When we remember and imagine....and forget to think

It’s actually offensive to tell someone they are not thinking, even worse to tell them they don’t think. I would know this, I was born and have grown up in a very controversial community where a lot of people have been told that. Indirectly of course.

One thing I have noticed is that we spend most of our lives wondering about the ‘what ifs’, remembering the ‘whens’ of what has happened and what is yet to and imagining about the ‘if onlys’ of how we wish unfolded ahead of us. Hear me out, that’s not a bad thing, but what if there’s more we need to do.

Have you ever sat down at the end of the day and tried to breakdown what your brain has been trying to achieve in the duration of the day? Well, I recently had a similar wake up call. Too bad for me I had to sit down and wonder after noticing a gap. It was too late for me, but maybe it will not be for you.

My problem solving skills were recently put to test. It was a series of calculated tasks meant to evaluate how I would cope if presented with a situation and had the tools to get me out of the puddle thrown at me haphazardly. All I had was to figure out the ‘How’ part of using the tools at my disposal to make the best out of the situation. A little physical effort was needed too. The struggle was real.

I cracked my head. If the brain has a ceiling up to which it gets and stops functioning, I swear on that day I realized mine was worryingly low. Sometimes I found myself standing there as if waiting for the tools to organise themselves and give me some sort of map to guide me. To be honest, I wouldn’t have been offended had I been told I don’t think then.

Had I been the only one, I wouldn’t have been motivated to share this experience. We were teams. Groups of educated peers, selected and vetted academics, yet the feeling was mutual. We generally did well on the physical part. I figured, every day we wake up, walk, jog and do some lifting of one thing or the other. We don’t do the same with our brain. Do we flex our brain as frequently as we do the rest of the body?.....or do we at all voluntarily?

An occasional puzzle,quiz or chess game would would actually go a long way in keeping your brain sharp active and alert. It’s easy to remember, imagine and wonder, but when the time comes when your body needs your brain to think and bail it out, you might realise regularly exercising the brain in the ‘Hows’ of problem solving goes a long way in keeping it sharp compared to the former.