Ywang84’s Weblog

“Whatever your mind can conceive and believe it can achieve.” – Napoleon Hill

The way you think has the ability to turn your deepest desires into reality or, alternatively, keep you chained to mediocrity. This article looks at eight patterns of limited thinking – as identified by Dr. S McKay, Davis, and Fanning in their book, Thoughts and Feelings: Taking Control of Your Moods and Life – and how they can be resolved. Breaking these patterns of limited, habitual thought will free you to realize your full potential in life.

1. Overgeneralization

This pattern is characterized by broad, general conclusions based on a single incident or piece of evidence. Overgeneralization often takes the form of absolute statements and uses words such as all, every, none, never, always, everybody and nobody. For example, if you read too many personal development articles you may believe all television is a waste of time.

You can stop thinking in absolutes by using words such as may, sometimes, most and often. Saying some, or even most, television is a waste of time is far easier to take seriously than simply saying all of it is.

2. Polarized Thinking

This is black-and-white thinking, with no room for shades of gray. People and things become either good or bad, smart or stupid, brave or cowardly. President Bush’s declaration in the aftermath of 9/11, “You’re either with us, or against us” is a famous example of such thinking. And we all know know what has happened since….

Fight the urge to make black-and-white judgements by accepting people and things are too complex to be reduced to “either/ or” judgements. This is especially important in regards to judging yourself. Allow yourself some room to make mistakes without automatically labeling yourself a failure.

3. Filtering

Filtering can be thought of as a type of tunnel vision – focusing on one element of a situation to the exclusion of everything else. For example, you may write an article that hits the front page of Digg. But rather than focusing on this success, your thoughts are distracted by a handful of negative comments.

To break this pattern, make a conscious effort to shift your focus to the opposite mental theme. In this case, focus on the positive feedback and enjoy the moment as it is not every day your blog hits the front page of Digg (unless you are Arianna Huffington).

4. Mind Reading

This pattern occurs when you make snap judgements about others. You may, for example, assume a girl who is not paying attention to you is thinking, “He is not up to my standards”. This may be based on intuition, past experiences or a process called projection, whereby you imagine people feel the same way you do and react to things the same way you do. And while your assumptions may be true, often they will turn out to be completely wrong. Perhaps she is very interested in you but is simply shy?

One way to tackle this pattern is to treat assumptions about people as hypotheses to be tested and checked. Gather evidence before making inferences about people. And if you do decide to follow your intuition, be aware your assumptions may reflect yourself rather than the reality of someone else.

5. Catastrophizing

Catastrophizing occurs when your imagination focuses on the potential for tragedy and disaster. Just as Chicken Little worried the sky was falling after an apple fell on her head, you may fear swimming in the ocean after reading a news report of a shark attack on the other side of the world. Catastrophic thoughts often start with the words “What if?” What if I injure myself playing sport? What if this plane crashes? What if I lose my job? Such catastrophizing creates anxiety and can result in you missing out on some of life’s greatest pleasures.

The most effective way to deal with this pattern is to evaluate a situation in terms of odds or percent of probability. Are the chances of disaster one in 1,000,000 (0.00001 per cent)? Or, are they closer one in a thousand (0.1 per cent)? When it comes to sharks, there were 71 unprovoked attacks worldwide in 2007. Perhaps you should be more concerned about the car ride to the beach than swimming in the ocean….

6. Magnifying

This involves emphasizing things out of proportion to their actual importance. Minor suggestions become scathing criticism. Small mistakes become tragic events. Slight obstacles become overwhelming barriers.

To overcome this pattern, pay attention to the language you use. Stop using words such as disgusting, awful and terrible. Also, toss out phrases such as “It’s unbearable”. Guess what? It is bearable. History has shown time and time again that human beings can cope with almost any psychological blow and can endure incredible physical pain.

7. Personalization

Personalization can take two forms. First, you can directly compare yourself to other people, eg “He writes far more eloquently than I do”. Such comparisons may actually be favorable to you, eg “I am better looking”. Either way, there is an underlying assumption here that your worth is questionable. Consequently, you seek out ways to test your value and measure yourself against others. Personalization can also take the form of relating everything back to yourself. If you’re partner tells you she is bored or depressed, you may automatically think you are the cause of this feeling.

