The mind is a complex. I am sure most people would agree that keeping your mind in good shape is about as serious and important as keeping your body in good shape. As the saying goes, “If you don’t use it you will lose it.” This has never seemed so true as more and more people seem to be getting Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Now although there does not seem to be a cure OR a specific reason as to why someone would get Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, most people would agree that keeping one’s mind sharp is a great way to stay healthy and attempt to ward off any mental illness.
While doing a great deal of reading is good, pushing your mind no matter what your age is very important. Learning a new language is a good way to push your mind and keep it sharp. Also, learning a musical instrument is a good way to stay sharp (as well as find a good and cool way to spend your time. The key though is learning something new. We have to push our minds at all ages. If you give up and say, “I’ve learned all I want to learn in life” and then spend all your days watching television I would imagine that would be the worst thing a person could do with their mind.
Talking to people is great. Staying in touch with old friends is good but talking to new people from different places in the world is also a good way to keep that mind in shape. And if you can try to talk to someone in a new and different language that you just learned than you are in great shape.
Having a sense of peace, feeling loved and having a place in the world is very important.
Finding peace:
If you need to find that peace in your life I would suggest three things. First, find a quiet place in your life. Literally. Find a quiet place as in a quiet park or room. You want to be able to have some quiet time to reflect, relax, and think. Or as some would say and want, you want to be able to get all the “outside” noise out of your life and possibly not think. This leads to the second thing. Meditation. If this seems really weird for you. You can pray, chant, or sing. The most important thing is repetition. You want to be able to repeat something so much that the whole world of angst, anxiety, want, and fear disappears. You will find great peace in this place of emptiness and quiet. Personally, I find a form of meditation through music. I also meditate occasionally but not nearly enough. I have found that chanting (if you are a Buddhist), praying (if you are a Christian, Jew, or Muslim), or meditating all seem to have similar effects. There is an interesting article from Wikipedia right here about Christian meditation. I have done this before when I was younger. I would have this great big hang-over and would be at work in a very stressful situation. What I did was this; I would go into a closet (I know, sounds silly) and focus on an orange. First the color orange. Then an actual orange. Then the smell of an orange. After about 10 minutes of doing this I would be good for a few hours. There is almost an endless amount of ideas as to how or what to meditate on (including specific religious or personal ideas). The most important thing to remember is that having large, complex or multiple ideas will sometimes lead to scattered thought which is counterproductive to trying to find peace within meditation. So if you are not going to meditate with the classic old idea of meditating where you focus on eliminating everything until you have nothing, than at least try to focus on one idea and make it simple and nurturing.
Feeling Loved:
Now this is kind of complex and yet simple. First off you have to know that you are loved. We are all loved. If you don’t feel that you are loved than I seriously suggest you find either a way to talk to someone and get advice or you make a good attempt to find friends and a possible relationship if you don’t have one. It is important to know that you are NOT validated or defined by having a relationship or what type of relationship you have. But it is important to have love in your life. What’s also important is that you FEEL loved. How you feel is actually more important that what is really going on in your life. If twenty people love you dearly but you don’t accept this, then there is a problem and you need to talk things out and possibly get help (either a psychologist or some mental help professional). We all need to know that we are connected to the universe. As cheesy as this sounds, it is true. I could spend thirty paragraphs talking about the science of how we are all connected but I will spare you the boring details. I will come back later with a few links for those who do not believe the connection we all have (scientifically) with the universe. So we are all connected and you are loved. Know this and live this. If you do not feel loved enough than go out, find friends, re-connect with people in your life. Do it. Love is very important. If you need a kick start, visit WeAreLove.com
Having a place in the world:
We all have a place in the world. This doesn’t mean “know you place” as a teacher would yell at some kid condescendingly. This is more of a loving interconnected way of thinking. Think of it as this; what do you want out of this world and what do you think you are here to do? When you start asking yourself these two questions than finding your place becomes an easier task. Some people get an idea of what they want out of life when they are young. Some people think they know why they are here from the start. And some people seem to not have a clue as to what they want to do or who they are as a person.
It’s all good. Life is a journey and we all go at our own pace. There are some things I just don’t get and other things come easy. We all learn at our own pace and accept certain answers to life “when we are ready.” It would be sad to think someone spent their entire life not knowing what makes them happy and what they are good at. I once had a conversation with a older relative who told me when I was 12 years old, “You go to school, get an education. You graduate and get a good job. You get married. Than you have children and that’s life.” I thought to myself…. “WOW!” If that is all there is to life than I think someone is missing something. Looking back now though I can’t judge this person who told me this. I look at this is two ways. I see the person who told me this as a great person who worked hard for his family and took care of them well. They had many other lesson in life to teach. I admire them but I know that this conversation sat with me forever and helped spark something that has grown ever since. I can find the many endless great things in life that make us all different and special. I can find creative expression around the world and find people in need who need help. I can find something in the universe scientifically and spiritually that makes me smile. And that’s who I am. That conversation I had with my relative somehow may have been the antithesis of who I am inside but it inspired me to go further than I would have without it. I know one of the reasons I am here is to learn, search, seek, and share. I also have a great need to help. I have a great need and want to create. Put it all together and you have websites (such as this one), music, and film. I create. I share, And I try to help. This is my place in the world. I’m happy with it. What is your place in the world? Ask yourself. Find it. Know it. Be it. Live it.
The mind is a complex thing indeed. We may never know what it is completely capable of and we may never know where it starts, stops, and what happens to our minds when we die. But this we do know, we have to take care of it, we need to push it intellectually, and we need to give it a break from thinking. Silence. Peace.