120 Ways to Boost Your Brain Power

Here are 120 things you can do starting today to help you think faster, improve memory, comprehend information better and unleash your brain’s full potential.

1. Solve puzzles and brainteasers.
2. Cultivate ambidexterity. Use your non-dominant hand to brush your teeth, comb your hair or use the mouse. Write with both hands simultaneously. Switch hands for knife and fork.
3. Embrace ambiguity. Learn to enjoy things like paradoxes and optical illusions.
4. Learn mind mapping.
5. Block one or more senses. Eat blindfolded, wear earplugs, shower with your eyes closed.
6. Develop comparative tasting. Learn to properly taste wine, chocolate, beer,cheese or anything else.
7. Find intersections between seemingly unrelated topics.
8. Learn to use different keyboard layouts. Try Colemak or Dvorak for a full mind twist!
9. Find novel uses for common objects. How many different uses can you find for a nail? 10? 100?
10. Reverse your assumptions.
11. Learn creativity techniques.
12. Go beyond the first, ‘right’ answer.
13. Transpose reality. Ask “What if?” questions.
14. SCAMPER!
15. Turn pictures or the desktop wallpaper upside down.
16. Become a critical thinker. Learn to spot common fallacies.
17. Learn logic. Solve logic puzzles.
18. Get familiar with the scientific method.
19. Draw. Doodle. You don’t need to be an artist.
20. Think positive.
21. Engage in arts — sculpt, paint, play music — or any other artistic endeavor.
22. Learn to juggle.
23. Eat ‘brain foods’.
24. Be slightly hungry.
25. Exercise!
26. Sit up straight.
27. Drink lots of water.
28. Deep-breathe.
29. Laugh!
30. Vary activities. Get a hobby.
31. Sleep well.
32. Power nap.
33. Listen to music.
34. Conquer procrastination.
35. Go technology-less.
36. Look for brain resources in the web.
37. Change clothes. Go barefoot.
38. Master self-talk.
39. Simplify!
40. Play chess or other board games. Play via Internet (particularly interesting is toplay an ongoing game by e-mail).
41. Play ‘brain’ games. Sudoku, crossword puzzles or countless others.
42. Be childish!
43. Play video games.
44. Be humorous! Write or create a joke.
45. Create a List of 100.
46. Have an Idea Quota.
47. Capture every idea. Keep an idea bank.
48. Incubate ideas. Let ideas percolate. Return to them at regular intervals.
49. Engage in ‘theme observation’. Try to spot the color red as many times as possible in a day. Find cars of a particular make. Invent a theme and focus on it.
50. Keep a journal.
51. Learn a foreign language.
52. Eat at different restaurants – ethnic restaurants specially.
53. Learn how to program a computer.
54. Spell long words backwards. !gnignellahC
55. Change your environment. Change the placement of objects or furniture — or go somewhere else.
56. Write! Write a story, poetry, start a blog.
57. Learn sign language.
58. Learn a musical instrument.
59. Visit a museum.
60. Study how the brain works.
61. Learn to speed-read.
62. Find out your learning style.
63. Dump the calendar!
64. Try to mentally estimate the passage of time.
65. “Guesstimate”. Are there more leaves in the Amazon rainforest or neuron connections in your brain? (answer).
66. Make friends with math. Fight ‘innumeracy’.
67. Build a Memory Palace.
68. Learn a peg system for memory.
69. Have sex! (sorry, no links for this one!  )
70. Memorize people’s names.
71. Meditate. Cultivate mindfulness and an empty mind.
72. Watch movies from different genres.
73. Turn off the TV.
74. Improve your concentration.
75. Get in touch with nature.
76. Do mental math.
77. Have a half-speed day.
78. Change the speed of certain activities. Go either super-slow or super-fast deliberately.
79. Do one thing at a time.
80. Be aware of cognitive biases.
81. Put yourself in someone else’s shoes. How would different people think or solve your problems? How would a fool tackle it?
82. Adopt an attitude of contemplation.
83. Take time for solitude and relaxation.
84. Commit yourself to lifelong learning.
85. Travel abroad. Learn about different lifestyles.
86. Adopt a genius. (Leonardo is excellent company!)
87. Have a network of supportive friends.
88. Get competitive.
89. Don’t stick with only like-minded people. Have people around that disagree with you.
90. Brainstorm!
91. Change your perspective. Short/long-term, individual/collective.
92. Go to the root of the problems.
93. Collect quotes.
94. Change the media you’re working on. Use paper instead of the computer; voice recording instead of writing.
95. Read the classics.
96. Develop your reading skill. Reading effectively is a skill. Master it.
97. Summarize books.
98. Develop self-awareness.
99. Say your problems out loud.
100. Describe one experience in painstaking detail.
101. Learn Braille. You can start learning the floor numbers while going up or down the elevator.
102. Buy a piece of art that disturbs you. Stimulate your senses in thought-provoking ways.
103. Try different perfumes and scents.
104. Mix your senses. How much does the color pink weigh? How does lavender scent sound?
105. Debate! Defend an argument. Try taking the opposite side, too.
106. Use time boxing.
107. Allocate time for brain development.
108. Have your own mental sanctuary.
109. Be curious!
110. Challenge yourself.
111. Develop your visualization skills. Use it at least 5 minutes a day.
112. Take notes of your dreams. Keep a notebook by your bedside and record your dreams first thing in the morning or as you wake up from them.
113. Learn to lucid dream.
114. Keep a lexicon of interesting words. Invent your own words.
115. Find metaphors. Connect abstract and specific concepts.
116. Manage stress.
117. Get random input. Write about a random word in a magazine. Read random sites using StumbleUpon or Wikipedia.
118. Take different routes each day. Change the streets you follow to work, jog or go back home.
119. Install a different operating system on your computer.
120. Improve your vocabulary.
121. Deliver more than what’s expected.

