In my last blog post I outlined what you need to do to have a healthy body. In this post I will outline what you need to do to have a healthy mind. First of all, what is a healthy mind?

That is a complex question, and since I am not a neuroscientist, psychologist, psychiatrist or some other ist, I can only say what benefits a healthy mind gives to an individual.

A healthy mind allows a person to:

• Feel alert and lucid.
• Concentrate and focus on a task.
• Relax and meditate.
• Learn new things.
• Solve simple and complex problems.
• Keep calm and objective in a stressful situation.
• Feel happy.
• Empathize, and feel all the emotions that make us human.

The points outlined below will help you build and maintain a healthy mind.

Follow all the points that help you keep a healthy body.

As the title of this post says, a healthy mind in a healthy body. So first and foremost, you need to follow all the points outlined in my previous blog post to keep a healthy body. This will give you the proper environment into which to build and maintain a healthy mind.

Read books on how the brain works.

You should read books such as “The Secret Life of the Brain” by Richard Restak M.D. to learn more about your brain. This will give you insight on how your brain, physically works and more. In turn this will help you use your mind better. Basically, it’s like reading a user manual for a machine. You’ll be better equipped to use your machinery (mind) if you read about how it really works.

Exercise your mind with brain teasers.

Challenge your mind with brain teasers, puzzles, code breakers and such stuff. Not only is this fun, you are improving your mind capabilities while having fun. Also, when you manage to solve a puzzle you will feel a great sense of accomplishment, further boosting your morale (read positive feedback). You can also challenge some of your friends with puzzles you managed to solve. I recently bought “My Best Mathematical and Logic Puzzles” and “The Colossal Book of Short Puzzles and Problems” by Martin Gardner. These books challenge your mind while having fun. It is like going to the gym, but for your brain.
Learn and play a challenging board game such as chess.

Mind challenging board games, involving logic, strategy and tactics, such as Chess or Go are a great way to spend some quality time with another person. It is also a great way to exercise your mind. Look at it this way. Playing chess with someone, is like jogging with your buddy, but instead of exercising your bodies’ cardiovascular system, you are exercising your mind.

Read about various topics of interest.

Read as many quality books as you can. Ideally these should be non-fiction books, such as for example history books, popular science books, books on international politics and economics, arts, biographies and so on. Reading fiction books is ok too. This helps improve your imagination.

Learn a new skill or topic.

Always challenge your mind. Learn a new skill or topic. For example, learn a new foreign language. If you are good at scientific, mathematical, and logical subjects, challenge your mind by taking an arts class. Learn how to draw or play a musical instrument. Vice versa, if you are good at arts, challenge yourself and learn something logical and scientific, for example, mathematics.

Practise mental mathematics.

Are you getting my flow of thought here… challenge your brain. Try to perform mental arithmetic. Do not always resort to the calculator to add up a bill or calculate the amount of tips to give in a restaurant. Your mind is such a wonderful and powerful organ, use it. The more you use it the better you will become. As the old adage goes, practice makes perfect.

Learn techniques to improve your memory.

Practise memorization techniques to improve your short and long term memory. These include such techniques as mind mapping, associations, and mnemonics.

Learn to meditate and relax.

To keep your mind in shape, keep calm, relieve yourself from stress, and allow what you have learnt during the day to sink deep into your mind, there is no better way than to perform a meditation session. You do not need a temple or other costly stuff to do this. Just sit, put on some light ambient music, close your eyes and breathe deeply at a slow rate, clearing your mind from any thoughts while you breathe.

Do not expose your mind to negative situations.

If positive thoughts and feedback reinforce your mind, negative thoughts, feedback and situations disrupt your mind from functioning correctly. So try to avoid exposing your brain to negative situations, such as, images of violence, and hatred. Remember we learn from imitation, so it is better if you surround and expose yourself to positive stuff only.