This pattern of limited thinking can be broken by recognizing most comparisons are meaningless. Each of us has our strong and weak points. Matching your strong points to other people’s weak points usually has little purpose except to feed your ego.

8. Shoulds

In this final pattern, you live according to a set of inflexible rules about how you and other people should act. You have a fixed view of what is right, and those who deviate from your particular values or standards are bad. And you are just as hard on yourself. Some common and unreasonable “shoulds” include:

• “I should never be tired or get sick”
• “I should always be totally self-reliant”
• “I should never make mistakes”
• “I should always be happy”

To overcome this pattern, try to have greater flexibility in the rules or expectations you feel compelled to live by. And when it comes to other people, it is important to accept their individuality and uniqueness. You should accept that other people won’t necessarily live according to your values. After all, your personal values are just that – personal.

http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/limited-thinking/

这段时间，一直在出差，现在告一段落了，估计能正常更新一段时间。利用休息时间，看了一些书，经过这段时间的思索，对学习又有了一些新的认识。

学习包括的要素非常多，但最主要的就是兴趣、习惯、坚持和结构。前三种大家都应该知道是怎么回事，今天来说说自己对于结构的认识。不管学习任何知识或技能，如果能了解、认识这门学习的结构，学习起来就会事半功能。结构说白就是８０/２０了。任何一种学问根据你的目标，在知识结构上都有轻重之分，只要把学习的要点放在掌握最主要的２０%上，你的学习速度就可以加快很多倍。利用短时间学会别人几个月、几年或几十年的才能学到的东西。

道理很简单，但实际做起来却是很难。学习任何知识都有一个前提，就是必须不能比你目前的知识结构相差太多。举例来说，你非常的聪明是一个天才，但只有５岁，知识结构是小学水平，当你直接学会大学水平的课程就会发现，无法了解。必须把中学/高中的中间过程，补充完整之后才能了解大学水平的知识。

想快速掌握一门知识的结构，有两种方法。请这个行业的专家来教你，如果你有足够的条件和能力，一定要请最好的专家。另一种方法是，在最短的时间内大量阅读相关的书籍、资料，听取专家的建议，整理成自己的心得。有专家的建议，能避免走入误区，节省大量的时间。大量阅读指最少十本以上相同行业的书籍，而且必须在短时间阅读完成，比如几天或半个月内。利用互联网和专家来列出应该阅读的图书，是必不可少的步骤。

