Back from his trip to Hong Kong and China, Terence Chang has sexy on his mind. Joanne of The Laidback Buddhist, a.k.a. the Super High Resolution Buddhist, has, ahem, sex on her mind. And, it’s never too far away in Doug’s mind.

With all this hanky-panky in the blogosphere, maybe it’s time to sex things up. And, what is sexier than a beautiful mind?

The terms “open mind” and “closed mind” have become political fodder these days. Someone is agreeable to your ideas, well, they’re open-minded. Someone disagrees, and they’re closed-minded. Closed-minded has become the more negative accusation, being hurled at anyone that isn’t entirely open to every nut-brained idea under the sun.

But, let’s cast away those notions. Forget politics and politicians and political bloggers and all that hullabaloo! Let’s talk about genuine ideas and not the latest fad or wacky behavior.

Imagine an old woman who’s lived her whole life in the city. Never seen a wild animal other than pigeons or rats; hardly seen any animals except for cats and dogs and what ever pets friends may have had through the years. Her school years are far behind her, and she’s never seen anything more exotic than a snake, a cow or a horse.

Imagine showing her a photograph of a platypus. Would she even believe such a creature exists? You can easily imagine her arguing there was no such creature, that it was nothing more than a wolperdinger or a jackalope, that it was some fake creature cobbled together with bits and parts of other animals. You may never be able to convince her it was real.

The old woman has a closed mind.

We are all presented with ideas throughout our lives. When we think, we associate ideas with other ideas. How many times have you seen some new gadget or technology and said to yourself, Why didn’t I think of that? Often, there are old ideas put to use in a new way. Once we see them in action, it is so obvious and deviously simple that we kick ourselves for not associating the ideas first, and cashing in!

Minds that continue to freely associate ideas are open minds.

Some ideas pair off better than others. Because of that, we sometimes miss out on creating those aforementioned ideas because the pairing in our minds wasn’t so strong. We never seriously thought that these two (or more) particular ideas belonged together. But, someone else did!

Sometimes the bond between two ideas may be so strong that they are virtually inseparable. But, in an open mind, you must allow the ideas to separate so that they may more easily attach to other ideas. That doesn’t mean the original bonding isn’t still a good idea, only that the original bond should not be held at the exclusion of all others.

The old woman can’t imagine a mammal with a duck’s bill. She associates fur and hair with cats and dogs and rats and other furry animals. A beak or bill belongs on a duck or a pigeon or a goose and other feathered animals. She cannot imagine something that “belongs” on a duck being on a mammal. Therefore, her mind tells her that an animal like that cannot exist. It must be fake.

While this may be an extreme case–the platypus is certainly an unusual animal!–you can imagine it happening to lesser degrees. Sometimes we get used to things being as they have always been that we cannot imagine them otherwise. Who would want a computer in their home? What would you do with it? Computers belong in big companies. Why would a person need or want one of their own? Such was the attitude just a few decades ago. People couldn’t break the associations they had with computers. Fortunately, some people could and now you’re reading this today because of them!

Paired ideas in our minds should have open marriages. They may freely commit adultery, while still remaining committed to their idea-mate. Sexy, eh?

Let your ideas, married or not, get out there and mingle!

But, while doing so, be reminded that it’s also okay to maintain a closed mind. As I said before, forget the political mumbo-jumbo. Having a closed mind isn’t a bad thing.

Some idea-marriages are best left alone. Some ideas should not cheat on each other. They should stick with their idea-mate! For example, it would probably be a bad idea to have a TV screen in the middle of a car’s steering wheel. A truly open mind would say, Why not? A closed mind would recognize this pairing of ideas as a bad marriage that no amount of counseling would ever be able to fix.

You have to have the right balance between an open mind and a closed mind! Too open, and you come up with wacky ideas that are patently stupid. Too closed, and you’ll never make those associations between ideas that generate new ideas.

So, forget about those silly notions that a closed mind is bad and an open mind is good. The truth is that a balanced mind is best!

Assuming that you are sitting at your computer reading this, stand up. Seriously. Stand up, right now.

Okay, now, walk around the room. Go ahead. I’ll wait…

You found your way back, eh? Wait… Don’t sit down yet.

