Tag: brain

Brain Fizz

~ Swisa A ~ Leave a comment

My responsibilities this year has had me traveling almost monthly.  Fortunately it’s regional travel and despite its frequency, it’s mainly short trips.   During these trips you find yourself spending most of your time in the hotel stressed out in the meeting room, however, I try whenever I can, to escape for a morning walk or an evening escapade.   I look for somewhere to refresh one’s mind.  Somewhere to get a little rest and reinvigorate.  Somewhere my brain can just fizzle down and hear itself.

Sometimes just sitting quietly for breakfast with the morning newspaper and a nice view is all that is needed to give the brain a little boost.    Sometimes it’s just a little walk outside early mornings, to feel the wind in my face or to hear the birds chirp.  These things for me are what remind us what life is all about.

I tend to forget about taking care of my brain, but it’s important to let the brain have a little quiet time.  After all, the brain is an organ (a most important one that is!) and one must look after its health and its well-being.  If the brain malfunctions or gets overloaded, not surprisingly, we’ll find ourselves unhappy, impatient, moody and overall not a nice person to be around.  The “evil” black side of us comes out in full steam.

So if you can, take care of your brain.  Allow it some time to rest.  Allow it to refresh and you will find yourself invigorated and overall happier (hopefully). Some people meditate, some people listen to music.  In the end, just do what you find to relax yourself.  Just don’t forget your brain.

Running once more

~ Swisa A ~ Leave a comment

This past week I have just gotten back into my running schedule after a month or so off running. Moving house and a sore ankle were my excuses. They really shouldn’t be. Exercise is of course better done regularly. I was reminded this week after running why it is so good. The more stressed one is the more one should exercise. Its a great stress reliever.

And I am stressed. There just seems to be a million billion things waiting to get done. Europe is in a crisis and who knows what will happen. I wonder if it will be the end of the EU as we know it or not? My European me ( from being educated in a European school with a curriculum that boasted the European ideal of an integrated Europe) , makes me sceptical.
Europe has been working for six decades towards integration. It can’t and shouldn’t end just yet. But who is to say, all good things must come to an end.

And yes, domestically we are having political brawls. Boys in suits.

So I run. Run it all off. Run off all the stress, all that annoys you and all that makes you feel not so good.

It feels great. Although I felt like my legs were killing me, my stomach cramped, my heart pounding on my ribs, and my lazy me rebelling; I wanted to run.

The sweat, the beating heart makes everything feel so much better. Happy chemicals filled my grey cells and I felt like a stone weighing me down had been lifted.

Cheeks blushed I remembered: Yes I have to keep up my running routine. Exercise is good for the soul. It not only makes you feel good but it clears your brain. Ideas and thoughts, all come running out. Next week I will run again, and the week after next and after….

Are you exercising?

Don’t Think, Just Run

~ Swisa A ~ Leave a comment

I feel like I’ve somewhat passed a strenuous physical exam after recovering from a super strong strain of flu that had my brain dizzy, muscles sore and made me just collapse into a sleeping beauty every night.  My immune system is now super charged and ready to take on what come.  Now it’s time to get ready for the Bangkok Marathon in November.  This week, I’ve started doing extra long runs at the gym. (Not really that long for a professional runner, but long for me)

I usually run two sets of ten minutes in the mornings, but that is really not far at all.  It takes me only roughly a little over a kilometer.  To make 5km, I’m going to have to keep running and running and running. Running for around 40 minutes non-stop.

To do that, this week I’ve been doing running stretches of 20 minutes.  Knowing that my brain would want to give up after ten minutes, I eased myself into running 20 minutes by lowering the speed slightly, but keeping the incline at 1% (so that the treadmill will resemble the outdoor a bit more).

I also had to stop thinking.  Yes, don’t think when you run.

If I think, I always end up stopping.  So I had to keep telling my brain to just ignore the thought process for awhile and kill off the voices from the lazy me inside.  Every five minutes, my lazy me would go through the cycle of trying to talk itself into stopping.

