Self-awareness and Common Courtesy

by Kathy Laurenhue on September 2, 2010

The word game we tried out yesterday was inspired, as I noted, by People Skills Day and Self-Awareness Month. The answer was “courageous,” and while it’s a characteristic I would like to see more of in this world, I would be happy enough to see more of simpler things like common courtesy.

I suspect that many people associate self-awareness with self-centeredness, when the reality is the opposite. A large part of being self-aware is recognizing the effect on others of your words and actions. Body language, facial expressions and tone of voice have always spoken louder than words, so if they are not all attuned you may not be giving the message you intend.

Furthermore, self-awareness extends to your effect on everyone. If you are empathetic toward a friend at lunch but are rude to the waitress, you have missed the point of courtesy which writer Fran Lebowitz calls a “politeness of the heart, a gentleness of the spirit.” Spread it around.

What uncommon acts of courtesy have you seen lately?

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A Fun Word Game for You!

by Kathy Laurenhue on September 1, 2010

The current Brain Aerobics Weekly also features one of my new favorite word games. Fill-in-the-blanks in the 10 words below to make a new 10-letter word for the boxes – but be careful. Each blank has multiple possibilities. Hint: In honor of September being People Skills Month and Self-Awareness Month, this word is something I hope you are. It goes along with Bette Davis’s comment, “Old age is no place for sissies.”

1       2      3      4      5      6      7      8       9    10

  1. B R  I  ___  K
  2. S  H ___ R  T
  3. ___ N  I  O  N
  4. T  O  W  E ___
  5. S  T ___ L  E
  6. ___ L  A  Z  E
  7. B  L ___ A  T
  8. B  R ___ K  E
  9. ___ T  T  E  R
  10. C  H  O  ___ E

Scroll down past the onions for the answer!

The answer to the word puzzle is….. COURAGEOUS!!!

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Variety, Quality of Life, and Alzheimer’s Disease

August 31, 2010

And ultimately, quality of life is the goal anyway. We’re all going to die of something, but we hope to live well while we can. I contend that we can all have a high quality of life, including people with Alzheimer’s disease, but it begins by starting now to lead that healthy lifestyle, invoke a positive attitude and nurture relationships.

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Celebrating Food and Memories

August 30, 2010

As you read today’s entry, consider your memories of food. What are your best memories? Can you see the food in your mind? Can you smell it or taste it? Close your eyes and savor the memory – how does it make you feel? If you could have one thing to eat right now, be [...]

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Re-inventing Yourself

August 26, 2010

Tuesday’s blog was intended to give me a chance to repeat some of inventor Thomas Edison’s most quotable lines as worthy life philosophy even if he contradicted himself at times or didn’t always manage to live by that philosophy. I encourage you to look over those quotes and choose those suitable for your life. But [...]

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Insights to Savor

August 25, 2010

The current Brain Aerobics Weekly also features a fill-in-the-blanks exercise related to rhyming poetry. You could also take these couplets as a charades challenge. Still another idea is to give each person in a group one line from a famous couplet and ask everyone to find their match. Here are a few examples from Longfellow, [...]

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The Inventor as Philosopher

August 24, 2010

The Inventor as Philosopher Thomas Edison is a man I have quoted for many years beginning with his attitude about the multi-step process to success: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” I still use that line a lot when I am training staff to work with people with Alzheimer’s [...]

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Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

August 23, 2010

How important is getting credit? In honor of Inventors Month the current issue of Brain Aerobics Weekly has a trivia quiz that focuses in part on people who didn’t get credit and/or monetary reward for what they invented. For some it was by choice.  Like Benjamin Franklin who didn’t patent his inventions because he thought [...]

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Cow Paths for Self-reflection

August 19, 2010

We have cow paths in our brains that can become ruts. But the ones she referred to were those that come from our negative self-talk – all the things we tell ourselves that are detrimental to our well-being. These ruts may be about our own inadequacies, or the inadequacies of others, about the obstacles we encounter in life or the dreams left by the wayside.

She suggested that if we have such ruts in our brains – and all of us do – we need to purposely rain on our brains to create marvelous mud that will even out the furrows and give us a chance to create new grooves based on gratitude.

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If You Had a Year and Unlimited Money

August 18, 2010

In this week’s Brain Aerobics Weekly, we ask readers to choose the three countries they would like to explore for those reasons (or others). This makes an interesting ice-breaker, writing assignment or group discussion topic.

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