Keeping your Mind Sharp with Wild Card Poker, Getting lost and writing at Hub Pages

I have always been fascinated with the subject of intelligence. That might have something to do with my having been labeled as definitely NOT intelligent when I first entered school and then later being moved to a Gifted and Talented class.

My conservative acquaintances are quite sure that the initial analysis was the correct one, but my more liberal pals will give more weight to the later decision. As you might expect, both of those events had their effect on me and I think they really do explain my life long interest in the general area of intelligence: what it is, what it isn't, how we can improve it and how we can lose it.

I'm Losing It?

Yes, you certainly could be. One of the interesting things about intelligence, or at least about that part of it measured by IQ tests, is that your IQ tends to move toward the mean of the population of which you are a member.

That is, by the way, one of the many reasons I love being here at HubPages. Writers tend to be smarter people. Manipulating words is a skill that improves with brain power. Reading hubs written by smart people helps keep you sharp.

Obviously I am not referring to the MFA junk that also can be found here. That will certainly do nothing but dull your senses. Fortunately, there is much more than that here. There are some wonderfully interestingly people and you will be raised up intellectually by reading their hubs and talking to them in the forums.

Differing Points of View

If you know me a bit from having read some of my other writings, you might think I am referring to the large number of liberal writers found here. Yes, it is refreshing to find so many people who think as I do. I don't find enough of that in the real world friends I have, so it does make me happy to find so many here.

But there's much more too it. There are smart conservatives about also. Sometimes it may seem hard to believe it, because yes, we do get some ignorant ranting from the uninformed rabble and sometimes their din tends to drown out intelligent discussion, but you absolutely can find well thought out and well presented views from the other side of the fence at HupPages. I really appreciate that.

I will still vote for the most liberal candidates I can find, but I do enjoy looking at things from another angle.

Shake it up

It is more than just being fair to the other side that drives me to read conservatives here, watch Fox news and tune in AM radio for the shock jocks dose of unreality.

It also helps keep my brain sharp.

You need to be exposed to new ideas to keep your brain active. That's not just feel-good psycho-mumble, it is a biological fact. Your brain creates new connections when it learns new things. When you revisit old ideas because you need to refute new ideas, the connections that form those old ideas are refreshed and strengthened. Your brain needs exercise to stay healthy.

Smart conservatives listen to NPR every now and then. Smart liberals return the favor by watching Beck and listening to Limbaugh.

Get lost

You can do many things to exercise your brain. Crossword puzzles, word games - there are always word games going on in the forums here and if you visit a forum site dedicated to Scrabble and other word games, you'll find a mind boggling number.

Something very simple that I enjoy is getting lost or taking different routes. I work for myself and am pretty relaxed about the whole idea of work to begin with, so I usually am not in a great rush to be anywhere. I'll lie to my GPS and tell it that I need to detour just to expose my brain to sights it has not yet experienced. I will also turn the GPS off and go off down an inviting road just to see what happens. These little things can help keep your brain clicking.

Poker

I like to play poker, and not just because I clear a few hundred dollars a year doing so (yes, my IRS friends, I report that).

I like to play because the group I play with is a lively bunch and we always have a great time. The other tables sometimes have to tell us to shush because our laughter is disturbing them.

What's so funny about poker? Well, it isn't always poker; most of the players are very conservative and they do have fun with the few of us who are loony liberals, though we also get our own jabs in now and then. But mostly, it is about poker, because we play a lot of wild and crazy games.

Wild Card Poker

Yes, we play wild card poker. That alone cause rolling of eyes at some of the other tables. Some of those Manly Man tables are also aghast that more than a handful of women play at our table, but that's a subject for another blog. In this context, I'll just note that men and women have different ways of seeing things and that putting us together in social situations is good for us for that reason also.

But back to poker. As i said, we play some very interesting games. I invented some of the games we play, but if you've ever heard of it, we probably play it. Please understand that I'm not talking about silly things like "Deuces wild". No, the games we play require thinking and strategy, cleverness and cunning, and that's why we love playing them. These games challenge our brains.

Indulgence

I almost forgot about this.   If you are primarily artistic or primarily rational, you need to indulge the other side of your brain regularly.   I put those little cartoons on my posts because it is a great way to get some imagery into a post, because I love doing finger painting on my iPad and also because it helps exercise the side of my brain that doesn't get used as much.

Get out of the comfort zone

Familiarity creates dullness. Newness challenges you.

Have you been a Microsoft Word user all your writing life? Try using something different to wake up your brain. Never used anything but Windows? Try Macintosh or Linux.

Try something that scares you half to death, like public speaking or just try learning something you never thought you could learn.

Here's a fun thing to try: write a post and try to find a way to link to as many of your other posts as you can while not forcing the issue. I did that here. It was fun, though I failed miserably at getting very many of them in. Google may slap me for being overly promotional, but that's OK: I had fun doing it.

Be smart, stay smart, help me out

Remember what I said about regression. If you want to stay sharp, you need to keep the blade free of rust and use it, hone it, oil it. Engage smart people, mix up your world, challenge yourself.

Because if YOU stay smart, that will help keep me smart. That's all I really care about: this entire post was selfishly crafted to improve my life. But my scheme will fail if you just drift along and don't get involved. So please, keep your mind active!

I'm counting on you.

By the way, this hub was inspired by Aficionada's hub "Improve Your Brain Through Hubbing". You can go there to continue today's brain exercise.