Where there is ruin, there is hope for a treasure.
Rumi ~ Persian mystical poet
Every experience, no matter how bad it seems, holds within it a blessing of some kind. The goal is to find it.
Buddha
Dear brothers, is your life full of difficulties and temptations? Then be happy, for when the way is rough, your patience has a chance to grow. So let it grow, and don’t try to squirm out of your problems. For when your patience is finally in full bloom, then you will be ready for anything, strong in character, full and complete.
James 1:2-4 TLB
Truth Speaks
This morning I had one of those ah-ha! moments. I think it happened as a result of my crisscross reading of authors and genres of late. When I arrived at this intersection of ideas, I realized a transcendent principle had wafted its way into the forefront of my conscious mind: namely, that TRUTH transcends time.
Truth has no beginning and it has no end. What is true today, was true yesterday and will be true tomorrow. There is nothing new under the sun. Truth cannot be contained; it is of spiritual essence; it is not bound by time, space or matter;
it does not discriminate; it sees not ethnicity, gender, culture, status, age, politic or economy. Spoken clearly, spoken loudly, spoken softly it matters not how it speaks, or from whose mouth it issues; the voice of truth has many facets and speaks every language in existence. Truth is like the crown jewel of creation; its fount flows freely for all to partake. Truth calls out to those who have ears to hear…listen, learn, and live life to the full.
35. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
36. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
Regina Brett, 90 years old
Life Lessons (from the list of 42)
33. Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.
34. Your children get only one childhood.
Regina Brett, 90 years old
Life Lessons (from the list of 42)
Humility
Humility makes us ready to be blessed by the God of all grace,
and fits us to deal efficiently with our fellow men.
True humility is a flower which will adorn any garden.
This is a sauce with which you may season every dish of life,
and you will find an improvement in every case.
Whether it be prayer or praise, whether it be work or suffering,
the genuine salt of humility cannot be used in excess.
Morning and Evening ~ Charles Spurgeon
Spell Me a Sign…for Brain Power
As you may or may not know, novelty is a key component in creating healthy brain architecture. This is the third post in the brainpower series and in today’s mind enlarging message I would like to give you another activity that will challenge and grow your brain’s neural network, specifically your visual and motor skill centers. You can enhance and wake up your brain’s neural connections by learning this new skill: sign language.
I had the opportunity to learn sign language some years ago when I was raising my infant grandchild. I wanted to be able to communicate with my grandson and have him be able to communicate with me long before he could speak words and sentences. He was not hearing impaired, but learning and teaching him sign language gave us a way to communicate before he was verbal. It was fun (and a bit challenging) to teach an infant to mimic hand signs to communicate about things and ideas like: eat, more, all-done, dirty, apple, dog, cat, bird, banana, etc. But even before his first birthday, my grandson and I could express rudimentary needs and ideas by using sign language.
For adults, learning sign language is like learning a foreign language, and unless an we have strong intrinsic motivation, most of us tend to lose interest quickly in the novelty of acquiring a secondary language. But I would like to challenge you to approach learning sign language as a health and well-being activity. Practice making the simple letter signs of the alphabet with your hand and fingers; then coordinate these letters to sign your name. This activity is a powerful, two-fold brain trainer. Using your hands and eyes at the same time to sign letters and memorizing these symbols and the order in which to use them requires muscle (motor), visual and memory skills to be employed simultaneously. This effective training activity is like a tonic for our brains. Not only will learning this skill recharge sluggish neural connections but when practiced faithfully, you will also make brand new neural connections (muscle memory). And that’s how you build a strong brain!
So go ahead, spell me a sign! A chart of the sign language alphabet is pictured below…give it a try and show someone you know your newly acquired brainpower from the palm of your hand!
By His quiet He conclusively proved Himself
to be the true Lamb of God.
As such we salute Him this morning.
Be with us, Jesus,
and in the silence of our heart,
let us hear the voice of Thy love.
Morning & Evening ~ Charles Spurgeon
He was beaten, he was tortured,
but he didn’t say a word.
Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered
and like a sheep being sheared,
he took it all in silence.
Isaiah 53:7
(THE MESSAGE: The Bible in
Contemporary Language 2002)
Silence of the Lamb
31. Believe in miracles.
32. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
Regina Brett, 90 years old
Life Lessons (from the list of 42)
Organize and Rearrange…for Brain Power
In the previous ‘Brain power‘ post, I discussed the value of mixing up our exercise and activity routines to help our neural network make new connections. Practicing non-dominant activities helps our brain build redundancy into our brain circuitry. Such behaviors may in fact help ward off or reduce the effects of aging and disease. In today’s post I would like to consider the refreshing brain benefits of organizing and re-arranging our living spaces.
Brain researchers have known for some time that organized people perform better on memory tests. Getting organized helps build better memory. The old adage ‘A place for everything and everything in its place’ is built on this organization principle. But organization skills do not have to be exorbitant to be helpful. Spending five minutes organizing one’s desk or medicine cabinet can improve efficiency, memory and possibly reduce stress levels too.
A related activity, re-arrangement, also helps our brains strengthen spatial and visual connections. For instance, by re-arranging furniture in your living spaces on an occasional basis, the brain must re-map neural connections to assist us in navigating the new floor space and layout. Something as simple as moving a trash can from one location to another, requires our brains to re-map circuitry (memory and movement) as we must now navigate to a new location to throw away a piece of litter. Taking a different route home (on foot or in our vehicle) provides a similar benefit.
It doesn’t require much, except may a little creativity on our part, to change the scenery in which we reside and navigate. Kitchen cabinets, pantries, desks, counters and backyard walkways all provide ample opportunities for us to challenge and improve our brain’s neural pathways.
Remember, brainpower increases and improves when we build novelty into our regular activity patterns. When we do familiar things in unfamiliar ways we wake up nerve cells which in turn increases blood flow to make these new connections for our brain cells. A little change goes a long way.
29. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
30. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
Regina Brett, 90 years old
Think...Feel...Be....BodyWise! 