想使用第二种方法，需要通过长时间锻炼自己的观察力、阅读、分析能力，不断的增强这方面的能力，才能使用这种方法。

说得有些乱，想到哪时说到哪里，放在这里做个记录。欢迎大家互相探讨。

y Donald Latumahina, July 7, 2008
Can you imagine being productive without setting priorities for your tasks? It may seem counterintuitive, but it’s a characteristic of Getting Things Done (GTD). The lack of priority in GTD makes it different from many time management practices that use things like ABC method to set priorities for tasks.
As I wrote in my review of Ready for Anything, David Allen handles this problem by introducing a simple distinction: projects and someday/maybe. Either something needs to be done as soon as possible (which makes it a project) or not (which makes it a someday/maybe).
After knowing this, I then asked myself: Don’t we need to distinguish different projects to know which ones are more important? Don’t we still need to set priority?
Around the time when I was thinking about it, I watched Randy Pausch’s lecture on Time Management. There he featured Covey’s quadrant that classifies tasks into four quadrants:
* Quadrant 1: Important and Urgent
For example, finishing a report that due tomorrow.
* Quadrant 2: Important but Not Urgent
For example, building relationships.
* Quadrant 3: Not Important but Urgent
For example, unimportant phone calls.
* Quadrant 4: Not Important and Not Urgent
For example, playing games excessively.
Then, connecting this quadrant concept to GTD’s lack of priority, I saw a place where we don’t need to set priority:
We don’t need to set priority when we are in quadrant 2
The reason is simple:
For tasks that are considered important, priority setting are only necessary when some tasks are urgent.
When you need to finish something tomorrow, you have no choice but to work on it first. You must give it high priority. The situation is different when you have plenty of time to do your tasks. You have the freedom to choose what you want to do at any moment. You don’t need priority setting because – though the tasks are important – none of them is urgent.
So I would say that:
GTD’s natural place is quadrant 2
Of course, GTD can help you manage crisis (quadrant 1), but quadrant 2 is its natural place. Quadrant 2 is where you can have “mind like water”.
If you want to reach this position where you no longer need to set priority, here are some things you should do:
1. Eliminate unimportant tasks
This should be the first thing you do. You can’t afford to have your time spent on unimportant tasks in quadrant 3 and 4. So look at each item in your next action or project list, and ask yourself: Do I need to do this as soon as possible? Think before you answer. Be selective. Being selective is essential because you may leave some unimportant tasks otherwise.
If the answer is yes then you can leave the task in your project or next action list.
If the answer is no, then the next question is: Can I eliminate this? If you say yes then just eliminate it. Otherwise, put the task in your someday/maybe list.
Though it would be difficult to eliminate all tasks in quadrant 3 (sometimes you just can’t prevent unimportant phone calls), do your best to eliminate as many of them as possible.
2. Get the urgent things done
The time you save in step 1 can then be used to get tasks in quadrant 1 done. The key here is not to procrastinate (see Review: The Now Habit and 7 Can’t-Miss Ways to Defeat the Procrastination Habit for tips). The sooner you work on quadrant 1 tasks, the sooner you will finish them. Your goal is to clear quadrant 1 as soon as possible.
3. Finish tasks before they become urgent
Now that you have cleared quadrant 1, you can focus your effort on quadrant 2. Look at tasks that can potentially be urgent in the future and work on them. Try to finish them before they become urgent. This way you can keep your quadrant 1 clear.
4. Keep pushing back
You can take the previous point further by keep pushing back. Start with the tasks that will due first and get them done. Then push back and work on the task that will due next. This way you clear your tasks further to the future and you will have enough “cushion” for unexpected things. When unexpected things come, you can handle them without compromising your performance. It will also give you the freedom and flexibility to quickly seize on unexpected opportunities as they arise.
5. Allocate time for tasks that never become urgent
There are some tasks that will never become urgent though they are important. As I wrote above, building relationships is an example. For this kind of tasks, you should allocate time to do them. Make a commitment to do it as soon as possible and put it in your project or next action list.
***
When you do all these, you no longer need to set priority. You have the freedom to do what you want. You do something not because you have to but because you choose to.

http://www.lifeoptimizer.org/2008/07/07/how-not-to-set-priority-for-tasks/

There are over 6,000 languages in the world. Some are more important than others, not better or more advanced, just more important. Why? Because they are spoken by more people, in more countries. That does not mean that Finnish is not important to the Finns, and Maori is not important to the Maoris. It is just that these languages are not so important to the rest of us.
On the other hand, Mandarin Chinese is spoken by over one billion people. Chinese origin words account for 60% of Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese vocabulary. Knowing Chinese will help you learn these languages too. It helped me. Chinese culture has influenced the world for thousands of years with its art, philosophy, technology, food, medicine and performing arts. Today China’s economy is booming. Chinese seems well worth learning.
Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese are essentially dialects of the same language. If you learn one, you can learn the others. I did. If you learn Spanish, you open the door to the culture, music, history and possible business dealings with 800 million people in 60 countries, including the US and Canada.
If you get ambitious you could try Russian, as I have been doing for the last two years. Once you have Russian you can probably communicate with other Slav speakers.
But hold it here! Before getting carried away, let’s look at the present situation of language teaching. According to one Canadian survey, after 12 years of daily French classes, only one high school graduate out of 147 (0.68%) achieved “intermediate” proficiency. Another survey of immigrants learning English in the US showed that “classroom instructional hours” had little impact on progress.
If we cannot teach our own official languages in North America, what hope is there for other languages like Chinese or Spanish, let alone Russian, Arabic or Hindi?
As a speaker of 10 languages I know the benefits of speaking more than one language. We simply have to change the way we go about teaching languages. To start with we need to dispel seven common misconceptions about language learning.

1. Language learning is difficult
It is only difficult to learn a language if you don’t want to. Learning a language takes time, but is not difficult. You mostly need to listen and read. Believe me, it is that simple. I have done it many times. Soon you feel the satisfaction of understanding another language. Before you know it you start speaking. It is the way languages are usually taught that makes language learning hard to like.

2. You have to have a gift for learning languages
No you don’t. Anyone who wants to, can learn. In Sweden and Holland most people speak more than one language. They can’t just all be gifted at languages. Foreign athletes in North America usually learn to speak English faster than people in more formal learning environments. In language learning it is attitude, not aptitude, that determines success.