“Five minutes is a nice round number, yes let’s stop here for a bit.”  At this point, my lazy me is smiling and making the stop seem so pleasant.

“No, I’d reply.  Another five minutes then we can stop”  Yes, I trick myself every five minutes to run another five minutes. (I say I’d stop, but actually I won’t, because I’d trick myself again later.)

This self tricking involves not looking at the timer on the treadmill when the seconds count down from 4.56 mins to 4.57mins  to 4.58mins then 4.59mins.  My heart gives a big thump.  I must not give in, no I won’t and so I ignore this awful timer and instead try to look around the room at the other people running and exercising. I look out the window, watch the flickering TV screen and note to myself that the grandpa on the other treadmill seems fitter than me.  By the time I look again it becomes 5.10mins and then I say to myself,

“Haha!! you passed the round number, might as well run to the next round number. You know you are going to feel like a better person for having finished the entire run than giving up on yourself halfway.”

When I finish the run, it is indeed a feeling of accomplishment.  Even though how little the accomplishment, I think it’s a great way to start the day.  You won over yourself and ran a full 20 minutes. You killed the lazy voices, put them in coma.  Next week it’s going to have to start being 25 minute runs.

Yes, lets all stop thinking and just run!  RUN for your health, run for yourself, run for a new life.

Memories and Life

~ Swisa A ~ Leave a comment

As summer is coming to an end in the northern hemisphere, I thought about summers past.  Then an interesting thought came to mind.  Memories that I remember most vividly from childhood usually occur in the summer or involved something new, something unexpected.

Why summer?  Why do memories from these two to three months a year are the ones that remain so vividly in my mind?  What happened with the rest of the year?  Why do new, unexpected events leave marks upon the brain?

Of course, memories from the other nine months of the year, which is not summer, also appear now and then, however, I noticed that they are usually memories of time with an “event” to remember.  For a kid, that meant traveling, new experiences, birthday parties or playing with the dog and somethng happens.   I remember seeing Chantilly in France for the first time as we rounded a bend in the road and suddenly before us appeared the magnificant castle.  I remember dropping chocolate on a white sweater while visiting the Loire Valley. Then standing in the rain, looking up at the Neuwienstein (Fairy Tale Castle) near Munich, or having fireworks magically rain down overhead on Luxembourg’s national day.

Usually,  memories imbed themselves when something new happens, something unexpected, or something you’ve never experienced before happened.  Sometimes, it involves planning something mischievous or working on a school project that I found extremely fun and challenging.  I remember one where we had to think about how to prevent an egg from breaking if it is dropped for the second story.  Each team worked hard and may theories developed.  The fun part was when all the different groups had their eggs actually dropped. You could see how different types of packaging reacted as it flew through the air and hit the ground.  Sometimes it involved thinking about the planets and their relations to one another,  or writing up a report on the hazards of smoking.

Yes, school projects do make a difference.  I still, for some reason, remember since grade school that kangaroos have extremely strong tails that could kill you if you were hit by one.  I also remember that a cigarette has over four thousand hazardous compounds.  I remember reading the words, writing about them and feeling in awe.

Why do these particular memories come to mind?  I think it’s because they involved a new experience that made your brain think.   A new activity that challenged the brain, like it has never been challenged or experienced before.  These “moments” where the brain had to really work, really think, are the ones that are imbedded most strongly in the mind.  Stimulate the mind.

Sometimes as we grow older, work, and end up living life in a routine, we lose a bit of that “awe” that a kid has.   We grow accustomed to our life, and do not want to try new experiences.  We do things the way we always do, because that’s the way we’ve been doing it.  I say, keep life inspiring, try something new each day.  If that’s too much, try each week or each month.   Discover the little child inside and explore, for this world is still full of such wonders.  Keep questioning, keep exploring, and keep feeling awed by all around you.

Live life with passion. Life is so much fun, and too short to let it go to waste. Live your life.  Don’t let routines bogg you down!