Wednesday 28 June 2017

If You Have These 6 Struggles, You're Highly Intelligent

Frosted rose.

If You Have These 6 Struggles, You're Highly Intelligent
Ana Erkic

Most people regard highly intelligent people as super humans who have it all figured out
simply because their brains can help them in any life situation and they don’t have to struggle
with the problems of the ordinary people. Yet, the reality is quite different,
as no matter how intelligent someone may be, they are, at the end of the day, just human.
They struggle with issues somewhat different than those of the rest of the world,
but still challenging and difficult. If you are a highly intelligent person,
these struggles and the lack of understanding from peers can leave you feeling lonely.
Maybe your friends and family don’t seem to be mindful of your feelings. In order to help
you feel acknowledged and understood, here are some of your most common struggles.

1. Small talk exhausts you
It can be quite a challenge for you to be involved in small talk about ordinary things.
This is because your brain is overwhelmed with great ideas. Topics that interest you likely include science, art, philosophy, and those are rarely found in small talk. This makes you feel like you are wasting your time trapped in a suffocating, never-ending list of socially acceptable set phrases. All you really want is a like-minded individual to bounce ideas around with about the important stuff.

2. You think more than you speak
As your brain is wired to look for all possible solutions and answers to a problem, it may take you more time than a person of average intelligence to give your opinion or draw a conclusion. Moreover, if you are not completely sure you’ve got the right answer or a brilliant idea,
you won’t speak at all. Your struggle lies in the fact that most people around you are not familiar with the way your thought process works, and they get confused or regard you as weird, introverted, or uninterested.

3. Your job can easily bore you
The need for your brain to be constantly challenged with new, greater ideas and projects can turn your once exciting job into ordinary and boring as you exhaust all ways to be creative with it.
This can turn into a day-to-day struggle to finish your tasks. Additionally, in most cases,
your boss isn’t so sympathetic to your longings and just wants the job done.

4. You sometimes have action paralysis
It is hard to be a thinker in a world full of go-getters that appreciate action more than great ideas.
As you are too consumed with different ideas, you may at times be missing the action impulse. Unfortunately, people tend to mistake this trait as laziness which leaves you
feeling underappreciated.

5. You are considered socially awkward
As if those aren’t enough, your next struggle comes as a result of all the previous ones.
If you are feeling uncomfortable during small talk, refrain from speaking if not sure, don’t get inspired by old and exhausted ideas, or if you feel more comfortable with ideas than execution, people tend to characterize you as socially awkward. Little do they know, this only puts
more pressure on you making you feel more self-conscious about your social conduct.

6. It is hard for you to fall in love
Finally, your quest for love is slightly more demanding than that of average people.
Since you are much more cautious, analytical and independent than the rest, you tend to get mistaken for cold and high maintenance. Additionally, you can lack spontaneity at times,
which makes your love interest, lose interest.

However difficult your daily struggles may seem, you don’t need to let them immobilize you
from growing. You can work on expressing yourself more to others so that they can get a better understanding of your needs. You will find some common ground.

http://www.lifehack.org/514508/if-you-have-these-6-struggles-youre-highly-intelligent?ref=in_content_bottom


Turbo Charged Reading: Read more>>>Read fast>>>Remember all>>>Years later
Contact M’reen at: read@turbochargedreading.com

You can TCR music, poetry or self development material for internal knowing.
I can Turbo Charge Read a novel 6-7 times faster and  remember what I’ve read.
I can TCR an instructional/academic book around 20 times faster and remember what I’ve read.
Introduction to Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube  
How to choose a book. A Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Emotions when Turbo Charged Reading YouTube

Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?

Perhaps you’d like to check out my sister blogs:
All aspects of regular, each-word reading and education.
Turbo Charged Reading uses these skills significantly faster
www.ourbusinessminds.blogspot.com                       development, growth, management. www.mreenhunthappyartaccidents.blogspot.com      just for fun.
To quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn; the more places you'll go.”

Thursday 22 June 2017

My Study Routine for University (and Exams) | TIA TAYLOR

Sycamore leaf skeleton.





Turbo Charged Reading: Read more>>>Read fast>>>Remember all>>>Years later
Contact M’reen at: read@turbochargedreading.com

You can TCR software and engineering manuals for spontaneous recall – or pass that exam.
I can Turbo Charge Read a novel 6-7 times faster and remember what I’ve read.
I can TCR an instructional/academic book around 20 times faster and remember what I’ve read.
Introduction to Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube  
How to choose a book. A Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Emotions when Turbo Charged Reading YouTube

Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?

Perhaps you’d like to check out my sister blogs:
All aspects of regular, each-word reading and education.
Turbo Charged Reading uses these skills significantly faster
www.ourbusinessminds.blogspot.com                       development, growth, management. www.mreenhunthappyartaccidents.blogspot.com      just for fun.
To quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn; the more places you'll go.”