Now, do it again, but with your eyes closed (don’t do this if this might be dangerous to your particular situation–like if your on a rooftop with your laptop). How far can you get before you bump into something?

If you were blind, you could probably find your way around your room, no problem. The only difference between you (assuming you are not blind) and a blind person is the absence of one–just one–sense, the sense of sight.

How is it that a blind person, not able to see the room, can find his way through, but you cannot, though you have the same other senses that he has?

Familiarity with the room? you argue.

But, don’t you have that same familiarity with your room?

The answer is, of course, that the blind person has refined his other senses in order to compensate for his lack of sight.

However, you do not need to lose a sense in order to strengthen the others!

All it takes is some practice.

Most people have already practiced such refinement with their hearing. Many people are adept at shutting out the noise and conversations around them in order to eavesdrop on a particular conversation.

Mechanics and other people that work with machinery can tune out different sounds in order to identify and troubleshoot a particular sound. To the average person, the machine makes noise. But, to the skilled operator, the machine makes a certain series of sounds when it is running properly and a different series of sounds when it is not.

Whether you want to refine your sense of sight, smell, hearing, taste, or touch, you can do so with practice.

Spend just five minutes a day practicing, and you’ll soon see how much you can improve your senses!

For your sight, look around you. What things are you looking at everyday, but not seeing? I have seen people come to a place of business, pull on the locked door, and walk away in bewilderment, while never seeing the sign on the door that says the concern moved a couple doors down.

For your hearing, you can sit in your home or office, or even outside if you wish. Listen to the sounds around you and practice honing in on particular sounds. Maybe you hear the clock ticking. Focus on it. Despite the fact that the ticking does not growing louder, it will seem so as your focus turns to it and away from the other sounds in the room. People talk of tunnel vision, but few realize that this type of narrow-focus can be applied to the other senses as well.

For your sense of taste, try different foods. Try to determine the ingredient or the spices that seasoned the meal. Try to pick out individual flavors. Start with ones that are bold and noticeable, then work your way up to identifying the more subtle taste sensations.

For your sense of smell, notice the smells around you in the room. You can smell foods in the kitchen. Maybe the perfumes and colognes of your last guests in the living room. Try to separate the different smells, and focus on one in particular. Then, move to the next.

For your sense of touch, examine different textures. Feel paper. Notice the smoothness or maybe the texture of the sheet. Feel the different textures of your clothing. Close your eyes and try to identify things simply by touching them. The aid of a trusted partner can be helpful in this instance.

With practice and focus, you can improve all of your senses. There is a boundless world of discovery around you that you probably never even notice. Explore it!

Are you a nerd? Are you a nerd and proud of it?

Let’s see how nerdy you are. Using Weird Al’s “White & Nerdy” as a general guide to nerdiness, I’ve developed this list of questions:

Are/were you first in your class at school? +5
Are/were you first in a class at school? +3

Ever played D&D? +3

Own any M.C. Escher art or books? +3

Do you drink hot tea? +3
Do you drink Earl Grey tea? +2

Still have your action figures in their original packaging? +3
On display? +3

Own a book by Stephen Hawking? +3

Have a page on MySpace? +2

Know pi to ten places? +3
A hundred places? +3
A thousand places? +3

Play Minesweeper instead of Solitaire? +3

Download and run the latest new software? +3

Do you know Pascal? +3

Do you do Calculus or any math for fun? +3

Ever used a soldering gun (or iron)? +3

Can you beat your friends and family in trivia games? +3

Are you fluent in JavaScript? +3

Are you fluent in Klingon? +5

Do you own a Segway? +5

Do you collect X-Men comics? +5
Do you collect any comics? +3

Have you ever worn a pocket protector? +5

Do you edit Wikipedia? +5

Can you quote any lines from Monty Python’s The Holy Grail? +3

Do you know HTML? +3

Do you have a webpage for your pet? +3

Do you own a fanny pack? +3
Do you wear it? +3

Were you in the AV Club? +1
Were you in the Glee Club? +2
Were you on the Chess Team? +3
Were you in the Math League? +3
Were you a member of any honor society? +2

Do you prefer Picard over Kirk? +5
Or, can’t decide between Kirk and Picard? +3

Do you own a copy of the Star Wars Christmas Special? +5
Do you wish you did? +3

Have you ever been bowling? +3
Did you go willingly? +3

Scoring

Highest possible score: 124.

