Most of us take better care of our hair and skin than we do of our brains, yet our brains are critical to EVERY aspect of our lives. Since we are not born with instruction manuals for our brains, many of us go through life as best we can by adopting the choices and habits of our parents, families, communities, etc. and we don’t give our brains a second thought. This has potentially harmful and dangerous implications for us as we live, grow and age. The time to start caring for your brain is NOW!

The good news about our brains is that they can heal and change! What can I do for my brain, you may wonder? For the past several weeks on my radio show, I have been sharing strategies from Dr. Daniel Amen’s research and works, including Making a Good Brain Great, and Dr. John Medina’s Brain Rules. These segments are archived at www.BlogTalkRadio.com/SPARK so you can listen or download at your convenience.

Mental exercise is good for brain health. Learned anything new recently? I love helping people get the best from their brains and I have been facilitating an exciting seminar entitled, “Brain Boosters” through several venues the past few weeks, with great response. If you are interested in having your best brain at work and at home, this seminar is filled with resources for you. Contact me to bring this seminar to your business, school, organization, or community.

Physical exercise, according to both Dr. Amen and Dr. Medina, is a great place to start because it provides so many benefits to the brain. What benefits? Since it’s almost time for me to go exercise, I’ll quickly share the following from Dr. Medina’s site, www.BrainRules.net (The words in parentheses are my clarifications):

“Exercise improves cognition (thinking) for two reasons:
Exercise increases oxygen flow into the brain, which reduces brain-bound free radicals. One of the most interesting findings of the past few decades is that an increase in oxygen is always accompanied by an uptick in mental sharpness.
Exercise acts directly on the molecular machinery of the brain itself. It increases neurons` (brain cells) creation, survival, and resistance to damage and stress.”

Consider creating an action plan to support having a healthy brain for life – making one lifestyle change at a time. Do something positive for your brain TODAY because a healthy brain is a wonderful gift to give yourself and your loved ones!!

There are many wonderful resources for this process. I am sharing a few here. If you think that goal-setting or strategic planning don’t fit your style, start with Dr. Lisa Van Allen’s podcasts as she addresses the importance of knowing your style as the starting point of the process so you can adjust or find models to meet your needs.

Next, we can project into 2010 with goals and action steps as well as identifying potential challenges and strategies to overcome them. Among many resources and strategies for this process, in the links below you’ll find lists of thought-provoking questions, a process to gain clarity and direction, approaches to goal-setting and strategic planning that work WITH your natural style, and challenging your negative language and limiting beliefs. If you have a resource or strategy that works well for you, please share it in the comments. 

Here are the links:  www.BrainBonanza.com (fr*ee articles on Positive Attitude at Work & coupon code spark to save 15% in online store thru 1/15/09-includes Individual Passion Test Seminar), www.KevinEikenberry.com (20 fr*ee short videos), www.Everything Counts.com (fre*e audio download from Gary Ryan Blair, Do It Right The First Time), www.BiggSuccess.com (fr*ee Goal Planning Workbook), Dr. Lisa Van Allen’s series on Strategic Planning (www.BlogTalkRadio.com search for LisaVanAllen), www.JonGordon.com/blog (fre*e ebook Positive Business Manifesto),  www.AdventuresInManifesting.com (a fr*ee copy of Good Vibe Coach Jeannette Maw’s ebook Adventures In Manifesting with coupon code GoodLove thru 12/31/09), and Byron Katie’s site www.TheWork.com (fre*e calls with trained facilitators).

Here’s to making 2010 the best year yet!

My words of the day are PMA and GRATITUDE. Through my adventures of yesterday – a smoking van when I got to Dubuque, losing a major tooth filling, getting the blue screen of death on my work laptop, and Tom getting a flat tire 15 feet from home, I chose a positive perspective and gratitude. They found a part to fix the van for under $100, I have a dentist appt. Wed., my laptop restarted just fine, and Tom got a ride to work this AM and he has a tire he can use for the repair.

A friend commented that she couldn’t believe how calm and positive I was when each of these things happened. We CAN choose our perspective and our responses.  I chose to focus on the positive side of each event and be grateful for the solutions.  Anyone can learn to do this and with practice, it gets easier. I dare you to give it a try today and let me know what happens.