Behind Mind Exercise

They say one of the keys to staying youthful is keeping your mind active. Part of keeping your mind active is learning new things and mixing up your routines so your daily activities take some thought and thus keeps your brain active and involved. Basically you have to avoid a life that’s set on auto-pilot.

To that end, people are encouraged to do things like brush their teeth with their non-dominant hand. All of a sudden something that’s usually second nature has newness to it. Only downside is your teeth may not get as clean but you just started your day more aware and mentally active than normal.

I suggest you take this approach and bump it up a bit. Try "cleaning up" "aisle 2" with your non-dominant hand. I tried it and it’s like learning to walk again. The ramifications of not doing a good job are obviously grave and scary for you and your loved ones. However, you will be exercising muscles, neurons and synapses that have long been dormant. Try it for a few days…at home, of course. You don’t want to be the person holding up the Starbucks bathroom line because you’re “going left.”

Give it a whirl and report back to me. Imagine the possibilities. First switching hands and maybe down the road writing that novel you’ve always wanted to write.

One more thing…save this technique switch for a tame “movement.” If you’re purging from a White Castle run, you might want to stick with what you know.