Your Brain: Use it to Think and Flourish

The brain is the source of key mental faculties such as memory, imagination, creativity, computation, and innovation. When you use your mind and think thoroughly, you set out to gain qualities that point you in the right direction. Your brain is one of the most important tools to use for solving problems from any situation, provided that you're truly wise and you know how to use it.

If you didn't know, then you should know that the most powerful computer known is the brain. The human brain possesses about 100 billion neurons with roughly equal to 1 quadrillion, which is simply equivalent to 1 million billion connections, known as synapses, the wiring of these cells together.  In fact, there are more cell connection points in the human brain than there are stars in our galaxy. 

What does that information mean? Well, according to American inventor and futurist, Ray Kurzweil, the author of the best-selling book: The Age of Spiritual Machines, writing in his blog, Kurzweil - accelerating intelligence, he wrote, "Computer neural net simulations have been limited by two factors: the number of neural connections that can be simulated in real-time and the capacity of computer memories. 

While human neurons are slow (a million times slower than electronic circuits), every neuron and every interneuronal connection is operating simultaneously. With about 100 billion neurons and an average of 1000 connections per neuron, there are about 100 trillion computations being performed at the same time. At about 200 computations per second, that comes to 20 million billion (2 x 1016) calculations per second." 

That means our brains have an astonishing ability!

A well-known, successful theoretical physicist, Albert Einstein, was once quoted as saying: "No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it." If you want to be successful in solving your problems by using your brain, then you must make your personal development plan a top priority.   

Commitments:
We all have commitments. Commitments are a part of life. When you have commitments, you enter into promises that you'll get something done. Start making commitments to you. I commit to change habits that obstruct me from accomplishing my goals or making my personal life better. Think of the intelligent ways you can apply to fulfill your commitments without losing your soul. 

“Blessed is the man who lives with a sensible wife. 

Blessed is the one who does not sin by what he says

 and the one who has not served a person who is inferior to himself.” 

Sirach 25:8, NLT 

Skills:
Evaluate your skills to see how you are able to use them to make your life better. While you're evaluating your skills, search for new skills. Reach deep down, accept the discomforts, fears, or things you don't like, look past them, and find new skills that will help you tackle your daunting issues to make your life a celebration of a life well-lived. You'll reap what you sow.

Priorities:
Do you have your priorities straight? Do you have all your plans in perspective? Reassess your plans to make certain that you're on the right path to improve your personal life. If you notice areas you can improve, do not be afraid to take action. Taking action is the last step you'll take in anything you do that helps to improve your life. Remember: actions speak louder than words.

Failure:
How do you view failure? Failure is common and happens to all of us every day. Failure helps us to learn how to develop and grow into a better person. If you sit around stressing failure, then you're heading nowhere quickly. Failure is a part of life. Learn from your failures, accept your blame, and move on to make things better for you and those who depend on you.

Remember: failure is not final, you can always re-try, and re-try some more until you get it right. 

For example, Thomas Alva Edison, who is described as the greatest America's inventor, and his associates worked very hard on at least three thousand different theories to develop an efficient incandescent lamp (the light-bulb). 

Incandescent lamps make light by using electricity to heat a thin strip of material (called a filament) until it gets hot enough to glow. He tried multiple times but always failed to perfect the light-bulb, the one that we're using it in our homes today.

After many trials and errors, finally, he got it right. And here is his personal note after break-through: "Before I got through," he recalled, "I tested no fewer than 6,000 vegetable growths, and ransacked the world for the most suitable filament material."

"The electric light has caused me the greatest amount of study and has required the most elaborate experiments," Thomas A. Edson continues to write. "I was never myself discouraged, or inclined to be hopeless of success. I cannot say the same for all of my associates." 

Then, in conclusion, he said, "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." Next time, you face failure, take this process of the invention as an inspiration to never give up.

Saying No:
Individuals hear the word no and fear it. No isn't a rejection. When you say no I'm not going to the bar, you're saying I have better things to do than waste my time in a building filled with drunks. Sometimes you have to tell somebody you love no. For example, you may have to tell your better half no when he or she asks you to watch TV when you know you have to hit the books. Do not let your mate hold you back. It's very much OK to say no.

Rules
We all follow rules. Rules are a part of life, which sometimes the rules are hard to digest. You have to learn to open up your passage-way and digest them anyway unless you are willing to stand up and protest in a positive way. People complaining about rules they don’t like and not taking action is wasting everyone’s time. You have the power, yet it takes you to use that power.

"To reject the law is to praise the wicked, 

to obey the law is to fight them." 

Proverb 28:4, NLT.

Trials Rides:
Life is filled with trial rides. Day-after-day we walk out our door we're on a trial-ride. Every day we have good trials and bad trials. How do you handle trials? If you're willing to take risks in life, likely you handle trials well. On the other hand, if you fear changes, then you'll need to find a way to deal with the trials in life. Regrettably, too many individuals deal with these trials by drinking excessively or drugging. Do not be one of these individuals.

You have many options in life. Good options and bad options will come your very daily. Sometimes you'll choose bad options, yet when you make mistakes, do not dwell rather pull up your resources to see how you could have done things differently, and do it differently the next time. It's not a mistake to make a mistake, but it's a mistake to repeat the same mistake.

Here is a video of TEDx Talk by Dr. Lara Boyd, a brain researcher at the University of British Columbia. She talks about the recent brain research finding related to learning.