Increasing Brain Power

Increasing Brain Power

How to tap into brain power - Brain Power Strengthening ...

I am not going to ask you to 'open your third eye', 'balance your chakra' or 'meditate like a zen monk'.

Though I do have a few questions or tips for you before you can learn how to tap into your brain power:

Lets talk about your brain health first because it logically follows that if you want to tap into the immense powers of your brain and realize its true potential, you first need to make sure that your brain is fit and healthy.

Brain Power Stengthening - Brain Health

Brain Power Strengthening

Brain Fitness Training

1. Does each and every cell of your brain have the oxygen that it requires?

I know that you are breathing all the time normally, yet it is a scientific fact that your regular breathing uses only one third of your lung capacity, and sometimes when you are stressed this may go even lower. What's more this is not sufficient to supply oxygen to the furthermost recesses of your brain cells.

You need to go much deeper than that. much much deeper. You have to take about 15 to 30 minutes of your time every day and indulge in deep breathing. Really deep breathing. Go as deep as you can go. Inhale really deep until you can feel your lungs expanding to their maximum 'bursting' capacity or even more. Hold your breath to a count of '10 mississipi'. Then exhale slowly. Repeat 15 - 20 times.

You will notice the difference almost immediately within the first few breath cycles. Try it right now. What do you notice... does your brain feel lighter? clearer? Calmer? Next step is to turn this into a habit. Do it everyday. At the same time. Consider it like an important first step in polishing your brain to making that vital connection to opening up the pathways to your inner most mind .

2. Next , are your brain cells well hydrated...

Your brain is made up of 70% water. and if you do not drink sufficient water every day, your brain will start getting sluggish, dehydrated or basically start 'drying up'. You will lose vital brain capacity, and it will not function at its full potential. How can you tap into a brain that is not working at optimum levels... so keep your brain well hydrated everyday. Drink 10-12 glasses of clear water daily, sipping slowly. allowing it to seep into all the cells of your body. Again turn it into a habit.

What Kinds of Foods to eat for Brain Health

Brain Food

3. Are you feeding your brain the right nourishment

- certain foods make your brain sluggish and obstruct growth. Foods that stimulate the brain and are good for brain health are those with lots of omega-3 and B12 vitamins (salmon is a good source of those), lots of antioxidant rich fruits and leafy green vegetables, whole grains and nuts.

At the same time keep yourself away from 'bad brain food': Alcohol, nicotine, sugary drinks, fatty foods, sugars, white breads and processed foods with artificial additives. Try and maintain a healthy brain diet. Make this a habit. It's good for your over all health too. Also do not overeat whether good or bad food. Too much of a good thing can also turn bad. So stay away from overeating.

How to Unlock Your Brain Power

Unlock Your Brain Power

Brain Fitness Exersizing

4. Are you exercising every day...

Yes just as well as your body, your brain needs exercise too. In addition to the increased oxygen intake, exercise also pushes up your pulse, this dilates your blood vessels and they pump more blood and oxygen into your brain. Your brain thrives on it. So make it a habit to exercise regularly for a healthy brain.