3. You have to live where the language is spoken
Some immigrants to North America never learn to speak more than halting English. Yet we meet people in other countries who speak flawless English. In 1968, I learned to speak Mandarin fluently while living in Hong Kong, where few people spoke it. With the Internet, language content is available to anyone with a computer, and you can download it to your iPod and listen. Where you live is not an obstacle.

4. Only children can learn to speak another language well
Recent brain research has demonstrated that our brains remain plastic well into old age. Adults who lose their eyesight have to learn a new language, braille, for example. Adults have a wide vocabulary in their own language and are better language learners than children. I have learned 4 languages since the age of 55. Adults only need the child’s willingness to experiment and desire to communicate, without the fear of ridicule.

5. To learn a language you need formal classroom instruction
This is the crux of the problem. Classrooms may be economical to run and a great place to meet others. They have the weight of history and tradition behind them. Unfortunately, a classroom is an inefficient place to learn a language. The more students in the class, the more inefficient it is. Languages cannot be taught, they can only be learned. Theoretical grammatical explanations are hard to understand, hard to remember, and even harder to use. Drills and exercises are annoying to most people. A majority of school kids graduate unable to communicate in languages that they study for 10 or more years.
6. You need to speak in order to learn (and I have nobody to speak to)

Speaking the language is usually the goal of language learning, but speaking can wait. Once you have acquired the language, you will find the opportunity to speak. When you are learning the language it is more important to listen. Trying to just pick up a few “handy” phrases to say is likely to just get you into trouble. If you meet a native speaker, you will inevitably spend most of your time listening unless you already know the language. You do not need to speak in order to learn, you need to learn in order to speak.
7. I would love to learn but I don’t have the time

How about the time you spend waiting in line, commuting, doing things around the house, going for a walk? Why not use that time to listen to a language on your iPod? Once you get started, even 10 or 15 minutes a day will soon grow to 30 minutes a day, or one hour. If you believe you will achieve significant results, and if you enjoy doing it, as I do, you will find the time.

http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/7-common-misconceptions-about-language-learning/

