New Article
 Evidence
is accumulating to support the old axiom that a cheerful
heart is good medicine. Recently I spoke at a Cancer
Survivors’ Luncheon on this topic. While preparing
for that presentation, I started reminiscing about humor
and laughter during my childhood. That process prompted
me to write “Good Medicine.” I hope it triggers
laughter and reminiscences of your own humor history!
Read
the article online... |
Brain
Bender
More stimulation for your cerebral neurons! [Note: If
you are receiving the text-only version of this email
newsletter, you will need to view the Brain Bender online
(see link below).]
See
May/June Brain Bender online... |
Riddle
 What
11-letter English word does everyone pronounce incorrectly?
See Mar/Apr
Brain Bulletin online... |
Brain-Q
 This
year I am including a puzzle in each Brain Bulletin to
provide additional options for brain stimulation. The
puzzle rules are similar to those of Sudoku, but the puzzle
uses letters of the alphabet rather than numbers. The
object is to complete each grid so that every 3-by-3 box
(there are 9 such boxes in each puzzle), every row, and
every column contain the letters in the puzzle word—used
once only.
The puzzle word is a reminder that the cerebrum is composed
of four divisions: fourminds
Solutions are available on my web site. [Note: If you
are receiving the text-only version of the email newsletter,
you will need to view the Brain-Q
puzzle online.]
Brain
Q solution for March/April 2007... |
Seminar
Opportunities
 Plan
ahead for the last two “Brain
Programs” in the Napa Valley for 2007:
Saturday, August 11, 2007,
9am-4pm
St. Helena, California
The Brain Program
To register, contact Carrie Begg at (707) 963-1219 or
beggc1@ah.org.
Wednesday, October 10,
2007, 9am-4pm
St. Helena, California
The Brain Program
To register, contact Carrie Begg at (707) 963-1219 or
beggc1@ah.org.
Examples of other seminar opportunities:
Friday and Saturday, May
11-12, 2007, Community Seminars
Location: Hoodview Church, Boring, Oregon
Taylor's Topics:
• Friday 7 pm: Male-Female
Differences, Parts 1 and 2
• Saturday 11 am: 7
Secrets of Communication
• Saturday 2 pm: Male-Female
Differences, Parts 3 and 4
Hosts: Dan and Leisa George
Phone: (503) 663-5611
Wednesday, June 6, 2007,
10:00-11:00 p.m.
Event: Celebration of Life
Location: The Alhambra Retirement Community, Alhambra,
California
Taylor's Topic:
• Age Proof
Your Brain – you can retard the onset of aging
symptoms!
Host/Contact: Kate Moyer, Chaplain, The Alhambra Retirement
Community
E-mail: communities@frontporch.net
Phone: (626) 289-6211
Tuesday, June 12, 2007,
1:00-2:00 p.m.
Event: Community Seminar at Napa Valley College, Upper
Valley Campus
Taylor's Topic:
• Downshifting
– Managing a Natural Brain Phenomenon
Host/Contact: Napa Valley College
Fax: (707) 967-2909
View
Dr. Taylor's speaking schedule... |
Questions & Answers
 Q.
Please help me to better understand the difference in
energy expenditure for tasks that match a person’s
own innate giftedness.
A. Okay, let’s try a metaphor. The world is filled
with locks. Each person is a key that can open many, but
not all, of the locks. If you want to open a lock and
your key fits, it’s open sesame. If the key does
not fit, you will have to try picking the lock. Obviously,
opening a lock with a key is faster and easier. Trying
to pick a lock requires 100 times more energy because,
compared to using a key, lock-picking is more difficult
to accomplish, takes more time, and is somewhat of a crap-shoot.
In the process you may become fatigued, irritable, frustrated,
and even discouraged--especially if your efforts are unsuccessful.
Using that metaphor, picture specific tasks as locks,
and label the key as your brain’s innate giftedness.
Ask yourself, “Do I have a key for this lock?”
If yes, you will likely open the lock (i.e., complete
the task) with a relatively small expenditure of energy.
