How to Keep Your Brain Young

Norman Wright H.

Description

Enrich your brain, enrich your life! Do you ever feel like you're losing your way around your own brain? Words you know vanish off your tongue, and you write down all your appointments so you don't risk forgetting them. These changes can be alarming, but the good news is they don't have to be permanent. In How to Keep Your Brain Young, bestselling Christian counselor H. Norman Wright breaks down the basics of how your brain works and gives you easy yet successful strategies for bettering your brain. You'll learn ways to improve your memory, overcome stress, and transform negative thought habits into positive ones. Make the most of this incredible gift God has given you! Whether you're young or old, right-brained or left, How to Keep Your Brain Young is packed full of simple yet invaluable tips to help you stay sharp for a lifetime.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Harvest House Publishers
• Date de parution: 09 février 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780736980562
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS
EUGENE, OREGON
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version , NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Verses marked ESV are taken from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Verses marked AMPC are taken from the Amplified Bible, Classic Edition . Copyright 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. ( www.Lockman.org )
Verses marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible, copyright 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Verses marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version . Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Verses marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible , 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. ( www.Lockman.org )
Cover design by Kyler Dougherty
Interior design by Angie Renich / Wildwood Digital Publishing
Cover photo serkorkin/gettyimages
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How to Keep Your Brain Young
Copyright 2020 by H. Norman Wright
Published by Harvest House Publishers
Eugene, Oregon 97408
www.harvesthousepublishers.com
ISBN 978-0-7369-8055-5 (pbk.)
ISBN 978-0-7369-8056-2 (eBook)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020946053
All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other-without the prior written permission of the publisher. The authorized purchaser has been granted a nontransferable, nonexclusive, and noncommercial right to access and view this electronic publication, and purchaser agrees to do so only in accordance with the terms of use under which it was purchased or transmitted. Participation in or encouragement of piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of author s and publisher s rights is strictly prohibited.
Contents
PART ONE
1. How s Your Brain?
2. Getting to Know Your Brain
3. Hardwired to Change
4. The Basics of Brain Refreshment
5. Right and Left
6. Who You Are Inside
7. Thanks for the Memories I Think
8. Rehearse, Repeat
PART TWO
9. Worry on the Mind
10. The Grieving Brain
11. When It Hurts Too Much
12. Shaped by Your Thoughts
13. Rewriting the Past
14. Let the Spirit Lead You
Notes
About the Author
I ll Never Forget That Day
Is Your Yesterday Getting in the Way of Today and Tomorrow?
About the Publisher
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
Psalm 139:14 ESV
PART ONE
CHAPTER 1
How s Your Brain?
I magine this. You go to your doctor for a yearly checkup. You wait for a while, thumbing through some magazines or checking your smartphone. Finally, a nurse or technician comes out and leads you into a small, sterile examining room, which is quite cold and unfriendly, and there you wait some more. You hear footsteps coming down the hall, but then they disappear.
Finally-yes, finally-the door opens, and your doctor or PA appears. Since this is a yearly exam, the doctor wants to be thorough, so the questions begin. You re ready with a list of symptoms to discuss, from the big problems to the small pains that come and go from day to day. You want to know what those aches and pains mean or do you? What if it could be cancer? What if it could be inoperable? What if it could be the beginning of an incapacitating disease? Because your third cousin had that illness at 35, and Aunt Janice and your mother died too early
But the doctor s first question is not what you expect. He looks at your chest and then looks at you and says, How s your brain?
Silence.
How s my brain? What kind of question is that ?
I ve never actually been asked that question, and you probably haven t either. But we should ask ourselves this question, for the brain is the foundation of much of our lives.
It s a mystery. It only weighs three pounds, regardless of your weight. Without this organ, your heart wouldn t beat, your lungs wouldn t breathe, and your limbs would be immobilized.
