Mindconnection eNL, 2009-03-08

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In this issue:
Brainpower | Finances | Security | Health/Fitness | Factoid | Product Highlight | Thought for the Day

If your list contains less than three items, your brain may be in danger. Now, I'm not saying you could end up as brain-impaired as a member of CONgress in the near future. But even a fate less extreme isn't good.

The smartest people incorporate brain improvement and maintenance into their lifestyles. Here are some examples of activities undertaken:

• Go to bed early. Adequate sleep is a huge factor. Chronic sleep deprivation, even if minor, has profound consequences over time.
   
• Read. The brain of a reader and the brain of a chronic television watcher differ so greatly that a qualified medical examiner can tell them apart during an autopsy. The reader's brain has far more development of the "smartness" structures.
   
• Laugh. If you go all day without a good laugh, something's wrong. A negative mood creates a hormonal environment that works against being smart. If you get a good laugh and are generally upbeat, your brain works better.
   
• Bask. It also helps if you get can bask in some praise from others. When we feel appreciated, we relax and our minds work better. One way to get the ball rolling in this direction is to pick any person at random and make a list of half a dozen things great about that person. Then, pick one and share it.
   
• Challenge. When's the last time you did something that made you struggle, even if only a little bit? Solving problems of any kind is good brain exercise. If you don't have a job or hobby that provides such challenges, you now know where to look for improvement.

The flipside of this is things people do that reduce brainpower. Can you think of any brainpower reduction activities you've engaged in? Here are some examples.

• Watching television. There's a reason we call it the "boob tube." It makes you stupid. Period.
   
• Reading newspapers. The disinformation causes cognitive dissonance and impairs your logic circuits.
   
• Eating processed foods (generally). Even if you buy only items that don't have toxins on the label (ruling out something like 95% of the available product offerings), you are still dealing with FDA requirements specifying the allowable number of fly eggs, roach legs, rat hairs, fecal particles, and other things that aren't exactly good for you.

You don't need an exhaustive list, in either case. Just be mindful of what you're doing. Stop to reflect on whether it's going to make you smarter. If so, it's a "preferred" activity. If it's something that will make you dumber, it's non-preferred. These preferences, of course, have to be swapped if you run for CONgress--in that case, do only those things that make you dumber so you fit in with other people who can't manage to do anything right.

(https://www.mindconnection.com/library/financial/incometaxregressive.htm)

The typical security breach happens because the victim was careless or didn't prepare. With identity theft, this is nearly always the case. Make the following lists:

• Two people you don't want harmed.
• Three possessions you leave your home with and don't want stolen.
• Four data sensitive places you don't want cracked (e.g., your online banking).
• Five possessions in your home you don't want stolen.

Now, for each of these think of three security breaches that could happen and produce the undesired result. Next, think of how you can prevent those breaches.

Notice how we are going after just a small number of problems? Solve these, and you'll find the same solutions tend to protect just about everything else. Security isn't something you buy. It's a way of living. Rather than live on red alert, protect yourself with smart planning and consistent execution.

In the USA, the average person emerges from the holidays with an extra 10 lbs of body fat. For an average adult male, that increases the risk of prostate cancer by an order of magnitude. Women also have compelling reasons to ensure they don't carry around extra body fat.

But those spring-time crash diets aren't the answer. Not only do they produce gnawing hunger and irritability, they cause physical damage to your body. And, they dim your thinking processes. Now is probably not a good time to go into work all dim-brained.

The correct answer is a sustainable practice known as portion control. It is my method. I'm 48 in the picture at right. I have absolutely the wrong genes for "naturally lean." My "secret" to looking this way is sustained, consistent portion control. Anyone can do it.

Here's an article to help you have that lean body without the whacky diets: http://www.supplecity.com/articles/portioncontrol.htm.

This course helps you to understand why most presentations are terrible, boring, and ineffective. And how to make yours just the opposite.

You will be able to design a presentation that gets your message across while delighting your audience. Huge bonus of this presentation course: You will learn how to stop inflicting people with "death by PowerPoint."
 

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