If no, you will need to try to pick the lock, and PET
scan studies suggest that you will expend at least 100
times more energy in the process.
In life we all have keys and we all pick locks. Understanding
more about what your brain does
energy-efficiently enables you to select locks for which
you have a key a majority of the time (i.e., at least
51%). Yes, 49% of the time you may still need to pick
locks. But when that happens, try to sandwich lock-picking
between the times when you can simply use a key.
Q. I want to study more about brain function,
but the only college in our town has closed. My husband
just graduated and I hope his diploma is valid! What about
Columbia Pacific University? Didn’t you get a degree
from there along with John Gray, who wrote the book Men
are from Mars,
Women are from Venus?
A. Yes, both John Gray and I obtained degrees through
Columbia Pacific University, and I thoroughly enjoyed
that experience. My mentor-advisor, Dr. Ani Mander, was
a wonderful human being! Although my doctorate had an
emphasis in women’s issues, she helped me understand
there really are none. There are just issues that affect
human beings, sometimes females more than males, but even
a woman with PMS impacts all the males with whom she interacts.
Too bad your college has closed. That seems to happen
to schools and hospitals fairly regularly these days!
You can probably let go of your anxiety about the validity
of your husband’s diploma. For example, CPU, one
of the first distance-learning universities in the USA,
opened in California in 1978. It is now registered as
a nonprofit corporation under Section 501(c)(3) and is
no longer offering degrees. However, when an institution
ceases to operate or to offer degrees, those awarded while
it was accredited are legal and valid. A California State
web site contains just such a statement for CPU. (http://www.bppve.ca.gov/press_releases/cpuweb_dec2000.htm)
I applaud your desire to study more about the brain.
There is nothing like it! But there are many ways to study.
For example:
• Go to Selected
Brain Facts on my web site and identify a book that
interests you. Borrow it from your local library or check
Amazon.com
to see if a copy is available—new or used.
• Go to www.google.com
and type in distance learning. You may
find a school that matches your interests.
Other
Questions & Answers... |
Practical Application Summaries
 In
response to requests for information that has appeared
in some of my handouts and syllabi, and because it is
often easier to start from something than from nothing,
I am preparing a collection of practical application summaries.
It is a work in progress. My goal is to share
information that will stimulate thinking, trigger increased
awareness at an individual level, and provide another
way to view the brain and related behaviors.
In preparing these summaries, I have relied heavily on
brain function research, a plethora of studies, collaboration
with other brain researchers, and discussions with experts
in a variety of genres. Nevertheless, the summaries represent
my own brain’s perception. (There will be some who
do not agree with my opinions and in those cases I suggest
they study the research for themselves and come to their
own conclusions—which they will do anyway.) Use
these summaries a springboard for your own practical applications
and have fun in the process!
Practical Application
Summaries...
|
News
Note
 I
received The Art of Possibility as a gift from
hospital CEO JoAline Olson. The book’s subtitle
reads: Transforming Professional and Personal Life.
And it actually delivers! When practically applied, the
innovative paradigms presented by husband-and-wife team,
Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander, can help a
person do that. Their breakthrough practices for individual
and collective creativity go right along with brain-function
theory that every brain on this planet has developed uniquely.
I enjoyed reading the stories and anecdotes from the
authors’ personal experiences (Ben is conductor
of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra while Rosamund is
a landscape painter and family therapist) and trust you
will, too.
Available
from Amazon.com... |
Point to Ponder
 The
thing that upsets people is not what happens but what
they think it means.
--Epictetus, 7th Century Philosopher
Modern philosophers have rephrased these words into what
is sometimes called the 20:80 Rule. I’ve found several
different versions. Here are a couple of them:
• It’s not so much what happens to you that
has the greatest impact, rather what you think about what
happened to you.
• Only 20% of the effect to your mind and body
is due to the stressor itself; 80% is due to the weight
and importance you place upon it.
Brian Tracy put it this way: “You cannot control
what happens to you, but you can control your attitude
toward what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering
change rather than allowing it to master you. Circumstances
may be out of your control--your response isn't!”
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