Fit Bodies Flabby Minds: A New Year's Resolution to Get Our Minds in Shape!

     The distinguished British Sociologist declared to the American audience, "Your bodies may be in good shape but your minds are fat." He went on to describe how for decades Americans have stressed getting in better shape and losing weight while almost totally disregarding the growth of our intellect. The simple fact is that for many Americans January 1st will consist of various resolutions for the New Year of 2014 that will include eating better, getting in shape, stopping smoking, drinking less, traveling more, and saving more money.
     Go ahead and make your resolutions for a better you, but let's get that mind in shape also. Make plans for a brighter, smarter, and happier you, by strengthening that mental muscle. By reading the right books your mental abilities can improve by the day. Your brainpower can improve and your reasoning faculties can get sharper and sharper with each brain powered work out. As with any physical regime, your mental workouts do not have to be all pain. Let's find some books that refresh, delight, and encourage. Let's also read those books that challenge, push, stretch, and move you to the next level. When I was a child, I only read comic books. When we are babies we only eat baby food. As we mature we eat adult food. We should all read things we enjoy; those lighter less demanding books.  These should be thought of as our reading carbs (essential, but not exclusive). We should also read those books that are above us and beyond us--those books that cause us to grow. We can think of these as the high-protein books for the brain.
     I'm calling for a lifestyle change. A few years ago a friend asked me how I read so much and I told him that since I don't watch more than a few hours of TV a week and I spend only a few hours in front of the computer or on my tablet, I have a lot of free time to read. In addition to spending about forty-five minutes a day on my physical exercise, I try to spend double that time on my mind. There are plenty of great books to read and we all need some help and encouragement to build up those mental muscles. Reach out to a reading group or a "book coach" who can help you resolve to be the reader in 2014 that you were not in 2013. You can do it! Feel the burn! Melt off the flab! Stretch! Reach! Go, go, go!