Turning Fantasy Into Reality

By Michael Masterson

You can overcome obstacles and sometimes even achieve goals that seem impossible by exercising your imagination. Picturing yourself making that winning shot or accepting a raise or receiving applause for your speech can reduce the anxiety that comes with challenging yourself.

I used this technique to prepare myself for the North American Grappling Association national championship.

Being a fifty-something-year-old in a young man’s sport, I had to delete a lot of scary movies from my head. (Bones broken, humiliating defeats, etc.) And I had to invent some better ones. (MM taking his opponent to the ground, passing his guard, achieving a cross side, and then finishing with a spinning arm bar.)

Guess what? It helped. I came in second in my category. Substituting positive fantasies for negative ones reduced my stress and allowed me to think about possible winning strategies.

Of course, visualization isn’t enough. Not nearly enough. Most of my success comes from doing. And most of my good fortune at the competition was the result of hours and hours of practice. Still, it helps.

There are all sorts of books written about visualization. And in sports, at least, it’s practically a science. In business, visualization is probably best at helping you do things you are afraid to do. Things like preparing for a tough negotiating session or important presentation, for example.

---

2 Tasty Ways to Protect Your Brain

By Dr. Jonny Bowden

As you age, you may find yourself having lapses of memory, which can be frustrating and alarming. But you can support your brain and protect your memory function just by adding certain foods to your diet. Two foods that contribute to a healthy, robust brain are spinach and eggs.

Spinach is loaded with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant compounds that slow brain aging and preserve memory. It’s one of the few food sources of the powerful brain-protecting antioxidant alpha lipoic acid. A study in the Journal of Experimental Neurology showed that rats eating diets enriched with spinach and blueberries lost far fewer brain cells after a stroke. And they recovered much faster.

Egg yolks are one of nature’s richest sources of choline, a B vitamin. Choline is a building block of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is vital for memory, learning, and thinking. Not for nothing is choline called the "memory vitamin." More than 90 percent of Americans are choline-deficient. Choline is particularly important during pregnancy, because it’s necessary for brain development in the fetus. The choline in egg yolks helps maintain the flexibility of brain cell membranes, which is critical for the quick transmission of thoughts and impulses.

Try combining these two powerhouses in a spinach salad with hard-boiled eggs. The combo maximizes your ability to absorb the nutrients in both foods.

---

It’s Good to Know: Harvest Festivals

The custom of celebrating a good harvest with a special holiday, such as Thanksgiving, has its origins in ancient times. Here are a few that are still being practiced around the world:

• In China

The Mid-Autumn (or Moon) Festival dates back 3,000 years. It is celebrated in mid to late September. The traditional food for this holiday is the mooncake, a pastry filled with lotus seed paste, sweet bean paste, or mixed nuts and seeds.

• In Korea

Chuseok is a three-day holiday in mid September to late October. Thousands of Koreans travel to their hometowns to pay respect to the spirits of their ancestors with rituals and offerings of food and drink.

• In Germany

Erntedankfest is a religious celebration but not an official national holiday. It is usually celebrated on the first Sunday in October. There is a lengthy (sometimes day-long) church service, followed by food, dancing, and a parade. In recent years, turkey (an American influence) has joined the traditional goose on the Erntedankfest dinner table.

(Source: Wikipedia and About.com)

---

Word to the Wise: Malcontent

A "malcontent" (mal-kun-TENT) is someone who’s dissatisfied. The word is derived from an old French term for "bad content."

Example (as used by Robert Nathan in a New York Times book review): "How would you like to be locked in a room for a couple of days with an irritable, depressed malcontent who also happens to be imperiously smart, bored, and more than a little spoiled?"
__________________________________________________
These articles appear courtesy of Early to Rise [Issue #2199, 11-14-07], the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com/.