Supercharging the Brain
I am currently reading Super Brain by Deepak Chopra and Rudolph E. Tanzi. The authors could not have known that my mother gave me brain training from about three years of age. This was followed up by a superb teacher at my local prep school, and as a result I ended up with a Mensa score of 148.
My Latin teacher described me as curious, in that I was curious about everything. I wanted to know it all.
I think this is the first time I have ever quoted this, but now I think it is why I think differently. I think I can link seemingly disparate facts and integrate them in a way that no one has before.
It seems to me that the earlier you start, the steeper the learning curve can be. My son reached a Mensa level of 166 by the time he was in his mid-twenties. Had I been a professional, it might have been even higher.
Looking back, neither of us expected the social distortion that resulted. We just needed everyone else to be like us. So really it is down to us to lead the way.
Two neurologists have seen a link between the way the brain works and grows, and the mind. Using examples from real life, they have deduced, or perhaps proved, that:
- when the brain has to learn something new, it actually grows;
- at an early age, it is possible to create a better brain;
- at any age, anyone can create new habits, recreate old habits, or change existing habits.
Two items in today’s paper seem to demonstrate the effect:
- The octogenarians who race at Henley Regatta — brilliant.
- Lewis Hamilton’s challenge for his eighth world championship at the age of 41 — outstanding.
Some of their observations are self-evident, like my mind telling my brain to use my peripheral vision.
This means that anyone, at any age, with the right motivation or need, can achieve wonders.
This needs to be said again:
This means that anyone, at any age, with the right motivation or need, can achieve wonders.
Is this the real explanation for child prodigies?
It is going to be business or the voluntary sector that will run with this first, fastest or furthest.
The authors of the book then went on to their patients’ needs, and I stopped reading, as it had a different effect for me.
So it is back to “who, what, why, when, where and how” to use this to its best effect and the best benefit.
Now, somewhere in my computer are the cards I designed twenty years ago for family use, but nobody knew what they could lead to.
From memory, they were a set of probably thirty cards showing, say, a picture of seven swans swimming on a river. Seven items could be counted, the number shown in words and numerals, and the descriptions included the full alphabet. Overall, they included all the English phonemes.
With two packs of about forty cards, you can play Pelmanism, the memory game.
I will enjoy discussing this with my daughter, as she has a degree in Psychology and a Diploma in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy.
