Shaping Up...Your Brain

I’m seeing a plethora of advertisements on television and social media for gym memberships, online physical training apps, weight loss programs, and in-home exercise machinery. I get it. It’s January and with the New Year (along with the guilt from too much holiday candy) comes the resolve to get in shape. 

 

A New Day. A New Year.

People long to become physically fit. They want to feel better and look better. It’s a given. So much so, the companies selling these products and services know this is a peak sales season for the fitness world.

 

This year I am launching my own fitness program free of charge. It is a program to exercise that muscle you may have been neglecting: Your Brain. 

 

Why listen to me? Certainly many of my readers know me as an author. In truth, I have this "other life." My doctoral work at the University of Cincinnati was in Educational Foundations with an emphasis in Psychological Foundations. I have served as both a teacher in public education and as a professor at a small Christian university. There I worked with both undergraduates and graduate students in areas of education, psychology and counseling.

 

Exercising our brains is important. It is perhaps more important now than ever.  I’m serious. Months of COVID fatigue, endless hours of television, and growing concerns about our future as a united nation have taken a serious toll on our mental well being. 

 

And now it is winter. 

 

Creativity, inventing, and problem solving are in our DNA as Americans. I have traveled extensively. I’ve lived abroad. Very few nations offer the freedom and resources to their citizenry as we do in the United States to achieve our dreams. 

 

Yes, I know not everyone in our nation has equal access to everything. But we all have access to dream, create, and to strive for a better world. Trust me, I have known people who lived in places where they were told what to think, when to think it, and when to stop thinking it.

 

If you exercise your brain, you’ll feel better for it and stand a bit taller among your friends and family. You’ll be more confident, more thoughtful (or at least thought-filled), more creative, a better problem solver, and happier.

 

I could guarantee it, but then again, I’m not charging you anything for it. These benefits are true. Proven. Of course to make the program work, you’ll need to do a few things yourself. 

 

You may need to withdraw from some television and social media. You may have to read something. And if you go with me on this journey, you will be required at one point to try something new. 

 

Over the next couple of months, I’ll be sharing success stories, tips, games, activities, resources, and a bit of research evidence for you to use to dazzle your friends.

 

Your first assignment?

Create a list of all those items on your “to do before I die” list. You know what I’m talking about. I hear them all the time. Some call it their "bucket list."

 

“I would love to write a book.”

“I would love to read a book.”

 

“I wish I could play the piano.”

“I wish I could speak Spanish.”

 

“One day, I’d like to paint a picture.”

“Someday, I’m going to …” For that one I’ll let you fill in the blank. 

 

Write them all down. You aren’t going to do them all. Yet. 

 

Write down any and every dream you have. 

 

Make note of everything you feel would stretch you to that place where you feel a sense of accomplishment, that height where indeed you stand a little taller. And make note of this: You can always add to the list and nobody will ding you for not doing everything on it!

 

So are you ready? Invite your friends. Let’s get started. Together we can make 2021 the best year ever! Make that list and I'll see you here next week.

For ideas and encouragement you can

 follow me on Twitter: @WatersAuthor 

or check in on my FaceBook Author Page: Rebecca Waters Author

I can't wait to hear from you.

 

From my Bio:

Rebecca Waters, EdD, completed her undergraduate work at the University of South Florida and her graduate studies at the University of Cincinnati. She served as a public school teacher for 18.5 years and as a professor of teacher education for 14.5 years. Rebecca taught for a year in a private school in Kosovo where she also served as the elementary principal and the school’s liaison to the American Embassy. Rebecca is the author of two novels, Breathing on Her Own and Libby’s Cuppa Joe. Her novella, Courtesy Turn appears in the anthology, From the Lake to the River. You will also find her work in the popular Chicken Soup for the Soul books. All of her books, including three books on writing, are available HERE on Amazon.