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Super Powers is a weekly newsletter that offers small steps or micro changes you can make to produce great results over time. When you build tiny new habits, the accumulation of these changes over time will help you create great relationships and experience significant growth.
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To build Intellectual Super Powers, start by building successful brain habits.
Keep searching for an answer
Get quality sleep
Play racquet sports
Consider green tea and saffron
Listen to classical and country music
Appreciate micro-moments
There’s Almost Always an Answer
When you are struggling with a difficult situation, there’s almost always an answer. Recently my daughter and I were dealing with a difficult situation. I presented her with two options. She was hell-bent on accomplishing what she wanted, and she ignored my options and presented a third that I hadn’t even considered. Sometimes it depends on how badly you want something. Answers will come if you search with an open and inquiring mind. Keep searching.
Find Those Habits That Love You Back
When you are trying to do something high-level, you need to be at your best, your peak state. What are the things you personally need to do to be at your peak? They are different for everyone but some core habits are the same.
Sleep
I used to view sleep as a luxury. I just didn’t have time to sleep. My friends gave me the nickname of Zzzzzz. I was known to fall asleep at inopportune times. My apologies go out to my friends and family for all the times I wasn’t at my best because I didn’t value sleep. I didn’t give you quality time because I was just too tired. We can’t expect our brain to perform intellectually when it is falling asleep.
Now . . . I’m getting eight hours of sleep a night. I’m amazed at the clarity of my thoughts, my mood, my complexion (even fewer wrinkles), and my ability to be calm. Sleep is a habit that loves you back.
Racquet Sports
Racquet sports has been found to increase your longevity and help your brain. Studies from Great Britain, Denmark, Finland, the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute and the Mayo Clinic (do you need more?) all say that racquet sports are great because they simultaneously tax the cardiovascular system and the brain.
The combination of challenging the brain and body has a greater positive impact than aerobic exercise alone. Racquet sports build up your fitness levels, while also requiring complex movements (front to back, and side to side) and quick strategic thinking.
Score another point for pickleball! But tennis, ping pong, badminton, and squash are good too. Basically, pick up your racquet. Have fun, get exercise, and build your brain with a habit that loves you back.
Consider Green Tea and Saffron
A daily habit for many is coffee. I’m a fan of it but recently switched. On a podcast with Jay Shetty and Dr. Daniel Amen, they discussed how theanine from green tea provides calm, clarity and focus. Those are three desirable characteristics for intellectual super powers. Theanine is an amino acid in green tea which has been shown to affect brain functions by relieving stress disorders, improving mood, and maintaining normal sleep. So that day, I switched to green tea.
Two days earlier, my coffee maker had broken, and I bought a new one. It turns out you can use a coffee maker to brew tea. Just put the tea bag where you would normally put the coffee grounds and pour in the water. You’ll get a nice cup of tea in minutes.
Saffron was also discussed in the podcast. It has been shown to offer health benefits, such as improved mood, libido, and sexual function, as well as reduced PMS symptoms and enhanced weight loss. Some studies show it is equally effective to Prozac in treating depression. Saffron is something to consider researching and discussing with your doctor. Here’s some input from a pharmacist.
Listen to Classical and Country Music
Years ago when my children were young, my neighbor and I took our kids to a holiday event. On the way home, the kids were boisterous and riled up in the car. Unintentionally, I put on holiday classical music. My neighbor said, “Did you notice how they calmed down?”
If you want to feed your brain with music, studies show the best music to listen to is classical. The second best is country. The worst music genres for your brain health are heavy metal and rap. Not everyone agrees with these studies, however.
Researchers at the University of Central Florida say that people with dementia respond better to the music they grew up listening to. They have a fascinating interactive diagram showing all the areas of the brain touched by music. Take a look.
From Pegasus, the magazine of the University of Central Florida
Sometimes the science behind the reasoning can be the most convincing. Researchers explain that classical music is believed to enhance the brain's spatial-temporal reasoning or the cognitive understanding of how items or pieces can fit into a space. It’s called the Mozart effect. They say listening to classical music for 10 minutes ramps up IQ scores by nearly 10 points. If you want to build your intellectual super powers, add a dose of classical to your play list. It can’t hurt.
Micro-Moments
Super Powers is all about micro changes. Improving your intellectual super powers can be done by paying attention to micro-moments. Back to the podcast with Dr. Amen, he says:
The more micro-moments you cherish, the greater your sense of joy. And these tiny events trigger positive changes in the brain that help you combat depression, calm anxiety, and keep your cool when you get angry.
Micro-moments can be holding hands, sharing a loving look, enjoying the great taste of your breakfast, recognizing the vibrant colors of the flowers, feeling the wind on your face, enjoying the coolness of air conditioning, smiling at the sound of laughter, witty banter, the smell of cookies baking a candle to blow out. Share your favorite micro-moments with us in the comments.
The small things do indeed add up to the big things. Consider: sharing the best part of your day; recording three or more things in your gratitude journal each day; living with fewer expectations. If your heart is beating and you are breathing, maybe that is enough.
Scientifically speaking, people who express and feel gratitude have a higher volume of gray matter in the right inferior temporal gyrus. More gray matter is associated with better cognitive function. Let’s build the gray!
The more you positively affect your brain with successful habits, the greater your intellectual super powers will be.
Thank you for reading.
Wishing you beauty and joy, kindness and compassion, and great intellectual super powers.
About Super Powers
We break the year down into 12 areas of balance. You will achieve greater growth and life balance by intently focusing on one area at a time. This month’s Super Powers focus is on intellectual life. Next month is about career.
See the full year’s schedule.
Our goal with the Super Powers newsletter is to guide you with small, easy steps to improve many areas of your life. Over time these small changes add up to significant growth and improvement. You will be amazed at how far you have come when you look back at all your progress.
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When you're in a dark place, you sometimes tend to think you've been buried. Perhaps you've been planted. Bloom.
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