Play puzzle games
I’m lucky that I’ve always been drawn to puzzle games — I can thank my dad for that. He taught me how to play Freecell (which I always felt was hard as hell as a kid) on a Costco display PC in the 90’s and he also would play Tetris with me. We’d take turns to see who would last the longest. He also encouraged me to play video games as much as I wanted to, versus my mom who still to this day tells me that “video games are for boys”. Sorry mom, did you not get the memo? I was one of the guys growing up.
Currently I’m playing Solitaire Farm on my Galaxy Tab and the graphics are SO cute and it’s fun. There’s a ton of daily/weekly challenges you can do and 4 different related games to choose from. You also earn coins to upgrade your farm island. It’s super cute.
When I’m stuck and need something to jog my thinking process I usually play a round or two of Butterflies on Bejeweled Classic. It’s been my go to game since getting my iPhone in 2011. But it really does help me think! Esp when I need to during NaNoWriMo lol.
Puzzle games are great, they help you see more than just what’s in front of you.
Read
I’ve been struggling with my TBR this year. But I’ve heard that reading helps to stimulate your mind; it’s definitely beneficial in lots of ways, despite what you’re reading. It inspires you to expand your opinions or to form new ones. And of course the sometimes educational benefit of reading. There’s just way too may good things and benefits to reading! It’s just finding the time to, that ends up being the problem.
Create… and keep creating
Being inspired and staying inspired are two different things; creating can fall into that too. The thing about creating for me is that just like reading it forces me to think outside of my norm. It forces me to think of ways to make other things work. It gives me a feeling of accomplishment when I do figure things out and frustration when I don’t that just drives me to think even more outside of the box. I’m not the most creative person in the world but I do enjoy crafting more than I think I do.
Listen to music
I’m horrible at memorizing things, always have been. My life is a series of certain things in heavy doses of repetition. Probably why I don’t mind teaching Tums things like her ABC’s or counting to 5. I’m a creature of repetition at this point.
Music does a lot of things for me — it inspires me, it evokes feelings and it’s one way I can memorize something. It’s just one of those things that remind me that I’m capable of memorization, if I just be gentle with myself.
These tips are important to me now more than ever; ever since giving birth I feel like my thought process has been slower than usual. My reaction time, my “aha” timing… all that stuff. And it’s probably the most frustrating I’ve ever had to experience in my entire life. It’s like knowing every bit of who you are and one day just not. Keeping my brain healthy and active has always been a priority for me. And now even more so.
I like doing the same things as you, especially puzzles and reading 🙂
Oh wow that’s great to hear you were able to turn your life around.
I enjoy reading & playing puzzle games too!
Reading is definitely my go to when it comes to keeping my brain active but also when I need a bit of escapism.
There as so many awesome benefits to reading! I feel like people sleep on reading too much lol
reading <33 thanks for sharing!