‘Sharpen your mind’

Speak Easy Toastmasters-‘Sharpen your mind’

Sharp thinking and reasoning processes are at the heart of clear speaking. However not enough people use their thinking skills. Mental stimulation improves brain function and protects against cognitive decline.

The brain is a muscle. Just as physical exercise helps keep your body in shape mental exercise helps your brain increase its power to analyze. You can improve your thinking processes at any age. As the Franklin Institute once wrote

‘Your brain is a thinking organ that learns and grows by interacting with the world through perception and action.’

Here are some suggestions for improving mental processes:

Ask Questions:

Asking questions is the core of critical thinking. Your mind should be alive to possibilities. Seek out reasons behind rationales. If an issue contains several elements, separate the aspects and arrange them in different order.

Become a skeptic:

Never accept anything at face value. Know that people can make both sides of the argument simply by marshaling different facts. Realize that experts do not necessarily have the answers.

Become a reader:

Reading is to a person what fuel is to a car. It stimulates the mind to keep churning. It increases your vocabulary and challenges your perceptive. As you read take down thoughts and ideas. The act of writing down something helps you to remember it.

Make people your school of life:

Everyone has something to share. Never end a personal encounter without learning something.

Participating in Toastmasters is a great form of mental stimulation.

Speak Easy Toastmasters will hold their next meeting at the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow, October 14th at 7:50PM. Non-members are more than welcome to attend and will not be asked to speak. Further details about the Club are available on our website, www.speakeasytoastmasters.com