What does being green mean?
‘Being GREEN’ means being inexperienced at something or being so new at it that you are out of your comfort zone. You are learning something new and you don’t know what to do or how to proceed. Until you start to learn and understand It can be a very uncomfortable feeling. BUT for such a small feeling of discomfort for such a small amount of time LEARNING SOMETHING NEW brings enorrrrmous benefits!
Trying something new
Trying (or learning) something new is the T in The Conroy Concept of happiness and wellbeing. The CONCEPT is seven areas of life that I believe we need to focus on and develop in order to grow as people and to increase happiness and wellbeing.
Trying something new doesn’t necessarily mean huge things. It can be ANYTHING from brushing your teeth with the opposite hand one morning to travelling to another part of the world – and anything in between.
Every time you do this you fire new neurons (information messengers) in your brain and we know, ‘neurons that fire together wire together’. That’s how new neural pathways are made and that’s how you grow your brain!
I love this quotation by Ray Kroc – the businessman who founded McDonalds food chain – he said,
As long as you’re green you’re growing
As soon as you’re ripe you start to rot
You must never ripen. That’s when mild cognitive decline can start to take hold. Always look for something new – everyday. Learn something new everyday.
Keep it simple
Magazines are a great way to take in ‘bite sized chunks’ of new information on something you are interested in – or even better on a subject you know absolutely nothing about.
Make it big
Or you could take a degree!
Never think you are too old. You are NEVER too old to set new goals and NEVER too old to try something new.
Remember that old saying, ‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks?’
Well, science has knocked it right out of the park!
Those neurons I talked about? They just keep firing! They may need a little more encouragement but that’s no problem!
No matter your age – start right now – what can you do differently today?
- Jump in your car and drive down a road you have never been.
- Go for a walk a different way
- Eat something different for dinner
- Try to do something using your non-dominant hand
- Watch a different TV show.
There is so much you could do. In terms of new learning – tell me in the comments about something you have ALWAYS wanted to learn to do but have never managed to get to it…and then GET TO IT!
You will be so glad you did. Watch this week’s video THE BENEFITS OF TRYING SOMETHING NEW for more ideas and more benefits to encourage you to GO GREEN IN NEWVEMBER AND HELP YOU TO PREVENT COGNITIVE DECLINE.
