Third Speech at Toastmasters

Dear Toastmaster, Fellow Members and Guests,

Anybody's seen the film called  Limitless??

The protagonist of the movie will have a special tablet which will ensure 100% usage of his brain all the time. His brain is extremely active and he finds himself excelling in a field that he already has a flare for - the stock market. He identifies trends based on a lot of factors and the investments made fetch great returns.

This movie left me thinking..God has given us an excellent machine which is built very intelligently with lot of intricate mechanims - entire Human being - specially the Human brain. We can work wonders with it based on the usage in the right way and with the right amount. We don't need a "special" pill to make it function to its maximum. It is the activities we choose and how we go about doing it that makes the best use of our brain.

There are studies/reports that say "To stave off the mental decline associated with old age, engage in intellectually challenging activities, maintain a positive outlook and keep up your social life". This necessarily need not be a prescription for old age people alone. This is the medicine for all ages to keep the brain healthy and active. We need to develop and keep nurturing a skill that we like the most. By skill, it can be anything that interests you - Learning a new word everyday, spell it and use it whenever possible; solving crossword puzzles; playing scrabble; taking up action video games which improves your eye-hand co-ordination and increase the number of things that we can visually attend to simultaneously;building blocks etc.

Paying attention to our sensory experiences helps a lot in enjoying what we do/see/feel/hear/taste in your daily life and at the same time increases our memory capability to a great extent. For eg. we can practice sharpening our senses by identifying each ingredient in everything we eat. Similarly working off stess by a good physical activity that you enjoy will not make it tiresome and at the same time will free your mind and keep it healthy. Coming up with interesting speeches/table topics speeches in Toastmasters and innovating them as we move further is also a great way to keep your brain active.

In all the above, the main criteria is that we should like what you are doing so that the amount of effort we put in won't be tiresome or stressful. In fact if you think about it, when we do something that we like, it will seem effortless. Also, we should not be addicted to the same activity continuously for years together. It will make the brain stereotypic. We should engage in either more than one activity or work on ways to enhance an activity that we like the most.

For eg. there are people in this world who can do multiple things at the same time and hold records for it. I recently read in a magazine about a person (Chezhian) and was spellbound by it. The situation is like this: Imagine that each of you are asking me a question or doing some activity in order from < person name> to <person name>. At the end of it, I tell you the result of the activity or the answer to your questions in the same order it was performed/asked and all are right. The questions can be in any field - be it literature,science,mathematics or anything else. Now here in this room there are just 10-12 of us. The same activity was performed in a room of 70 people with one man responding to all their questions/activities without making a mistake.

We may think that this is a herculean task. However, it is sheer practice and developing meticulously what we've got with passion. This person likes memory games and also has interest in learning new things and remembering them. He has developed his skills and has kept nurturing this skill by setting various goals and taking the right steps at the right time.

 "Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking"

This is a quote from a person who utilized the maximum capacity of the brain all the time and was successful - Sir Albert Einstein.

Let us not keep thinking and wondering leaving our brain "hingy" but effectively utilize our brain to keep our days occupied and interesting. That way, we will live our life to the fullest.

Over to the Toastmaster..