lincoln
If you only had a brain.
Scarecrow: Oh, I could tell you why the ocean's near the shore.
I could think of things I never thunk before.
And then I'd sit, and think some more.
I would not be just a nothin' my head all full of stuffin'
My heart all full of pain.
I would dance and be merry, life would be a ding-a-derry,
If I only had a brain.

Be Your Brain's Best Buddy

I picked this week's One Thing well in advance. I had it since last week, at least. But I have not gotten around to bloggin' about your noggin until mid-week. And I have a rushed post at that. I'm behind on thinking about and executing this project for the very reason I am writing it: I need to care for and honor my brain this week, in order to have some brain left to write in my blog about.

In other words, I haven't been practicing what I am about to be preaching. I don't know why not, it's so simple, really. In fact, I'm KEEPING it simple, for my brains's sake. What is it? What is the first cardinal rule I wan to share about the care and keeping of good brains? To help me remember it (a little brain trick here) I made it into a cheer/chant of sorts:

Give your brain a break!
Don't drain your brain!
Let it rest once in a while, won't you please?

Background for minds that want to know:
I've got a new gig writing health and fitness articles on the side. I picked a bunch of topics that are doing the OTHER thing for my brain that will keep it young and sharp--they are challenging it. I'm learning new stuff. I'm expanding my repertoire, and as I love doing that, I have taken on a bit more than I should have.

Now I am teetering on burnout, within just one week. And I'm behind on my other projects, some of which (like my blog) I also love. That's not a great feeling, and I have deadlines to meet as we speak. I'm furrowing my brow, possibly getting a headache, maybe even writer's block.

I find myself searching for a strategy or a word and then I get up for some tofu instead and wonder what the heck have I done? I'm supposed to be my brain's best friend this week, not its ruthless master. I trip over my sock, and it occurs to me that I have done is gone all out of balance.

One thing a brain really needs is someone to keep it balanced. It's a complex, highly valued organism, right? It needs a careful proprietor. Someone to keep it balanced by offering it stimulation and new ideas, and also down time and mindlessness. Oh, and....

...mindfulness. Ah ha! Eureka, my brain has done it for me again. It's calling out for me to be mindful. So, I am minding my time, minding my goals, and minding my brain, starting now. Won't you join me? Already my brain is happier. I have stopped rushing it and started listening to it.

Pick One Thing: Your Brain

We've got the brain's physical health covered in all the past discussion we've shared when we picked our Blood and our Heart. Conveniently, all the same stuff is great for the brain, because it's fueled by the same blood supply. In fact, you could say the brain is the king of all the body's messengers, sending and receiving and reading all the incoming news from your nerve endings, then interpreting and filing them, too. That's a lot of pathways. Keep them gleaming and open with regular habits that tend to your arteries, aortas and the whole circulation gang.

We might devote extra focus this week (and forever) on getting more fatty fish like salmon or tuna in our lives, or at least mercury-free fish oil (don't freak out, I found a great one that tastes okay, so if you want to know, just ask me). Choose more of the other Omega 3 sources, too--plant sources like soy, nuts and flaxseed are tasty and quick. That'll keep our brains lubed and oiled.

But there are two other primary aspects of caring for your brain that I want to really reinforce now. First, your brain will age like the other parts of you, so it does need exercise, like the other parts of you. Oxygen, good, however I mostly mean brain exercise of the thinking sort. Learning something new. Doing a puzzle. Trying stuff with your non-dominant hand. Go ahead. Write your name with your left hand, righties. You'll be adding to your brain's life. Plus it's fun.

According to experts, you should vary your activities and challenges throughout life to keep all the functions of your brain in tip-top shape. This is why people who have more fun learning new things all their life enter into their golden years with such vibrant brains. Alzheimer's is genetically predisposed, but there's a pile of ways to stave off its onset. Starting with fish and sticking with fun, feed and expand that brain.

Second, there are plenty of other experts who recommend a little of the opposite, as well. What happens to the brain of people who regularly meditate, for example? I'll tell you what--good things. They tend to be sharper and last longer. It seems the "checking out" is as important as the challenge. So take some time off with your brain. Show it around the woods or take in a silly movie with it. Put it down on a pillow, close your eyes, and dream of quiet stars and clouds for a few minutes.

Gaze at a sleeping baby. mmmmmm. (You know, that baby's brain is busy growing neurons like mad while those sweet fat cheeks turn rosy on the sheets. Your brain should be growing nothing but heartstrings and admiration. There's nothing you need to think of, at all, when you watch a baby sleep. like I said, mmmmmm.)

If your brain really were your best friend, what would you hope that it could do, on a regular basis? I bet your answer is something like: have fun, grow strong, enjoy beauty, find peace, be prepared, and accept and share lots of love.

Well, there you go. And here I go. The rest of the week is about balance for my buddy, my brain. It knows, as all best friends do, that it is never, ever too late to encourage me to make a change that sincerely benefits me.