Beat the Braincramp Syndrome!

Chris Brown took the challenge to share strategies to unlock your brain when it freezes. She divulges unexpected, yet fun ways to beat the BrainCramp syndrome. "You know this happens when your brain freezes and you can't think. It happens to me when I get mad or too tired or I'm trying too hard," Chris explains. So here's her antidote...

Ways that I beat it:

MOVE. I take a walk. I weed the garden. I get on the exercise ellipse machine. Do the stairs. Walk down to the coffee shop and back. Put on some fun rock and roll and dance.

WATER. Sitting by the ocean is the best, but since I'm in Ohio, it's more like walking around the pond in my town. Or taking a shower. Or watching the rain. Wading thru a stream. There is something about the running water, moving water that helps to unlock my frozen thoughts.

DRIVE. It's not the same as moving, but similar. Expressway is best... stop and go traffic doesn't help. We used to live in Rhode Island and had a 12 hour drive home to Ohio & back. That helped. A quick 2 minute drive doesn't do the trick. You've got to get into the rhythm of a longer drive. Maybe it's the white lines going by that's semi hypnotic.

Dumb VIDEO GAMES. You know the kind where the little color things drop. Like Tetris or Cubis or Pop the Balloons? I think it's the repetitive motion, but it opens and unlocks some part of my brain and I can think again.

GOOGLE. Type a few key phrases into google or google blog search or google image search. It takes my mind into new places and helps to make me think about the project differently.

Worst ways that I've found to try to unlock brain freeze: 1) stare into the white nothingness of a blank page of a word document on my computer monitor. 2) stare at a totally white piece of paper. 3) look at a clean whiteboard. 4) Forcing myself to think about something that I can't figure out.

The more if try to force it, the less likely creativity will happen. It's got to be a flow, not a force.

You take a very active approach to jumpstart your brain, Chris. And, that's a great tactic. Interestingly, three parts of your brain, the cerebrum, brain stem and cerebellum need regular exercise, too. Dr. Ellen Weber shares tips to energize our brains to dance ... Now that'll rewire your dendrites!

Chris, your rocking and rolling strategies pump more oxygen to your brain. And, your brain uses 21% of your body's oxygen supply. So it shouldn't surprise you that sitting at a desk too long can stagnate your brain. Why not get out of your seat and move as Chris does to keep plenty of oxygen flowing to the old noodle!

Any more great ideas you use to overcome braincramp? I'd love to hear your thoughts, too!

Five Things about Me You May Not Know

Ellen Weber tagged me to share five things about me that may intrigue you. So here goes...

1. Love thy neighbor as thyself... - It's a lifelong quest and I'm still learning. The philosophy by which I seek to live reveals much about who I am.

2. I love bright colors, but more recently I've adopted more subtle shades to enjoy.

3. My husband and I live in an old federal style stagecoach inn, circa 1836. It's roomy enough to fit our three children and mates and five grandsons in all its crannies, and when we enjoy holidays together, it rocks!

4. I'm a native born Australian - my father was killed in WWII. Though I'm a U.S. citizen, I'm an Auzzie at heart because I like unconventionality.

5. Criticism does much...encouragement does more. I've learned that encouraging others' gifts leads to amazing outcomes. Best part is, I'm able to do this in my work at the MITA Brain Based Center.

OK, there it is about me.

Now, I'd like to tag: Cord Silverstein at the Marketing Hipster, Chris Brown at Branding and Marketing, Bill Wren at Write Life, Jake D. Olson, at A Foreign Perspective and Jim Walton at Black in Business.