”我才发现大脑就像一台计算机。如果这是正确的，那么真的没有愚蠢的人了。只不过是些运行着dos的人罢了” – 无名氏
　　大脑是一个三磅重的超级计算机，它是使你正常生活的命令和控制中心，完全参与你所做的每一件事。你的大脑决定你如何思考、如何感知、如何行动以及如何与其他人和平相处。你的大脑甚至决定你是哪种人，它决定你是如何深思熟虑的、如何礼貌或如何粗鲁的，它决定你能多好地独立思考，它影响你能多好地工作和与家人相处。你的大脑也影响你的情感幸福，以及你能和异性相处多融洽。
　　你的大脑比我们可以想象的任何计算机都复杂。你知道在你的大脑里有1000亿个神经细胞，并且每个神经细胞都和其它细胞有着千丝万缕的连接么？事实上，你的大脑里的连接比宇宙中的繁星都多！优化你的大脑机能实质就是成为最好的自己，无论在工作、休息或关系方面。
　　这很简单，你的大脑是你做任何事情、你的所有感官思维、你与他人关系的微妙差异的关键。它是管理你复杂生活的超级计算机，同时也是储藏你精神的脆弱器官。当你可以奔跑、举重或做瑜伽来保持体型的时候，有可能你忽视了你的大脑，信任它的工作。
　　无论你的年龄、思维训练对你的大脑有什么综合的、积极的影响，这里有22条途径来提高你的脑力：
1. 提升你的脑细胞数量
　　研究显示，有充足体力活动的人们能获得更好的大脑。萨克生物研究学院(La Jolla,Calif)的科学家发现无论何时检测在活动轮上奔跑的成年老鼠都会发现它们海马区（大脑的一个区域，涉及学习和记忆）的细胞比那些只是坐着不动、整天在网络聊天室谈论指环王的那些老鼠新增了一倍。研究人员不确定为什么更多活跃的啮齿类动物的大脑反映了这种情况，但有可能是运动的自愿性使运动者的紧张情绪更低，因而对运动者而言更为有益。这可能意味着从运动中找寻乐趣、而不是仅仅强迫自己去做它可能使你变得更聪明- 也更快乐。
所以，玩项运动，参加马拉松、三项全能或”募捐长跑”等竞赛项目的训练，或和好朋友一起工作来帮助使事情变得有趣。
2. 锻炼你的思维
　　不仅体力活动能使那些脑细胞跳动起来。就像那些head-pumped cabbies和弹钢琴的，你可以通过使大脑的不同区域工作来增大它们。杜克大学的神经生物学教授Lawrence C. Katz（博士，Keep Your Brain Alive的同作者）说，寻找简单方法来使用大脑的可能迟钝的方面可能有助于维护神经细胞和突起（细胞的分支，用以接受和处理信息）。就像新的举重运动增大未充分利用的肌肉，Katz说用新奇的方法来思考和审视这个世界可以提高大脑怠惰区域的功能。
　　体验新的味觉和嗅觉；尝试用你非惯用的手做事情；找新路径开车去公司；去陌生的地方旅行；创造艺术；阅读杜斯妥也夫斯基的小说；为Ted Kennedy和Rush Limbaugh写一篇兄弟喜剧（buddy comedy）-基本上，就是强迫自己做那些常规思维之外的事情。
3. 问为什么
　　我们的大脑对好奇总是精力充沛的。随着我们长大”成熟”，许多人遏止或拒绝我们好奇的天性。让自己变得好奇！好奇于事情为什么会发生，问那些知道的人。锻炼我们好奇心的最佳途径是问一句”为什么？”。养成一天至少问10遍”为什么”的新习惯。你的大脑将会更快乐，并且你将会吃惊于你的生活和工作会有多少机遇和解决方案。
4. 大笑
　　科学家告诉我们，笑对我们的健康有好处；它释放内啡肽和其他含积极能量的化学物质到我们的肌体。我们事实上不需要科学家告诉我们笑的感觉很不错。笑帮助我们减小压力，也打破旧有模式。故而笑能像我们大脑电池的一个”快速充电器”。经常笑，大声笑
5. 做一个鱼头
　　发现于胡桃、亚麻籽、尤其是鱼体内的欧米伽-3 油，长久以来被认为有益于心脏的。但是最近研究显示，它们也是大脑促进剂，不仅因为它们有助于循环系统往你的大脑里压入氧气，它们看起来也改善环绕大脑细胞的薄膜的官能，这可能是为什么食用大量鱼类的人更不易于罹患抑郁症、痴呆病、甚至儿童多动症。科学家注意到，必要的脂肪酸对儿童大脑的完全发育是必须的，它们现在被添加进婴儿配方。有可能通过食用足够的这些油来增强你的精神状态、甚至你的智力水平。
　　开始可以每星期至少吃三次鲑鱼、沙丁鱼、鲭鱼和金枪鱼等。
6. 回忆
　　取出一个老影集或高中年鉴。你的大脑是一个记忆机器，所以给它一个工作的机会！花一些时间来回忆，让你的记忆将沉思它们，并且回馈你以积极的情绪，并在记忆里建立新的连接，这将有助于你当前的工作和挑战。
