Welcome. My name is Jay, and you can call me Jay or Callanthae, I don't mind which.

Today's topic is: How to Exercise Your Brain.

With many people, the mind is the most neglected and least exercised muscle. I think it's more important than every other muscle in the body except for the heart. If you're having trouble exercising it, here are some ways to get the neurons firing.

1: Do puzzles.

Puzzles like Sudoku, Kakuro and crosswords are excellent for making you think. www.conceptispuzzles.com is a great site, featuring many different types of puzzles, though no crosswords. A good crossword site is www.lovatts.com which features other kinds of puzzles too.

Conceptis also provides tutorials on completing their puzzle types: I don't know about whether Lovatts does. You can also pick up Lovatts puzzle magazines cheaply at the local newsagent: they are definitely worth the money.

2: Play games.

Board games, card games and puzzle or strategy computer games are excellent tools to force you to think if you want to do well. www.kongregate.com provides these, but there are thousands of game sites across the web. It would take far too long to list even the best ones, so make a Google search and find them!

3: Read books.

Movies and television provide all the entertainment for you. Your brain has less activity watching TV than it does while you are asleep. With books, you need to use your imagination to fill out the details. It also improves your general knowledge and your vocabulary: excellent tools for intelligent people. I find the more I read, the greater my vocabulary, the wider the range of topics I am informed of, and the more I know about topics I already know. And it's fun! Even fiction can teach you these things.

4: Do riddles

Riddles are great for making you think because in order to get the answer, you need to reevaluate basic precepts about the puzzle, forcing your thinking into new horizons. Take this old riddle for example. You probably already know it.

A farmer has three objects: a fox, a chicken and a sack of corn. They get to a river, and they find a small raft there: but it is only big enough for the farmer to steer it and one object to fit on it. The problem is, the fox left unsupervised will eat the chicken, and the chicken left unsupervised will eat the corn. How does the farmer get all three across the river safely?

Now, the riddle seems simple. By process of elimination, the chicken has to go first. But then, no matter what you take next, when you leave to fetch the last item, an item will be eaten. The key is that you can take objects BACK across the river. Since it's not mentioned in the riddle, you have to think of it for yourself.

5: Think!

By far the best way to exercise your brain is to just use it! Think about things. When you are bored while waiting, think instead of just drifting off. And ASK QUESTIONS. Always ask questions, because then you learn more, and the more you know, the more you can make connections and open new thoughts. A wise man once said 'Knowledge is power'. I don't know about that, but knowledge definitely is intellect!


Once you start using these simple steps, you will open up new thought processes, and by exercising your brain, it will strengthen. It won't happen overnight, just like physical exercise, but just like physical exercise, it won't take long to notice the difference.

That's it for today: so now I'll leave you with the Daily Quote and the Daily Site.

Daily Quote: It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer. -Albert Einstein

Daily Website: www.riddles.com. As the title suggests, this site is a database for riddles and brainteasers of all kind. Give it a whirl!

Until next time, may you take the time to enjoy a good puzzle.

-Callanthae.