A big hello from my brain to yours. My name is Lemay Henderson, and I’m a family doctor with a special interest in helping you explore your mental potential. I’m here to give you tips and tools to boost your mental fitness at any age. Oh, and I also want to help you do everything possible to NOT get Alzheimer’s – or any other form of dementia for that matter.
This post marks the beginning of a blog all about the brain and mind, and how to make the most of your mind for the rest of your life. While I’ll write a lot about the brain, I think the mind is a more interesting (though more elusive) concept than the brain. I like to stay clear of philosophical debates about what is mind vs. brain. I would simply define them thus:
The brain is the physical organ responsible for orchestrating a myriad of physical, emotional, and mental activities that are necessary for human life and experience to occur. The mind is a less “physical” term and has more to do with your subjective experience. I think of it as the inner life. It is what animates us from within. It is also the pathway by which we connect to the world and to other people.
As Julian Huxley says in The Phenomenon of Man,
“The brain alone is not responsible for mind, even though it is a necessary organ for its manifestation. Indeed an isolated brain is a piece of biological nonsense.”
So what I’m most interested in is how we can attain mastery over the mind. (I have learned through many years of meditation practice how unruly the mind is in its undisciplined state!). This blog is about helping you find ways to:
-protect your brain from age-related decline in function
-train your mind to remember, concentrate, and problem solve more effectively
-become more creative
-significantly boost your learning capacity
-harness the power of your mind to experience both your inner and outer life in a more meaningful and fulfilling way
In a nutshell, I hope to help you push your mental “envelope” and discover your best mind.
On that note, what if you could “sculpt” your mind to be exactly what you wanted it to be? Michelangelo defined sculpture as “an art that takes away superfluous material”. What if you could unveil your best mind by simply removing what was hampering its natural state of optimal functioning? What if the trouble you’ve had learning and functioning in school, in your job, etc is because no one ever helped you find your best learning path – the way of learning that is uniquely suited to you? What if your natural mind instinctively knew how to learn before you were conditioned to accept the prevailing doctrine of “how everyone learns”?
I find the sculpting metaphor encouraging. And to think that the mind is infinitely more forgiving and flexible than a block of marble! You don’t have to hold your breath worried that one miscalculation will result in a slip of the chisel that permanently ruins the sculpture.
Unlike marble, your psycho-neural matrix will adapt valiantly if you make a mistake, or if you want to (or have to) change course. This is the gift of brain plasticity (more on this in future blog entries).
Here’s to the your personal evolution and the creation of your best mind yet!
Until next time…
Lemay Henderson
on twitter @lemayhenderson