What’s your score?

Mine is 43. That makes me about 35% nerdy.

I haven’t determined what different percentages should mean, but I welcome your ideas in the comments!

How many digits of pi do you remember? Do you know pi to a thousand places? Whatever you know, write it down right now, before reading any further. I’ll wait…

Still waiting…

Can’t you write faster?

Done? Okay.

This will be our first memory challenge for all who want to participate!

Now, since this is for personal growth, and no prizes will be awarded, please don’t cheat!!!

Here is how much of pi I can remember: 3.14159265358. I’ve only recently been able to count the last 8, as for a long time, I ended at 5. I used to remember it to more places.

Here it is to 25 decimal places:
3.1415926535897932384626433

If you want to go further, here is pi to a billion digits.

In the comments, enter pi as you wrote it down earlier.

For the next ten days, use the techniques mentioned in my Improving Your Memory in Just Minutes a Day post and see to how many digits you can memorize pi.

We’ll check back again in ten days and see how everyone is doing!

Spanish Proverb

“The pleasures of the senses pass quickly; those of the heart become sorrows, but those of the mind are ever with us, even to the end of our journey.”

Some people don’t see the need to improve themselves or, more especially, to improve their brains or their thinking. With regards to their mental capacity, some mistakenly believe that it is what it is.

But, we can all improve our minds. We can learn to read with more comprehension and retention. We can learn to improve our memory. We can conquer our fears.

We can achieve whatever we desire, if we put our minds to it.

As you know, there are techniques out there, such as the Law of Attraction or the Science of Getting Rich, that require a certain way of thinking.

But, to get there, you may need to train your mind to improve your focus, so you are better able to participate in those kinds of programs.

And, even if you don’t believe in those programs or ideas, it is still extremely beneficial to improve the workings of your mind.

So, if you have not done so already, please follow the links in this post and try some of the exercises described therein.

I would love to hear back about your results!

Apple
Banana
Carrot
Doughnuts
Eggplant
Fig
Green Pepper
Habañero Pepper
Iceberg Lettuce
Jalapeño Pepper

In the morning, take a few minutes and write down a list of ten items, using the first ten letters of the alphabet as shown above. You can use a theme (such as food) or not. When starting out, it may be easier to use a theme though.

Once you’ve written them down, read them over a few times and memorize them. Keep the paper in a safe place at home–don’t take it with you to work or school.

At lunch time, try to remember the ten items, writing them down if you wish.

When you get home, try to recall the items again, writing them down if you want. Then, check against the actual list and see how well you did. You can do this right when you get home, or after dinner or at bedtime.

Do this daily, changing the items each day. Once you are able to recall the ten items daily with regularity, start increasing the difficulty. If you have been using groups of items in a theme (such as food, animals, kitchen items, etc.), use a group of random items instead.

Once you have mastered that, begin adding more items to the list each day. Once you can get through all the letters of the alphabet, that will be great!

And, once you are able to recall 26 items with frequent success, stop using the alphabet method. Just choose 26 items, no matter what letter with which they begin.

This exercise takes only minutes per day, but you will be amazed at the results, especially if you don’t think you’re good at remembering things.

After a time, you will be able to go to the grocery store, and you won’t have to check your list because you’ll remember everything you need to buy!

Do you find clowns scary? Maybe you are afraid of heights or of water? Perhaps you are afraid of cats or chihuahuas? Are you more than a little claustrophobic? Or, perhaps you suffer only from liticaphobia?

It’s natural to have fears. Some even seem to think an occasional fright can be good for you. Boosts the adrenaline, you know. Many people even enjoy it; just look at the popularity of roller coasters and haunted houses.

Worry not!

With the exception of some disorders which may prevent you from otherwise living an ordinary life, fear is not a problem for most people. What is more troublesome and damaging is worry.

Do you worry that you will lose your job? Do you worry that something bad will happen to someone you love? Do you worry about being a victim of crime? Do you worry that you’ll be eaten by a mutated woodland octopus while hiking through the woods?

Worry does no one any good.

