BBB – the better brain breakfast
Friday, July 17, 2020
Are we OK?
Taking our temperature, in terms of emotional and physical condition, is something I find rarely feeling in balance – that harmony of body, spirit, and emotional energy I seek – feeling I vacillate, either running at fever-pitch or ignored altogether.
If we have a watchful party, someone neutral but caring, telling us to slow down or pick up our pace, that’s helpful. Coaches do that, teachers too – and parents. Without watchers, technology helps – been doing that for several years but must confess that, like any other advice, it only helps if you listen and then act accordingly. My WHOOP app deals with the physical only. Seeing an elevated readout of my daily performance is gratifying, but that app won’t give me a hug or an “attaboy.”
While it might be true that emotion states from high to low or from manic to panic have physical manifestations, there is no APP for that. No device to wear. But when an electronic biofeedback device gets invented, one which taps into my mental state, my emotional condition, and my intellectual capacity: I’ll be first in line to sign up.
Meanwhile, I’ll focus on ‘building the better morning smoothie’ to replace my electrolytes and give me a fiber-laden boost. It’s fantastic how fruit (strawberries, watermelon, blueberries) disguise that avocado taste – I’m getting brain food with a taste I enjoy. I do a cup of that every morning after my walk with a dill-pickle chaser. It seems, after a few weeks of experimenting, I’ve found a new habit I really like, one that is good for me.
While good health might taste great, in terms of taste on our tongue and the endorphin rush of exercise and strain on our body, my agreeable mental health requires more than an avocado smuggled into my smoothie and the mental gymnastics associated with that.
The question, for which I seek better answers, is how we can harness our brains better to keep our emotions functioning as well as our bodies. What’s the point of being physically well if we are emotionally drained or defeated? I’m feeling pretty good right now, but I don’t have to look far or very deeply to see a lot of people feeling defeated and depleted – with no end in sight.
We are the sum, the total, the culmination of everything we’ve ever done, and the collected experience of everything that ever happened in our life. It’s a tapestry, perhaps with some frayed edges, woven ever tighter each time we learn, each time we share, each time we give.
P.S. I found this article on brain-boosting foods – most of these are in my diet. Many are in my smoothies, though I can’t see putting dark chocolate and oily fish in them! While they all end up in the same place, I prefer to eat those later in the day.