Brain Fitness, Creativity and Life – What’s Interesting This Week?

This is new for This Old Brain.  I have been looking at a few things and thought, “Well, why not share them with readers?” So here are some of the articles, blog posts, and other various sundry items related to brain fitness, creative thinking, and personal development that I ran across over the week.

Mind Tricks: 6 Ways to Explore Your Brain

Researchers Find New Brain Cells May be a Key to Stress Resilience

The studies were done with mice and is a comparison in brain structure between resilient and non-resilient mice. Those more prone to stress were shown to have new brain cells grown several weeks after being exposed to stressful incidents.

In a study of mice, the researchers determined that weeks after experiencing a stressful event, animals that were more susceptible to stress exhibited enhanced neurogenesis – the birth of new nerve cells in the brain. Specifically, the cells that these animals produced after a stressful event survived longer than new brain cells produced by mice that were more resilient.

Psychologists Search for Secret of Happiness at Work

The causal link between subjective well-being and subsequent levels of job satisfaction was found to be stronger than the link between job satisfaction and subsequent levels of subjective well-being.

“These results suggest that if people are, or are predisposed to be, happy and satisfied in life generally, then they will be likely to be happy and satisfied in their work,” said Nathan Bowling.

Jonah Lehrer’s Uncle says Costco is a Place You Can Go Broke Saving Money

The secret of Costco’s success – and the reason I’m willing to pay just to enter the store – is because I trust the company to give me a good deal. As a result, I don’t comparison shop on my phone when I’m browsing the Costco aisles, checking to see if I can get the same book, or sunglasses, or toothpaste for less on Amazon. My usual cheapskate anxieties have been quieted.

If Your Brain Works More Slowly, It Just Might Be More Creative

According to New Scientist -

AS FAR as the internet or phone networks go, bad connections are bad news. Not so in the brain, where slower connections may make people more creative.

I’m Not Creative …

is the first creative block, says Mark McGuinnes of Lateral Action blog -

If you believe you’re “Just not the creative type”, there’s no point even trying to think or act creatively. You’d just be setting yourself up for failure.