Exercise for the Brain

The research shows that folks with MS can have some issues with cognition sometime during the course of their disease. I think that this is the one potential symptom which scares me the most. So my small attempt to ward off cognition dysfunction is to exercise my brain. I have recently taken up doing crossword puzzles and I have come to the conclusion that I need lots more practice. I thought I had a good vocabulary but some of the puzzles have had me so stumped that I had to go look up the answers.

Anyways...I thought that I could have an on-going feature category here of some brain exercises....fun little activities to get the brain working. Not sure if such things are proven to help any (anybody know of any research?) but it couldn't hurt and they are fun.

Here is my first attempt. You can derive a word or phrase from the following. Maybe I will post the comments when someone gets them all correct.

I will give you one example:

Mind
Matter (the answer is Mind over Matter

See if you can get all ten of these right!

1. MEREPEAT

2. GR 12" AVE

3. roforkad

4. gesg
segg
gegs
gges

5. eeeeeeeeeec

6. i4i

7. poFISHnd

8. Pot O O O O O O O O

9. you the past

10. my own heart a person

Writing about Creativity (when I am not feeling too terribly creative)

One of my passions is writing and since my MS I do still enjoy writing but sometimes my mind is so weary I can hardly think straight. Like now. lol I do think it is important to get the mind whirring as best as we can. Sometimes you gotta just kick start it is all.

Was thinking about creativity today and my recent lack of it and wrote this:

I am a collector of quotes. Whenever I see a good quote, I jot it down on a post-it. I have a zillion of them scattered about my house.

This one is about creativity.

"There is a theory that creativity arises when individuals are out of sync with their environment. To put it simply, people who fit in with their communities have insufficient motivation to risk their psyches in creating something truly new, while those who are out of sync are driven by the constant need to prove their worth. They have less to lose and more to gain." ---Gary Taubes

Interesting isn't it?

This quote was was in this book I once read, called Strange Brains and Genius: The secret lives of eccentric scientists and madmen.

So what do you think? Could this be true at some level?

I once was watching a show about creativity which talked about the 3B's: Bed, Bath, and Bus. They say a lot of folk get inspired while in bed, the bath or shower, or riding the bus, train, or driving in their cars.

I know for me I get a lot of ideas upon waking up. I have a little notebook so I can write those ideas down before they drift away. Sometimes I look at my chicken scratch later in the day and wonder what in the heck I was thinking. I too get ideas when I am in the shower and preparing for my day. And I have definitely come up with some grand schemes whilst going for a long drive. I suppose any setting where your mind can be free to wander is prime creativity landscape.

Other inspirations for me include:

Music: Try listening to different types of music and see how this influences your writing or art.

Watching films or movies. I find that after I watch any film or show with emotional depth, I am more driven to write.

Going for a walk or bike ride. I have thought of the idea of having a small tape recorder so I could record my ideas as I ride or walk. I tend to lose the train of thought once I stop my motion.

Reading other people's writing. This is why the blog world is so great in that you have so many other writers and artists to read and view and to gain new perspectives.

So how about you? What gets your creative juices percolating?