11 Ways To Expand Your Mind

"A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to it's old dimensions." ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

As I have gotten older and looked back on my life I am truly disgusted with the mind numbing brain destroying aspects of the society that I was raised in. I have come to realize that I never really had anyone in my life that encouraged me to think and to grow.  What's worse is when I look around at the world we live in I see that this is the norm rather than the exception.

The entire public school system is designed to train rather than to teach.  And there is a very important difference there.  Teaching someone is empowering them and training them is imprisoning them.  When you teach someone you are removing limitations and breaking down borders.  When you are being trained you are being given limitations and shown boundaries.

Schools train our children to submit to authority, follow a schedule and meet other peoples expectations of you.  They even train you to believe that if your body has to go to the bathroom at a time not pre-scheduled then you deserve punishment.

Independent thought, questioning of anything or the seeking out information that is not "approved" is not only not taught but is often punished.

Why is this you might ask?  Because they are training our children to be workers who will grow up to submit to authority, follow a schedule set by someone else and strive to meet other peoples expectations and most importantly pay taxes!

Our society does not want people who think or question.  When you begin to think and question you quickly realize that you are a slave.  And that kind of realization is highly frowned upon by the society that needs you to remain in your place.  The place that they assigned you.

Now when children finish school they have already been trained to spend the majority of their daily lives in servitude just to be able to survive.  But society needs to keep you from spending what little free time you do have in anything that might lead you to deviate from your training.

So we have hundreds of television channels to entertain ourselves with in our off time.  Most of the programming on these channels are just that..."programming".  They train us what to strive for and what will make us "happy" with rich celebrities and politicians setting the standards for which we live by.  The effect? Create the desire and need to get more money to live up to those standards.  And how have we been trained to get more money?  Work harder....work more...for someone else.

Now I'm not saying that all TV is bad.  But I did trade in my $120 a month cable bill for a $7.95 monthly subscription to Netflix and now I spend far less time in front of the TV and when I do I watch what I am interested in and what helps to expand my mind.

What is another common way adults spend their off time?  Getting drunk.  It's a proven fact that alcohol KILLS brain cells.  Do you think this is not encouraged by society?  What better way to keep people from thinking outside the box?

Anything that might prove to be beneficial to your life experience such as traveling to explore the world around you has become such an expensive luxury that many of the low paid slaves never get to experience it at all.  The really lucky ones have to save and sacrifice all year long for the privilege of spending maybe 3-5 days a year for a vacation to do so.

By continuing to do as we have always done, the quality of our lives will always remain the same.  Only when we step out of our comfort zones, and push ourselves to improve, will we gain useful new experiences, knowledge and ideas.

11 Powerful Ways to Expand Your Mind
I should note that expanding your mind does not mean that your skull is going to become larger or that your brain is going to grow.  What happens is our brain becomes denser with neuronal connections, which facilitates both more memory, and speed of retrieval.

11. Reading: By reading we are able to input countless years of experience, creativity, knowledge, and wisdom into our minds in a matter of hours.  One should be careful not to pollute their minds by reading information that further puts limitation and boundaries on your mind.  This is why I find it important to read books written by people who have accomplished something I want, or that I admire in some way.

10. Writing: Writing expands our vocabulary, which has been shown to be directly correlated with success.  Any career that involves people is based on solid communication with a firm grasp of vocabulary and knack for self-expression.

This is an area which I know I need to work on which is why I have chosen to begin blogging.  I am reminded of an old saying I once heard in my youth.

"We teach best that which we most need to learn."

9. Puzzles: Puzzles strengthen neuronal connections in such a way that they improve hand-eye coordination in people of all ages.  Puzzles come in so many varieties that you can practice mathematics, vocabulary, memory and other bouts of critical thinking while enjoying these challenging games.

8. Mathematics: Mathematics teaches us how to think critically, and gives us access to an analytical train of thought.  By thinking this way, we are more prone to having more common sense and possessing the skill of logic.

7. Painting: Painting is another great form of self-expression.  No art is really ever finished, because there is always more to be done, but certainly can be left at great.

6. Cooking: Cooking, especially the kind where you don't use recipes, engages all of your senses.  From the smell of your ingredients, to the feel of the texture, and the sound of the sizzling, we must put everything together to achieve an amazing result with this art form.

5. Music: Music increases our sensitivity, as well as fosters a sense of emotional intelligence.  If you have ever listened to opera in a language that you don't understand, you will be pleasantly surprised that you will not only know what's going on, but be able to feel the emotions of the performance.

Of coarse opera is not the only kind of music that is beneficial.  Pretty much any music that makes you feel good and gets your blood pumping is good for you.

I personally don't feel that music that feeds emotions like hate and anger are good for you but that's my opinion. I strive to replace my bad emotions with good emotions.  I have found that positive emotional states allow my mind to grow and expand while negative emotional states push me further into the box that I don't want to be in.

4. Poetry: Poetry can foster creativity as you paint a vivid image with your words.  It's also a great way to exercise your memory, by recollecting interesting words, as well as memorizing poems to always have with you.

3. Meditate: Meditation is an excellent way of expanding your mind from the subconscious level.  It has it's ways of digging through your mind, and bringing forth important, and often times emotionally charged memories into your conscious mind.

I definitely plan to have more articles on this blog dedicated to mediation in the future.

2. Learn a language: Learning a new language can be challenging, engaging and fun.  Not only will you have to push the mental capacity to put together your newly learned words and phrases, but you will also have the opportunity to think in a different language.

And the Number One Way to Expand Your Mind is....

1. QUESTION EVERYTHING! It's certainly much easier to accept information that is giving to us, instead of questioning it and being susceptible to having to think.  Have you ever wondered why a flower is a certain color, why someone said they like us, where someone got a percentage from (93% of all percentages are made up), or why a certain Presidential candidate is really worthy of our vote?

As is usually the case, asking ourselves questions, leads to more questions, and then some more.  Sometimes we do get reasonable answers, but it's important to note that the mere act of asking the questions expands our minds and allows us to try on an infinite number of paradigms.

A new question, brings a new outlook, which potentially changes everything we know about our world and the universe that we exist in.

From the moment of birth we are trained to submit to authority and accept what we are told as the absolute truth from our parents, from school, from religion, from government and from work.

I say...QUESTION EVERYTHING!  You might just be surprised with the results.

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