Friday 16 June 2017

IELTS Writing Task 1 - What to write!

Misty.





Turbo Charged Reading: Read more>>>Read fast>>>Remember all>>>Years later
Contact M’reen at: read@turbochargedreading.com

You can TCR specialist and language dictionaries that are spontaneously accessed.
I can Turbo Charge Read a novel 6-7 times faster and remember what I’ve read.
I can TCR an instructional/academic book around 20 times faster and remember what I’ve read.
Introduction to Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube 
How to choose a book. A Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Emotions when Turbo Charged Reading YouTube

Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?

Perhaps you’d like to check out my sister blogs:
All aspects of regular, each-word reading and education.
Turbo Charged Reading uses these skills significantly faster
www.ourbusinessminds.blogspot.com                       development, growth, management. www.mreenhunthappyartaccidents.blogspot.com      just for fun.

To quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn; the more places you'll go.”

Saturday 10 June 2017

No. 1 Reason Practice Makes Perfect

This saddle fungus has never come back these last few years.

No. 1 Reason Practice Makes Perfect
The Brain Science of Muscle Memory
Christopher Bergland

My father was born the son of Montana missionaries in the 1930s. Becoming the Montana State tennis champion as a high school student was his ticket out of Glendive. He got a scholarship
to attend college, went on to Cornell medical school and became a neurosurgeon. 
He said, "Of this I am absolutely positive, becoming a neurosurgeon was a direct consequence
of my eye for the ball." This quotation sums up The Athlete's Way because it captures the parallels between sports and career that come into play for all of us. It also captures why I am so interested
in the link between brain science and athletics--and the link between 'practice, practice, practice' 
and success.
Although being a state tennis champion is technically what got my father a college scholarship,
that 'trophy' is secondary to everything else that he learned on the tennis court that stuck
with him for the rest of his life. His brain was rewired through his daily workouts. He was able to transfer his 'eye for the ball' into 'focus' and remain intellectually sharper than the rest.
His daily tennis practice gave him the physicality, dexterity, and stamina to be a world-class surgeon.
My father wanted me to be the next Björn Borg. I put a lot of pressure on myself to succeed from a very young age. I wanted my father to be proud of me and I worked very hard on the tennis court. When I was growing up, tennis was our only real alone time and we played every Sunday. His coaching was based on an understanding that muscle memory is stored in a part of your brain called the "cerebellum" (Latin: little brain). My dad's mantra to me as a kid was:
"Carve the grooves into the cerebellum, Chris. Think about hammering and forging your
muscle memory with every stroke." The cerebellum is the #1 reason that practice makes perfect.
He knew from tennis and surgery that you had to do the same thing again and again and again
to hardwire it into long-term muscle memory that is stored in the cerebellum. I played tennis
for the first time in almost a decade a few weeks ago and was amazed how quickly all those years
of playing with my dad and the hours and hours of hitting a ball repetitively against a backboard came rushing back. It is exactly the same 'cerebellar' (pertaining to the cerebellum)
long-term muscle memory we refer to when we say: "It's just like riding a bike." You never forget how to do it once you've hardwired it into the skill center of the cerebellum through practice.
Before you read any farther, please watch this short 2-minute cartoon compiled by the DORE programs of the UK that brilliantly explains how the cerebellum relates to your cerebrum
when learning and mastering new skills. Video unavailable.

