In 1936, in her book Wake Up and Live! an American writer Dorothea Brande offered some amusing exercises for the brain, which help to make your mind sharper and more flexible. These exercises are designed to get you out of your usual environment, show a different perspective (even a different reality, if you want) and create situations that will require ingenuity and creative solutions.
So, here are the exercises:
- Spend 1 hour a day in your usual environment without saying anything, just answering direct questions, without creating the impression that you are offended or not in the right mood. Behave as normally as possible. Do not make any comments and do not succumb to the attempts to extract information from you.
- For 30 minutes a day, come to think of one single subject, without being distracted by anything. You can start with five minutes.
- For 15 minutes a day, communicate without using words “I, me, my.”
- Linger at the threshold of any crowded room and evaluate its size.
- Allow your new friend to speak only about himself or herself, without him or her realizing it. Return to the mutual conversation with polite questions so that the person would not feel anything wrong.
- Try to speak only about yourself, without bragging, complaining, and getting your friends bored.
- Make a strict plan for two hours a day and clearly follow it.
- Give yourself 12 random tasks, such as walking 20 miles from home without using any special equipment; spend 12 hours without eating; have breakfast in the most unexpected and inappropriate place that you can find; say nothing all day except answering questions; stay up all night and work, say “yes” to all questions and suggestions during the day (reasonably).
These exercises may seem silly and useless, but, in fact, they can make your life more interesting and help to get to know yourself better.