7. 减肥
　　有害的”脂肪”能使你傻乎乎么？当多伦多大学的研究人员使老鼠增加40%的脂肪，老鼠在脑功能的几个区域有所减退，包括记忆、空间识别和口令学习。如果食用高度饱和脂肪，肉类和奶制品里富含这种脂肪，问题将会更一步恶化。虽然你不可能被要求穿越一个小迷宫来寻找乳酪块，但这些结果仍对你有效，两个原因：脂肪能减少富含氧气的血液输送到大脑的流量，它也可能减缓葡萄糖的新陈代谢，葡萄糖是大脑养料的一种糖类。
　　你仍可以以脂肪的形式摄取日需卡路里的30%，但大部分应该来自上述的鱼类，橄榄油、坚果和种子。无论你做什么，远离逆态脂肪（trans fat），它是饼干和零食里富含的一种硬化油。
8. 解决难题
　　一些人喜欢拼图，一些人喜欢组字，一些人喜欢逻辑- 这委实和你选择的种类无关。赋闲时解决一些难题是一种活化你的大脑并使之保持工作状态的良好途径。以解决难题为乐，但要认识到做它是为了锻炼你的大脑。
9. 莫扎特效应
　　十年前，Frances Rauscher（现在是威斯康星大学的心理学家）和她的同事因为发现听莫扎特的音乐能增强人类的数学和空间推理能力而在世界上掀起很大轰动。甚至老鼠在听完莫扎特之后在穿越迷宫时都比那些只听了些白噪声或抽象派作曲家Philip Glass写的音乐的老鼠更加迅速和精确。去年，Rauscher报告，至少对老鼠而言，一首莫扎特钢琴奏鸣曲似乎激活了涉及大脑里传输信号的神经细胞的三种基因。
　　这听起来像是调节脑力最和谐的方法。但在你抓取CD之前，听一下注意事项。不是每个人期待莫扎特效应的人都会感觉到它。况且，甚至它的支持者趋向于认为，音乐促进脑力仅仅因为它使倾听者感觉更好- 倾听的同时同时身心松弛，大脑受到刺激- 同等的刺激物能达到同样效果。事实上，一项研究发现，听故事时大脑能获得同样效果的促进。
10. 提高你重复做事情的能力
　　只要你期待扩展你的能力和知识储备，一些重复性的大脑刺激是不错的方法。通常的活动，比如园艺、缝纫、玩桥牌、阅读、绘画和做组字游戏都有效果，但是强迫自己去练习不同的园艺技术、更复杂的缝纫式样、和更有天资的玩家玩桥牌来增进技艺、阅读不同主题的新作家的作品、学习一种新的绘画技术、玩更难的组字游戏。强迫你的大脑到达新的高度有助于使它保持健康。
11. 做一个思考者，而不是酒徒
　　酒精破坏脑细胞的思想已经过时了，但现实更为复杂些。事实上，一个由3500个日本人所参与的实验发现，适当饮酒的人（这里指大约每天喝一次）当他们变老后，他们的认知能力比起那些根本不喝酒的人更好一些。不幸的是，一旦你超过了那个”适当的”数量，你的记忆力、反应力都有可能衰退。同一研究表明，一天饮酒次数四次以上的人情况恶化最快。
　　同样坏的情况是目前”豪饮”的风气，另一种说法是在周末酩酊大醉。老鼠研究发现，大量饮酒的老鼠在刚刚豪饮完毕后，事实上一个星期之后也是这样，其大脑海马区的新生细胞比其它老鼠更少。这个研究表明，酒精不但破坏老鼠的大脑，而且抑制其日后自我恢复- 对人类而言，这意味着你不可能期望以后的任何时候再通过门萨入门测试（译者注：一种智力测试，mensa）。
12. 玩
　　花点时间去玩，挤出时间去玩。玩扑克、玩视频游戏、玩棋盘游戏、玩暗夜来电（译者注：ring around the rosie，电影名）、玩拔河。你玩什么都无所谓。只要在玩！这对你的精神和大脑都有好处。它使你的大脑有机会出谋划策。
13. 拖到第二天解决
　　预览重要信息之后把其它留到第二天记忆，这使记忆保留增加20%到30%。你可以把信息放在床边以便随意查看，如果阅读它不能使你保持清醒，如果你被想法缠绊而无法入睡，把每件事写下来，把它们”驱逐出你的大脑”，这会使你能够睡眠（所以要在附近放一支笔和一张纸）。
14. 专注
　　专注能增进脑力。或许很明显，但注意力的小偷不总是那么明显。学习在你心烦意乱时多加留心，引起心烦的原因常常是位于潜意识里的。比如你需要接一个电话，它可能打扰了你一早晨，它使你无法思考清晰，甚至当时你都没有意识到是什么在困扰你。
　　养成这样一个习惯，停止问自己”我在想些什么？”。搞清楚并解决它。在上述例子里，你应该接电话，或把它列到明天的日程表，你的心里会因它的马上离开而感到舒适多了。这使你保持一种更为松弛的状态，你的思考也会更清晰。马上用这个技巧来增进自己的脑力吧。