5. Stimulate your brain by engaging it in things that you would normally not do.

For instance go take up painting, or music, or learn a new language or take up puzzles like soduko. This is just for brain stimulation. You are challenging your brain to forge new neural pathways keeping it active and stimulated. Remember, the more you use it, the more you will be able to tap into its creative higher powers of your mind.

6. Your brain loves variety.

So introduce new things into your schedule everyday. Don't just wake up, have breakfast, go to work, come back home, watch some TV then go back to sleep. Then wake up again and... You get my point. That gets boring. Introduce something different into your day everyday. It may be as simple as taking a different route to work. Going bowling instead of watching TV ... that is, Introduce some variety into your day.

7.Work on cultivating the right state of mind.

This is very important. A positive, expectant, thankful and relaxed frame of mind is the best state for allowing you to tap into the hidden powers of your mind. So keep away from all kinds of negative news, avoiding reading or listening or even talking about it. Or avoid mixing with negative people as much as you can.

Read and watch things that are inspiring, uplifting, motivating. Surround yourself with beautiful, uplifting, positive things, people and events. Focus on the beauty and bounty of nature and the positive side of things in your life. In fact focus on finding the positive side even if you think you don't have it. Maintain an attitude of expectancy... as if you are expecting some great news, or breakthrough or beautiful surprises. Expect the best, focus on the positive and be thankful about it all.

8. Finally, relax and sleep tight.

Your brain needs it's beauty sleep. You are living in a high tech information rich world. Your brain is being constantly bombarded with competing messages from all sensory inputs... messages taken in from your eyes, nose, ears, feelings, touch, taste are all competing with each other to get the attention of your brain.

Your brain needs time to process all that information otherwise it goes into information overload and stops functioning at less than optimum levels. So while you're sleeping, your brain is processing information... archiving, retrieving, saving, analyzing, calculating, estimating, eliminating, interacting with all the systems of your body, clearing away and deep down solving all kinds of problems, making connections where none exist. So don't skip your beauty sleep. Your brain needs it.

Developing Intuition

How to tap in to Brain Power

Now we come to the part of How to Tap into brain power:

It is a well known fact that people who are able to tap into the immense powers of their brain or subconscious mind have achieved incredible breakthroughs, overcome great obstacles, created and invented amazing works of arts and science. And of course achieved immense wealth and recognition.

In their own words such people have achieved things that were not possible for them in 'common hours'. The list of such people is endless and includes outstanding names like Beethoven the great music composer, to Albert Einstein the nobel prize winning physicist. And the fact remains that your brain is just as good as theirs if you use it wisely.

So lets put history aside and discover how to tap into brain power:

1. About the time you usually do your deep breathing, when your mind has reached its state of 'lightness' and is empty of all other thoughts, give your mind a clear cut question to which you seek an answer (your question may be seeking a solution to a specific problem that you are currently facing)...

for example, Thomas Edison the famous light bulb inventor might have said something like: "subconscious mind I know you have the answer, can you please tell me how to design a light bulb". Take another deep breath and repeat the question again. Do this procedure 3 times. Then go about your business as usual. Repeat this procedure for the next 7 days, sticking to the same time frame. And follow up on any insights, ideas, hunches or visions that may come your way.

2. While going to bed at night, think about your problem

and just before you drift off to sleep, tell yourself "XXXX, can you tell me how to solve this problem." Where 'XXXX' is your own first name. Repeat this procedure every night for the next few days. And wait for an answer. It will ultimately come to you.

3. During your waking hours shift your focus away from the problem towards the solution.

So if your problem is that you don't like your job, and want to get out of it. Well instead of focusing on things like how lousy your boss is, how tough life is , how miserable you are etc... focus on things like what kind of work you would like to do, how much you would like to earn, where would you like to work, how can you get there. That is think about the solution and how to implement it, instead of being grounded in the problem.

4. Distract your mind away from the problem...

go watch a good funny movie. Or any other interesting movie that will engage you completely. Or engage in some other relaxing activity that you enjoy immensely. This distracts your conscious mind from thinking about the matter at hand, and allows your subconscious to work out a solution.

5. Finally, Relax with the unwavering faith in the ability of your brain / mind to bring you a solution to your problem.

And take action as soon as you get any ideas, hunches etc.

Here are some more increasing brain power articles you may want to read for deeper insights about tapping the incredible powers of your brain:

• Phantom in the Brain
• Using Your mind to attract everything You desire