The word cerebellum was coined by Leonardo da Vinci in 1504
when he was making anatomical wax castings of the brain. The cerebellum is the size of a kiwi
and is tucked under the much larger cerebrum in the base of your skull.
The average cerebellum only weighs one-quarter of a pound but ounce-for-ounce packs a walloping punch. Although the cerebellum is only 10% of total brain volume it holds more than 50%
of the brain's neurons. Because of this disproportionate distribution of neurons my father
always said of the cerebellum, "Whatever it's doing, it's doing a lot of it." He was obsessed
with trying to unravel the mysteries of the cerebellum and passed that obsession on to me.
As a kid the word 'cerebellum' and 'cerebrum' seemed too complex so I coined the term 'up brain' for the cerebrum and 'down brain' for the cerebellum. I know that these terms may seem grammatically incorrect but they are a direct and cogent response to the terms 'left brain'
and 'right brain.'  In the 70s there was a lot of talk about the left brain being your 'intellectual' brain that was good with words and numbers; and your right brain being your 'creative' brain
that was good with images and art.
If pushed to categorize the cognitive differences between the down brain and up brain,
I would say that the up brain is the house of your conscious 'thinking mind' and the down brain
 is the house of your intuitive 'subconscious mind.' However, I am fully aware that dividing the brain and mind into a rigid dichotomy of 'down brain-up brain' is an oversimplification
and not 100% scientifically accurate. Nonetheless, I still find this split-brain model
a useful paradigm for facilitating self-understanding and improvement.
All parts of the brain work together in concert for everything we do. Assigning specific traits
solely to one hemisphere--or any portion of the brain--is generally considered to be 'bad science.' That said, I would still encourage you to use the terms down brain-up brain as a simple and visual way to categorize an aspect of your psychology when you are taking inventory of your mindset
and behavior. As a split-brain model it is helpful for isolating habits and character traits.
Once you have identified an area that needs work, you can then make changes that will maximize your potential and improve your performance in sports and in life.
For example: Arthur Ashe said, "There is a syndrome in sports called 'paralysis by analysis'." One helpful way to avoid being too 'analytical' is to tag that mindset as being too "up brain" or cerebral. If you are over-thinking things, your very large prefrontal cortex stored in the up brain
is getting in the way and blocking the more intuitive 'down brain' from working it's non-thinking
and completely fluid muscle memory magic.
The up brain is so big and so powerful that it is hard to turn it down sometimes. When you choke
in sport, or become over-excited, it is because your up brain is overpowering your down brain. Remember this visual and literally shift your consciousness away from the prefrontal cortex
by relaxing the backs of your eyes, taking some deep breathes and 'letting go.'
To create super fluid performance you need to seat yourself in the down brain which has –
practiced, practiced, practiced - and have your actions spring from there. 
I call this state of peak performance "Superfluidity." You become super fluid in sports - and in life - when you have freed up the working memory of your cerebrum to strategize and keep tabs on
the more cerebral aspects of everything that's going on while completely trusting your gut
and the intuitive powers of your cerebellum.
In closing, please watch this video of Roger Federer and Lleyton Hewitt
having one of the most incredible rallies in tennis history.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wS5GisEQ_j8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

This is Superfluidity in action! Listen to the rhythmic timing of Roger Federer's footwork
(he's in the white shirt.) The down brain is running the show for both of them throughout
the early part of the rally. They almost look like robots repeating the same motion again and again and again as if they are both hitting against a backboard.  It creates a trance like feeling
but the up brain is waiting in the wings and calculating when to make a break and begin to play
the game of chess necessary to win the point with a strategic and unexpected placement.
This video holds many clues on how to maximize the use of your up brain and down brain on and off the court. Watch it again any time you need motivation to stick with it and practice, practice, practice anything that you want to become world-class at.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201110/no-1-reason-practice-makes-perfect


Turbo Charged ReadingRead More>>>Read fast>>>Remember more>>>Years later
Contact M’reen at: read@turbochargedreading.com

You can TCR specialist and language dictionaries that are spontaneously accessed.
I can Turbo Charge Read a novel 6-7 times faster and remember what I’ve read.
I can TCR an instructional/academic book around 20 times faster and remember what I’ve read.
Introduction to Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube 
How to choose a book. A Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Emotions when Turbo Charged Reading YouTube

Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?

Perhaps you’d like to check out my sister blogs:
www.innermindworking.blogspot.com      gives many ways for you to work with the stresses of life
www.ourbusinessminds.blogspot.com   development, growth, management. www.mreenhunthappyartaccidents.blogspot.com        just for fun.

To quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn; the more places you'll go.”

Sunday 4 June 2017

The Neuroscience Behind Stress and Learning

Ivy berries look like pin cushions.

The Neuroscience Behind Stress and Learning
Judy Willis MD

The realities of standardized tests and increasingly structured, if not synchronized,
curriculum continue to build classroom stress levels. Neuroimaging research reveals
the disturbances in the brain's learning circuits and neurotransmitters that accompany stressful learning environments. The neuroscientific research about learning has revealed the negative impact of stress and anxiety and the qualitative improvement of the brain circuitry involved in memory
and executive function that accompanies positive motivation and engagement.

The Proven Effects of Positive Motivation
Thankfully, this information has led to the development of brain-compatible strategies
 to help students through the bleak terrain created by some of the current trends imposed
by the Common Core State Standards and similar mandates.
With brain-based teaching strategies that reduce classroom anxiety
and increase student connection to their lessons,
educators can help students learn more effectively.
In the past two decades, neuroimaging and brain-mapping research have provided objective support to the student-centered educational model. This brain research demonstrates that superior learning takes place when classroom experiences are relevant to students' lives, interests, and experiences. Lessons can be stimulating and challenging without being intimidating,
and the increasing curriculum requirements can be achieved without stress, anxiety, boredom,
and alienation as the pervasive emotions of the school day.
During my 15 years of practicing adult and child neurology with neuroimaging and brain mapping
as part of my diagnostic tool kit, I worked with children and adults with brain function disorders, including learning differences. When I then returned to university to obtain my credential
and Masters of Education degree, these familiar neuroimaging tools had become available
to education researchers. Their widespread use in schools and classrooms globally has yet to occur.
This brain research demonstrates that superior learning takes place when classroom experiences
are motivating and engaging. Positive motivation impacts brain metabolism, conduction of nerve impulses through the memory areas, and the release of neurotransmitters that increase executive function and attention. Relevant lessons help students feel that they are partners in their education, and they are engaged and motivated.
We live in a stressful world and troubled times, and that is not supposed to be the way for children to grow up. Schools can be the safe haven where academic practices and classroom strategies provide children with emotional comfort and pleasure as well as knowledge.
When teachers use strategies to reduce stress and build a positive emotional environment,
students gain emotional resilience and learn more efficiently and at higher levels of cognition.