15. 为你的大脑做爱
　　Winnifred B. Cutler博士和宾西法尼亚大学的同事们、以及之后斯坦福大学的一系列研究发现，定期的性接触对女性的身体健康和情绪安宁都有重要影响。和伴侣一个星期最少一次性接触导致更强的生育能力、稳定的月经期、更短的月经、延迟绝经期、提高雌性激素水平、推延老化。UCLA的大脑成像研究显示，雌性激素的减少关联到大脑活力的全民降低和记忆力减退。通过定期的性接触提高女性的雌性激素水平有助于提高整体的大脑活力和增进记忆力。
　　在Dr. Culter的研究里，性高潮的出现并不像事实上和另一个人性爱表现出来的那么重要。亲昵行为和情感融合是性爱的积极方面中最有影响力的两个元素。作为一个精神病医生，我见过许多压抑性欲的人表现为伤害、愤怒以及失望。Culter博士的研究表明，这是对自己有害的行为。你越压抑你的性欲，它越对你有害。适当的性爱是开启大脑青春喷泉的钥匙之一。
16. 充满激情地玩耍!
　　没有自我实现你是不可能做成伟大的事业的。当人们通过学习和创造成长时，他们超额实现，为他们的工作付出了多于127%的激情。使自己愉悦，你将愉悦整个世界。记住在你还是个孩子时喜欢做的事情，将其精髓投入你的事业中。这是指引你发现自己的天赋、特长的线索。达芬奇、爱迪生、爱因斯坦和毕加索都热爱玩耍，并且都热爱探索。
17. 意识周期
　　意识每天都像月亮一样有盈有缺。对大多数人而言，它的周期是90分钟，其中30分钟的意识低潮。观察自己来辨认周期。如果你学会辨认和跟踪你的大脑状态，你可以在思维最”清醒”时专注于重要的脑力工作，当创造性洞察遇到难题，就要反其道而行了。在你迷迷糊糊、意识思维迟钝下来时再去完成它。
18. 学一些新东西
　　这一条可能看起来平淡无奇。是的，当我们让大脑学习新的知识时，我们在使用它的巨大潜能。你可能有一个想了解更多的具体工作或休闲的主题。那很好。
　　开始学习。如果你现在脑子里没有一个问题，那么尝试每天学一个新单词。工作时的词汇量和智力是有强大关联的。当我们的词库里有新单词，我们的头脑可以通过主意间更微妙的差别想出新的方法。让你的头脑开始学习吧。这是重新给大脑充电的最好方法。
19. 写一些会有人读的内容
　　我强烈支持以写日记来获得主意和思想。为自己写作无疑有巨大价值。我连续发现通过写一些会被人阅读的内容，我的大脑变得格外兴奋。写作的最大好处在于它为扩充你的脑容量所做的一切。寻找途径来写一些会有人阅读的东西- 为你的朋友能阅读而写一些东西，写你童年发生的故事，建立自己的blog或无论什么- 只要写些能被阅读的东西。
20. 尝试用香薰来激活大脑
　　一天当我在一次会议上听着无休止的演讲时，慢慢坠入梦乡，突然闻到来自某个人科隆香水的柠檬味道，我的大脑兴奋起来。我立刻警醒，发现自己能更容易专注于演讲者。我发觉香薰真的有效，从那之后我一直用它来恢复精力或放松休息。
　　劲量（Energizer）含有薄荷、柏木和柠檬。松弛剂：依兰依兰，天竺葵和玫瑰。在浴室或喷雾器里滴入几滴精油会起作用。你也可以用棉花球或手帕沾一两滴然后吸入。工作场所需要警告一下；在使用之前确认没有人对该油有过敏反应。
21.提高智力的药物
　　咖啡和其它饮料包含的咖啡因有助于学生在考试中始终如一获得好成绩。因为咖啡因限制大脑血管，故而不太清楚它对你的智力的长期影响会如何。所以不要开咖啡会了，尝试一下银杏提取物（译者注：银杏树叶中的萃取物质可以增加脑的供血量）和积雪草草药茶。银杏提取物被证明能增加血液流向脑部，提高注意力。
22. 建立智囊
　　在你身周围绕着广泛领域的鼓舞人心的人，他们鼓励你、刺激你的创造力。阅读不同领域的杂志。在人们、地点和事物之间建立连接来发现新的机遇，以及为你的问题发现解决方案。
　　记住，无论你多大或你的职业是什么；你的大脑需要时常受到挑战，使之在效率方面达到其巅峰状态。不论是做逻辑难题，熟记莎士比亚的台词，或者学会一项新技能，使你的大脑忙起来，如果你不想让它想废品堆里的轿车一样锈掉的话。
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　英文出处：http://ririanproject.com/2006/11/03/22-ways-to-overclok-your-brain/