Concern, Not Worry

It is okay to be concerned about things, and to act upon that concern by taking preventative measures. Identify a problem, then plan a solution or multiple options. If you are concerned about losing your job, for example, have your resume prepared, start a home business, or just start a list of options. Do what action you can to be prepared. Once you’ve done that, why worry? What good will it do you to occupy your thoughts with things that may or may not happen? If you have a plan developed, what good will worry do you?

Face Your Worries

You should not attempt to repress your worries. Instead, examine them, scrutinize them, learn the cause of them. Then, face the situation. Examine the facts and your options. Whatever reason you may have for worry, face it in a calm and deliberate manner. Decide what you can do about the situation. Then, let that be the end of your worry.

If new concerns arise, modify your plans. Worrying about it more will achieve nothing. Don’t let worry cause you to make rash decisions or jump to incorrect conclusions. Address your concerns, as I’ve mentioned, and then let go of your worries.

Do not let worry be your master. Once you have examined all the facts, explored your options and developed a plan of action, what more can you do?

Why Worry?

If you are confident in yourself, why worry? Worrying occupies the mind and distracts you from more productive use of your mental abilities.

If you are a person of faith, and say you have trust in God, why worry? Worrying can be a sign of a weakness of faith. If you believe in God, if you trust in God, you should have no worries.

Address your concerns, face your fears and worry no more!

Whether you’re a blogger, a writer or an average person making your way through life, sharpening your powers of focus and concentration will be of great benefit to you in whatever you do. Even the simplest of tasks may be completed more quickly if you are focused on the task and not distracted by other thoughts.

People often don’t give a lot of consideration to their minds, thinking it’s something that just is and cannot be changed. But, like any other organ of the body, it can be exercised, toned and made stronger with proper training and practice. But, while there are limits to the growth and development of the body, there are no such limits for the mind.

The current exercise will be on focus. Focus is the ability to mental hold on to a particular thought or idea. This amount of attention to a particular detail may be for a mere fraction of a second, or it may be for a period of several minutes, even hours. Such focus is also referred to as concentration.

For many tasks and for any learning, focus is a definite necessity. So, being able to maintain your focus, your attention, your concentration for longer and longer periods of time will be of great benefit to your personal and professional development. Let us begin, then, with some exercises to increase your mental powers of focus.

Since I don’t have my worksheets ready for distribution just yet, what you’ll need to have is a pen or pencil, a notepad or sheet of paper, and a stopwatch or time piece of some kind. Some of you may want a calculator too.

As anyone well knows, it is much easier to focus on something you enjoy than something you don’t. So, first begin by focusing on something you like, such as sports cars, puppies, football, scrapbooking, gardening or Princess Leia in the slave bikini outfit. Whatever.

Write down your topic and the time when you begin your focus on it, and note the time when your attention lapses. Subject the start time from the end time, and notate the duration. Your object will be to increase the duration of your attention. Repeat the exercise, either using the same or a different topic.

Do this exercise until you have expanded your ability to hold your focus for a satisfactory period of time. What constitutes satisfactory will be up to you and how well you can focus your attention at the start. Some may be able to reach satisfactory results over the period of a few evenings, while others may require weeks (or more) of such mental exercise.

Once you have achieved the result you seek, it is time to move things to the next level. In this next step, you will be choosing a topic to which you are indifferent. You need to choose something for which you have neither interest or passion. It also must be something for which you also have neither dislike or hatred. Practice the same exercise with your new topic(s).

Once you have achieved a satisfactory result here, it is time for the final exercise in this process. The final exercise is the same as the first two, except this time you will be choosing topic(s) which you strongly dislike, abhor or hate. Choose things which are displeasing or unpleasurable for you. Repeat the exercise until you reach your satisfactory result.

You may, in fact, find this last step to be the easiest of all. It is no accident of nature that our brains are wired to pay attention to unpleasurable things. They often require a response and, as such, quickly and nearly comprehensively grab the mind’s attention. You may find that this last exercise requires the least practice to maintain your focus.

All these steps are important, because throughout life, you will be required to pay attention to things that please you, things for which you have no feelings, and things that bring you unpleasantness. Being able to handle all three of these will be beneficial. By following these exercises, you will see that you can train your mind and improve your mental abilities!

Another step in training your mind is understanding how your own mind works.

Using a free association technique is a good way to do this.

Start with a word, phrase or idea, and see where it takes you. Write the ideas down as they come for later study.