This unique mass directs what you do. Your brain is a series of complex systems that sustain life. It was working before you were born. Your brain is constantly on call. It tells your heart what to do continually. If you want air, it directs your lungs to breathe. Your brain has the consistency of gelatin. It s cushioned from everyday jolts and bumps by cerebrospinal fluid inside your skull. A violent blow to your head and neck or upper body can cause your brain to slide back and forth forcefully against the walls of your skull. And over 90 percent of what we know about the brain has been discovered in the last ten years. It s involved in all you experience in life. 1
We were created in such a marvelous way, especially our brain. Perhaps this passage from Scripture describes it best: I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well (Psalm 139:14).
Build Your Muscles
This is the era of building our bodies (at least for some of us). I ve had friends spend two hours a day at the gym trying to add some bulk onto their body. They grunt, sweat, and keep at it, hoping their muscles will reflect the results of aging. One day I asked one of them what his workout routine was as well as his purpose. He said, I go through all of this to keep my body in shape. I don t want my muscles to become flabby. I want to increase their strength. I want to look better as well (that was questionable). When I work out, I m more alert and sharper at my work. I feel energized. I want muscle strength. And I want others to notice me more, you know
I replied with, So are you working on every muscle?
He answered, I think I ve identified every muscle, and I have a program for each one.
I then asked, What about your brain? What s your workout plan for your brain?
Silence-more silence. He looked at me as though I had lost it and said, What are you talking about? This is a gym-you know-build muscles. The body, not the mind.
He walked away shaking his head like I d lost my mind! But it s true.
The facts are simple: Your brain is like a muscle, and it needs exercise. Its substance may be different, but plain and simple, like any muscle, it needs exercise to stay healthy. But how do you accomplish this? From this point on, think about strengthening your brain. Your brain needs a workout, and you may be surprised to learn that the best way for this to occur is information! Yes, plain old information. It s any kind of information which activates the neurons (these will be discussed later) in your head. But at the same time, we can feed our body. We need many kinds of good, solid information, and this includes learning about neurons (yes, we ll talk about these later) while looking for some way to get an abundance of the brain s activity that swarms over the neurons, which in turn activates the neurons. The more this occurs, the better we feel, and the neurons are more likely to increase. This is how we change and grow.
When we learn and when we problem-solve, we feel better. It may come as a surprise to you to know that humor is a great way to stretch your brain. Humor can feed your brain in the same way that complex information does. In fact, the more you laugh or the funnier the information, the more neurons are activated.
Singer Reba McIntyre likes to repeat an old saying: To succeed in life you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone, and a funny bone. Think back over the times in your life when you experienced a momentary discouraging setback. All seemed bleak as you counted up your losses. Bouncing back didn t seem like a viable option. Then, in the midst of the dark season, something struck you as funny. You heard a hilarious joke or watched a gut-splitting comedy, or just enjoyed a fun dinner out with really good friends where laughter was the main course of the evening. Suddenly, you felt better! For no apparent reason, your entire outlook changed, yet your circumstances were still the same. What just happened? Dr. Caroline Leaf explains:

Many studies show why laughter deserves to be known as the best medicine. It releases an instant flood of feel-good chemicals that boost the immune system and almost instantly reduce levels of stress hormones. For example, a really good belly laugh can make cortisol drop by 39% and adrenaline by 70%, while the feel-good hormone, endorphin, increases by 29%. It can even make growth hormones skyrocket by 87%! Other research shows how laughter boosts your immune system by increasing immunity levels and disease-fighting cells According to research, laughing 100 to 200 times a day is equal to 10 minutes of rowing or jogging! Laugher quite literally dissolves distressing toxic emotions because you can t feel mad or sad when you laugh. Endorphins are released, making you feel so great and at peace that toxic thoughts can t get out of your brain fast enough. 2
Wise King Solomon was right when he said, A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones (Proverbs 17:22 NKJV ). Laughter is just another way the body is made to bounce. 3

Your brain is amazing. It generates the equivalent of about ten to fifteen watts of energy-enough to power an LED bulb. Everything you ve experienced thus far has altered the physical structure of your brain. Your family of origin, your culture, your friends, you