Neuroimaging and EEG Studies
Studies of electrical activity (EEG or brain waves) and metabolic activity (from specialized brain scans measuring glucose or oxygen use and blood flow) show the synchronization of brain activity
as information passes from the sensory input processing areas of the somatosensory cortex
to the reticular activating and limbic systems. For example, bursts of brain activity
from the somatosensory cortex are followed milliseconds later by bursts of electrical activity
in the hippocampus, amygdala, and then the other parts of the limbic system.
This data from one of the most exciting areas of brain-based learning research gives us a way to see which techniques and strategies stimulate or impede communication between the parts of the brain when information is processed and stored.
In other words, properly applied, we can identify and remove barriers to student understanding!

The amygdala is part of limbic system in the temporal lobe. It was first believed to function
as a brain center for responding primarily to anxiety and fear.
Indeed, when the amygdala senses threat, it becomes over-activated.
In students, these neuroimaging findings in the amygdala are seen with feelings of helplessness
and anxiety. When the amygdala is in this state of stress-induced over-activation,
new sensory information cannot pass through it to access the memory and association circuits.
This is the actual neuroimaging visualization of what has been called the affective filter 
by Stephen Krashen and others. This term describes an emotional state of stress in students
during which they are not responsive to learning and storing new information. What is now evident on brain scans during times of stress is objective physical evidence of this affective filter.
With such evidence-based research, the affective filter theories cannot be disparaged as
"feel-good education" or an "excuse to coddle students" -- if students are stressed out,
the information cannot get in. This is a matter of science.
This affective state occurs when students feel alienated from their academic experience
and anxious about their lack of understanding. Consider the example of the decodable "books"
used in phonics-heavy reading instruction. These are not engaging and motivating. They are usually not relevant to the students' lives because their goal is to include words that can be decoded
based on the lesson. Decodability is often at the expense of authentic meaning to the child.
Reading becomes tedious and, for some children, confusing and anxiety-provoking.
In this state, there is reduced passage of information through the neural pathways
from the amygdala to higher cognitive centers of the brain, including the prefrontal cortex,
where information is processed, associated, and stored for later retrieval and executive functioning.
Additional neuroimaging studies of the amygdala, hippocampus, and the rest of the limbic system, along with measurement of dopamine and other brain chemical transmitters during
the learning process, reveal that students' comfort level has critical impact on
information transmission and storage in the brain. The factors that have been found to affect
this comfort level such as self-confidence, trust and positive feelings for teachers,
and supportive classroom and school communities are directly related to the state of mind compatible with the most successful learning, remembering, and higher-order thinking.

The Power of Joyful Learning
The highest-level executive thinking, making connections, and "aha" moments of insight
and creative innovation are more likely to occur in an atmosphere of what Alfie Kohn calls 
exuberant discovery, where students of all ages retain that kindergarten enthusiasm
of embracing each day with the joy of learning. With current research and data in the field
of neuroscience, we see growing opportunities to coordinate the design of curriculum, instruction, and assessment in ways that will reflect these incredible discoveries.
Joy and enthusiasm are absolutely essential for learning to happen -- literally, scientifically,
as a matter of fact and research.
Shouldn't it be our challenge and opportunity to design learning that embraces these ingredients?

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/neuroscience-behind-stress-and-learning-judy-willis

Turbo Charged Reading: Read more>>>Read fast>>>Remember more>>>Years later
Contact M’reen at: read@turbochargedreading.com

You can TCR software and engineering manuals for spontaneously recall – or pass that exam.
I can Turbo Charge Read a novel 6-7 times faster and remember what I’ve read.
I can TCR an instructional/academic book around 20 times faster and remember what I’ve read.
Introduction to Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube  
How to choose a book. A Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Emotions when Turbo Charged Reading YouTube

Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?

Perhaps you’d like to check out my sister blogs:
www.innermindworking.blogspot.com  gives many ways for you to work with the stresses of life
www.ourbusinessminds.blogspot.com   development, growth, management. www.mreenhunthappyartaccidents.blogspot.com        just for fun.

To quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn; the more places you'll go.