Regardless of our station in our life, each of us will find greater happiness if we continue to learn. Even people who no longer work for a paycheck or salary have a need to continue to learn.

Studies have shown that when you exercise your brain, diseases that destroy your ability to remember are less able to affect you. If you have a family history of Alzheimer’s or Dementia, or if you’ve been involved in an accident that damaged your brain, even if only slightly, you will want to do everything you can to protect your brain.

If you don’t learn something new, you have wasted your day. You have wasted an opportunity to grow and learn and you missed out on keeping your brain active and healthy.

So much of our lives are spent in competition, we begin to believe even developing our brains should be competitive. In some professions, competition is important, as car racing.

“Even if you cannot reach those who are ahead of you, one is bound to keep always learning, and especially acquire experience in racing and credibility.” –Aryton Senna

Racing to catch up with another car, or to catch up to the next guy, or even to learn something new can benefit you and your brain. A study I read several years ago studied nuns who worked to stay mentally active. They lived well into their 90s, mentally alert and active.

So, what do you do to maintain a healthy brain? Keep it active. Play games that stimulate it. Read. Learn something new. Complete a word puzzle. Put together a jigsaw puzzle. Solve logic puzzles. Write a book. Tell your children and grandchildren the story of your life.

I chose to write books. I hope to have my first book ready before the end of June, telling the story of Eve. She spent much of her life learning.

What are you doing to keep your brain active?