In maintaining clear thought and concentration we realize the importance of the instrument of our brain, more sensitive and more valuable than our material computer.
We all suffer at some time certain tiredness of the mind. Of course there are many causes. The most obvious ones often relate to study and intellectual demands through professions bearing heavy responsibility, or the self inflicted habit of cycling and recycling personal disturbing thoughts of anxiety related to everyday life.
Although it is the most important part of our representing as it does our direct link we have to our Maker or our spiritual source, most of us have not kept pace with modern neurological science and consequently have limited knowledge of the brain.
We know the brain is housed as a sensitive instrument within the confines of the bony skull. It is shaped somewhat like a walnut, with a division between the hemispheres and all crinkly but much softer in texture than a nut.
Along with a great deal of medical information regarding the effects of chemical substances detrimental to the brain we are faced with the recognition that alcohol has perhaps the highest proven status in the category along with a growing list of drugs still under investigation.
Evidence of the power of alcohol is before us all in society as we witness the altered changes in behaviour towards aggression and not only temporary damage to our youth, but long term and the possibility of considerable irreversible damage to their brains. The destructive influence of alcohol upon personality and behaviour become obvious in all alcoholics, but only recently has the extent of damage to the brain itself become clear as scientific medical evidence reveals.
There are many platitudes such as the suggestion that we are only as old as we think we are. Although it is no doubt our thoughts that help to keep us youthful, or influence the speed of the ageing processes of our body, there are certain physiological considerations that also must be taken into account.
Physical health means that the brain is likely to retain its healthy functions and condition also. This is a fundamental priority if we are interested in remaining as vital and youthful as we can. But there are specific facts known to science that help us to understand further.
There are many causes of brain strain and we all suffer at some time from certain tiredness of the mind. The most obvious reasons often relate to study or intellectual or professional demands and responsibilities. There is also the self inflicted everyday habit of recycling personal disturbing thoughts and anxieties over and over.
We need to employ our brain power in creative thought and endeavour but also provide times of relief when we interest ourselves in pleasant activities that allow us to counter any fatigue or nervous strain. It is the equivalent to a change of gear to release the concentration we must exercise in our work and allow the brain a non-thinking period, or time of rest. And so we are wise to learn what we can of relaxation methods that allow body and brain to be refreshed. Here we find meditation to be ideal. Hobbies can also offer a direct course of interest and activity.
My brain is housed within the confines of my bony skull, cushioned like any other sensitive instrument. Here it functions without interruption throughout my lifetime, as do the brains of every other human being throughout their years.
There are few of us who ever seen the actual physical organ but most of us are aware of its walnut-like appearance with the two halves with their distinct convolutions being separated by membrane.
Scientists say the brain is sexist and that nature discriminates – that a woman’s brain weighs a little less than a man’s. But perhaps it’s another example of the fact that size isn’t all that important. It’s the thought that counts.
The brain is actually the recorder and servant of my thoughts to which it responds to some extent but leaves the greater dictates of nature to assume superiority, particularly in matters of physiological function and for this, we must all be eternally grateful. I really appreciate that I don’t have to think of directing the heart to beat, or telling my digestion to function. It just happens. Read the rest of this entry »
