Chewing On Mindfulness: Gum Is Your SecretWritten by Maya Talisman Frost
My grandmother, a feisty and athletic woman in her younger years, was a gum-chewer. She was never without a pack or two of Wrigley's Doublemint gum. She wasn't a snapper or bubble-blower--she viewed that as highly uncivilized. Grandma kept her mouth closed, thank you very much, and her chewing silent. She insisted that it helped her concentrate. It turns out that she was right. Research has shown that chewing does indeed increase our ability to concentrate and to retain what we've learned. In fact, studies indicate that, for both kids and adults, mental tasks are completed up to 20% more effectively when we chew gum. Here's why: When we chew--whether it's food, gum or just air--we respond by salivating, which releases a surge of insulin. Our body gets ready for a meal. The insulin leads to an increased heart rate and sends glucose and oxygen to our brain. The result? This blast of brain food helps us learn faster and retain this information longer. If that's all it takes to boost learning, I'm all for it! In fact, I'd like to suggest that we chew gum as a mindfulness exercise. Really. Perhaps instead of "Om" we should be chanting "Grom-grom-grom". Why not? We already know that mindfulness can be very effectively practiced during repetitive physical activity. It's hard to find a more repetitive and less demanding activity than chewing gum!
| | Have You Given Up on Yourself?Written by graham and julie
Have you given up on yourself? Have you decided to take easy road and coast for rest of your life? Have you come to decision that you have done all you could possibly be expected to do in your life now it is someone else’s turn? As you get older you may not be able to run as fast, swim as far, hit ball as hard or even concentrate as long as you used to but is that reason to give up? Surely your aim should be to be best you can at whatever age you are. “Navratilova wants to be as good a player as she can possibly be at age of 47, just as she wanted to be best she could possibly be at 19, at 25, at 35”. (Nick Pitt). Whether you are like Navratilova and still working or retired and hitting a golf ball around or focussed on garden or grand children, nothing is stopping you from being best you can. Dennis has been retired for about eighteen years and still hankers back to old days when he was….. and capable of doing……. Although he is an avid gardener he continually gripes about length of time things take and ‘when I was younger’. The result has been a gradual, deterioration of his health over recent past and since his wife died, about five years ago, world has owed him a living and he appears to have got angrier and angrier with world and people around him. Michael, on other hand, also retired about eighteen years ago and took opportunity to improve his golf. When his wife died about seven years ago, after a period of mourning and self reflection, he made conscious decision that he had to get on with his life and decided to do two things. Firstly, he decided to continue with his golf and make an effort to play at least twice a week and be best he could. This, in his terms, means not to let anyone down and do his best in every competition. Secondly, Michael decided that there were a lot of places in world that he would like to visit before he died and he set about visiting Jordan, Egypt, Israel, Canada, and many other countries with result that he is totally unaware of and unrestricted by, his age. He is good company and always willing to enter into a conversation about present and what is going on in his life.
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