Grab Bag Doodle Noodle:

This just in from RealAge.com… doodling is good for your brain!

Boost Your Memory with Scribbles

Bill Gates does it. And you should, too. That is, if you want to remember things better.

We’re talking about doodling. Studies show that people who squiggle, scribble, and sketch while listening may have better recall.

Doodle for Your Noodle
Researchers suspect that doodling helps keep people more alert and reduces daydreaming. In a study of 40 adults, half of the group shaded in a row of shapes and the other half did nothing while listening to a boring phone message. Later, when asked to remember what they had heard, the doodlers recalled 29 percent more information than the nondoodlers.

This comes at a serendipitous time for me, as I have been focusing some time to a doodling art form often referred to as Zentangle. Click for a search of Zentangle images (Pinterest is also a great source) to warm up your doodle-Mojo. I find it very meditative. Here’s one I recently did in a couple of hours:

Grab Bag “Everyone’s a Playah”:

Now everyone CAN be a playah… digitally, that is.

Note: If you happen to have Apple TV, plus an Apple laptop (post 2011), AND operating system 10.8 or later, read no further… YOU can use Airplay Mirroring to throw your computer screen onto your TV.

For the rest of you who have an HDMI TV and are wishing you could share and view your photos, videos, Netflix movies, YouTube hilarities, etc. on your boob tube, I’ve got the answer!

PLAIR

Grab Bag Cool Rules:

Tara Sophia Mohr is an inspirational young woman, and she wants to inspire us, too. Peruse her website, and she comes across as a pretty bright bulb, with the paper to back it up…. undergrad at Yale and an MBA from Stanford… which actually doesn’t mean as much as what she offers below.

I’m thinkin’ we all might want to write these down.

10 Rules for Brilliant Women

1. Make a pact. No one else is going to build the life you want for you. No one else will even be able to completely understand it. The most amazing souls will show up to cheer you on along the way, but this is your game. Make a pact to be in it with yourself for the long haul, as your own supportive friend at every step along the way.
2. Imagine it. What does a knock-the-ball-out-of-the-park life look like for you? What is the career that seems so incredible you think it’s almost criminal to have it? What is the dream you don’t allow yourself to even consider because it seems too unrealistic, frivolous, or insane? Start envisioning it. That’s the beginning of having it.
3. Gasp. Start doing things that make you gasp and get the adrenalin flowing. Ask yourself, “What’s the gasp-level action here?” Your fears and a tough inner critic will chatter in your head. That’s normal, and just fine. When you hear that repetitive, irrational, mean inner critic, name it for what it is, and remember, it’s just a fearful liar, trying to protect you from any real or seeming risks. Go for the gasps and learn how false your inner critic’s narrative really is, and how conquerable your fears.
4. Get a thick skin. If you take risks, sometimes you’ll get a standing ovation, and sometimes, people will throw tomatoes. Can you think of any leader or innovator whom you admire who doesn’t have enthusiastic fans and harsh critics? Get used to wins and losses, praise and pans, getting a call back and being ignored. Work on letting go of needing to be liked and needing to be universally known as “a nice person.”
5. Be an arrogant idiot. Of course I know you won’t, because you never could. But please, just be a little more of an arrogant idiot. You know those guys around the office who share their opinions without thinking, who rally everyone around their big, (often unformed) ideas? Be more like them. Even if just a bit. You can afford to move a few inches in that direction.
6. Question the voice that says “I’m not ready yet.” I know, I know. Because you are so brilliant and have such high standards, you see every way that you could be more qualified. You notice every part of your idea that is not perfected yet. While you are waiting to be ready, gathering more experience, sitting on your ideas, our friends referenced in rule five are being anointed industry visionaries, getting raises, and seeing their ideas come to life in the world. They are no more ready than you, and perhaps less. Jump in the sandbox now, and start playing full out. Find out just how ready you are.
7. Don’t wait for your Oscar. Don’t wait to be praised, anointed, or validated. Don’t wait for someone to give you permission to lead. Don’t wait for someone to invite you to share your voice. No one is going to discover you. (Well, actually, they will, but paradoxically, only after you’ve started boldly and consistently stepping into leadership, sharing your voice, and doing things that scare the hell out of you.)
8. Filter advice. Most brilliant women are humble and open to guidance. We want to gather feedback and advice. Fine, but recognize that some people won’t understand what you are up to (often because you are saying something new and ahead of your time). Some people will find you to be not their cup of tea. Some will feel threatened. Some people will want to do with your idea only what is interesting or helpful to them. So interpret feedback carefully. Test advice and evaluate the results, rather than following it wholesale.
9. Recover and restore. If you start doing the things that make you gasp, doing what you don’t quite feel ready to do, and being more of an arrogant idiot, you are going to be stretching out of your comfort zone–a lot. Regularly do things that feel safe, cozy, and restorative. Vent to friends when you need to. Acknowledge the steps you’ve taken. Watch your tank to see how much risk-taking juice you have available to you. When it’s running low, stop, recover and restore.
10. Let other women know they are brilliant. Let them know what kind of brilliance you see, and why it’s so special. Call them into greater leadership and action. Let them know that they are ready. Watch out for that subtle, probably unconscious thought, “because I had to struggle and suffer on my way up…they should have to too.” Watch out for thinking this will “take” too much time – when the truth is it always has huge, often unexpected returns.

Clear a path by walking it, boldly.

Grab Bag Dent Went:

Maybe you you have a dent in your car that just appeared (I am certain someone backed into your vehicle in the parking lot, and left no note, right?).

If the estimate from the body shop has you hyperventilating, try this first … it’ll cost you a few dollars and some time. (Note: I can’t figure out why he uses a metal hammer… how about wrapping the head with a cloth or using a rubber hammer?) Anyway… scores of people talk about the relative success of this, and it’s certainly worth a try.

Grab Bag Valid Salad:

Angie McGowan of Babble.com offers 20 salad recipes hearty and healthy enough for a meal:

20 SALADS

Grab Bag Brain Game:

Going mental….unscramble these words. They are all related to mental health and well being. Answers are in Comments below.

esridpsnoe
zcrapo
cxeesrei
ionasmin
erhat esadies
trohpmyhidsiyo
ts hjosn rowt
odlob srespuer

stiumrnosertrtane
naselaso eftavfcie sedorrid
odom
sgemasa
setsrs
xeitnay
eatihpstr

Grab Bag Funny Stuff:

Note to self world:

A stay-at-home-dad decided to document his observations with post-it notes, then post it (pun intended). I love this guy.