For example, today I heard a Kelly Clarkson song playing on the radio. That got me thinking about American Idol, which led me to thinking of other winners and runners-up, like Ruben Studdard, Clay Aiken and Katharine McPhee. Those are the only ones I could remember, having never watched the show and having forgotten (at that time) about Carrie Underwood.

And, when you think of Katharine McPhee, what naturally comes to mind? Why Archie McPhee, of course!

That, naturally, leads to the Martian Popping Thing, which is a nice stress reliever.

Try it yourself!

Understanding how your own thought patterns work will later help you to train and improve your mind, in such areas as memory and clear thinking.

Since last November (or thereabouts), I have been working on an eBook on the Development of Brain Power, which features a practical system for increasing your mental abilities. This is without stuff like, “imagine it and it will be yours!”

I was initially excited about it, but now I’m not sure if there would even be much interest. In the past few months, I have only had one visitor express interest in it.

Now, that I have this blog, why not share some information and see how it goes, eh?

This is an early step in the system, and it involves managing your thoughts.

A lot of people talk about living in the moment, but how many people are actually thinking in the moment? Remember the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode where Data had a girlfriend? She asked what was going through his mind when they were together, and he rattled off a number of things. She was miffed that she wasn’t the sole focus of his thoughts.

Men (and women) aren’t androids, and while we may not be thinking as many things as Data did, certainly we have a lot of thoughts going on in our head, beyond what is relevant at the moment.

Increasing your brain power means that you have to think in the moment. A lot of people let their minds wander when they do routine tasks. They believe that they are being more productive by thinking of other tasks while doing another task.

But, you will be more productive by thinking in the moment, by focusing on the task at hand.

But, my job is boring. I don’t need to think to do [whatever]!

Sure you do. When your mind wanders, you’re not focusing on the task at hand. Best case, you go a little slower than you would otherwise, because you’re not focusing on what you’re doing. Worst case, you make an error. Depending on your job, that may mean you’ll end up re-doing a job (and that’s going to hurt your productivity!) or a visit to the emergency room… or worse.

This is of special importance for the self-employed, or those working part time at home to earn a little extra money. Focus on the job at hand. You won’t get more work done by focusing on other things, but you may be able to finish the current task faster. If you finish jobs faster, that means you have more time to take on additional jobs or more time to spend with your family or doing things you enjoy doing.

Practice focusing on the job at hand at every opportunity. That includes starting when you get dressed in the morning. If you want to contemplate your tasks for the day, take five minutes and do so. Don’t think about them while getting washed and dressed in the morning–instead focus on the task at hand!

For example, when you are brushing your teeth, focus on brushing your teeth. Do a good job.

But, I can think of other things while I brush my teeth!

Yes, you can, but that’s not the most productive use of your time. People think that because something is so routine that they can do it without thinking about it, they might as well be using their mind for something more useful. But, what is most useful is getting your teeth cleaned properly.

Despite supposedly good dental practices, people still have cavities, lose teeth, etc. While you can blame some of that on sugary drinks, the fact is that most people aren’t really paying attention when they brush their teeth. They go on autopilot. They believe it is so routine, they have it down pat. But, as their mind wanders to other things, their teeth probably are not getting cleaned properly. They move the brush around a bit, spit, rinse and then go about their business. And, in so doing, they are doing both their teeth and their gray matter a disservice.

I say this not to encourage good dental habits (although I do encourage it!), but to illustrate the point. When you let your mind wander, you are not successfully completing the task at hand. You brushed your teeth, but you did not do so with full effectiveness. The other side of this is that it is may be taking you longer to brush your teeth than it would if you simply focused on brushing your teeth. (And, the flip side of that is that you may not be spending enough time doing so in the first place!)

In all things, focus on the task at hand. You will very likely discover that by placing your full attention to the current task, you can actually get them done faster than you would when you let your mind wander to other things.

Take the first step in training your mind by focusing on whatever task you may be doing at the time. Do not let other thoughts enter your mind. Focus.

Start tomorrow morning when you get washed and dressed for the day. Focus on the task at hand, and not the things that need to be done later.

This is an important step. Try it. It may take some practice to keep your mind focused. But, give it a try and see if you aren’t more productive.