Cultivate your brain as you would a grain.

I think of a brain as I think of a grain (even the shape of it is provokingly similar to the shape of the brain). In order for that grain to grow you have to cultivate it, prevent from too much sun, under or overwatering or insect infestation. You may need to add special nutrition to the mix for the grain to grow into your desired plant. And then finally you put some effort into growing the grain and you see how it branches out and shows as talented leaves, petals, nectars that attract pollinators like honey-bees. In the next few months I want to concentrate on ideas on how to age gracefully or rather - how to grow older gracefully and I start with command center, the brain.

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This Labor Day and Beyond, Meditate.

I did subscribe to Headspace meditation app this summer as American Medical Association offered it for its members for free. There is so much emphasis on wellness these days, almost like we realized just yesterday that physicians are humans too, prone to stress, breakout, despair and doubt. I admit that the app helped me to dedicate 10 minutes of my time few times a week to a session designed for beginners. I was advised to sit down, look for solitude, close my eyes, take refreshing breaths and the rest of meditation followed. Each session felt very good. At first I was a little frustrated that I keep unfocusing and being distracted, but with practice that becomes a secondary issue and something not to stress about so not to contradict what you try to accomplish with meditation. One session described this sensation as seeing the picture of big blue sky and clouds passing, but not being taken away or overwhelmed by the clouds which will be there, like life events, no matter what and same can be said about thoughts in our heads, let them pass, but do not allow them to control you. Easier said than done, but the moderator of the sessions explains the concept of practice very well and the sessions are simple enough to follow.

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Michael Nula, Physical Therapist in Rhode Island talks with me how to take care of painful hand condition.

If like me you type on computer all day, or have awkward positions of fingers and hands in relation to your laptop, or even smart phone, you will understand while I reached out to my colleague Michael Nula, founder of Elite physical therapy office in lovely Rhode Island, to converse about the stress to our hands. We talk specifically about condition that is referred to as De Quervaine’s tenosynovitis or radial styloid tenosynovitis, the disorder that is degenerative and possibly inflammatory in nature, and that all of us may suffer from due to overuse of thumb and forearm tendons.

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Follow the journey.