Ilchi Lee Images & Peace Quotes

Many traditions are perfectly lovely ways to celebrate the holidays, but they often leave little room for using your full brain potential and creativity if you're used to going through the motions.

Now is the perfect time to begin brainstorming how to make this season different from the last, with the goal of making the holidays healthier, less materialistic and more focused on love than years past.

For instance, you may want to think about activities that you and your loved ones can engage in, rather than sitting around the television watching old movies and eating food. This may include a ping pong tournament or clearing out the basement to make it into a roller rink right in your home.

Rather than exchanging gifts with friends and family, consider giving to charity in someone else's name. Each person will go home feeling good that someone has been clothed, fed or otherwise cared for in exchange for you giving something up.

You have much unused brain potential, even if you don't realize it. Use that creativity to help make this a memorable holiday season.

It's well-known that a lack of sleep can severely impair human brain potential, leading to chronic bad moods, poor cognition and even mental disorders. Researchers at the University of Chicago's Department of Health Studies found that being lonely could have a negative impact on a person's sleep habits.

Authors of the study interviewed 95 students to gauge their levels of loneliness, then examined their sleep patterns. They found that the volunteers who felt more alone were likelier to wake during the night than those who did not feel lonesome.

"Whether you're a young student at a major university or an older adult living in a rural community, we may all be dependent on feeling secure in our social environment in order to sleep soundly," said lead author Lianne Kurina, Ph.D.

Results of this study suggest that people who want to use their full brain potential may want to consider finding a life partner who shares similar healthy interests. It's important to keep in mind that settling for someone who displays negative behavior or attitude may not be worth any benefits derived from being in a partnership.

Any dieter or former smoker knows about the thought process involved in resisting a desired item, whether it is a donut or a cigarette. Often, people must use their full brain potential to avoid the temptation.

A new study conducted at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management reveals that not thinking about the object of one's desire may help them resist, thereby allowing them to quit an unhealthy habit.

In a trial, researchers found that the more a person craves something, the more likely they are to give into temptation.

"Need or desire abets impulsivity, but it also corrupts the cognitive processes that would help you interrupt that behavior," said co-lead author Loran Nordgren.

Results of this study suggest that meditation, in which a person learns to use their human brain potential to avoid certain thoughts, may help people struggling with an addiction.

So, is this how you unlock brain potential? Partially, it is, but the task involves a multi-faceted approach that strengthens the mind, body and spirit.

Individuals who utilize their full brain potential to master a musical instrument have been shown to have many mental benefits in life. A team of researchers at Northwestern University’s Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory recently conducted a study that adds weight to this belief.

The scientists found that children whose brains responded more to rhythmic sounds appeared to have better reading ability when compared to kids who experienced more neural activity when listening to random noises.

"The data revealed that musical skill, together with how the nervous system responds to regularities in auditory input and auditory memory/attention accounts for about 40 percent of the difference in reading ability between children," said lead author Nina Kraus, Ph.D.

Flutist and trailblazer Ilchi Lee believes that human brain potential is unlimited, but that individuals must exercise their minds in order to reap the full benefits. Results of this study suggest that taking on a musical instrument may help people strengthen their cognition while picking up an enjoyable hobby.

The scientific community does not yet know the powers of full brain potential. However, researchers are constantly looking at ways in which the mind works and affects human behavior.

Recently, scientists at Yale University conducted a study to determine which brain regions are affected when people succeed and fail at tasks. Their findings indicate that there are large areas of the mind that are involved in the sensations of reward and punishment.

In a study, the team examined the brain images of volunteers as they performed simple tasks, like matching coins and playing rock-paper-scissors. They discovered that several parts of the brain were activated during the games, suggesting that many sensory systems factor into reasoning.

"Such distributed representations would have adaptive value for optimizing many types of cognitive processes and behavior in the natural world," said lead author Timothy Vickery.

So, you may now be wondering how to unlock brain potential to succeed. This is a complicated process, but author and philosopher Ilchi Lee believes that it likely depends upon maintaining positivity in the mind while eliminating negativity.  

Some individuals, even those in the medical community, have held beliefs that the brain stops developing in the late teenage years. However, researchers at the University of Alberta's Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry discovered that full brain potential may take more time to develop.

The team's findings suggest that the mind may actually be far more capable of developing with age, as a series of brain scans on 103 volunteers revealed that white matter in the brain continues to increase into a person's 20s.

"This is the first long-range study, using a type of imaging that looks at brain wiring, to show that in the white matter, there are still structural changes happening during young adulthood," said researcher Catherine Lebel. "The white matter is the wiring of the brain. It connects different regions to facilitate cognitive abilities. So the connections are strengthening as we age in young adulthood."

In order to reach their conclusions, the researchers studied 221 brain images from volunteers between the ages of 5 and 32.

Authors of the study said their findings may shed some light on psychological disorders, many of which do not manifest themselves until adolescence.

These results suggest that human brain potential is actually much more flexible than people once thought it to be. Author and trailblazer Ilchi Lee believes that people can improve their minds well into adulthood using techniques like meditation, yoga and tai chi.

Lee says that the brain is the body's most important organ, and that more individuals need to regard it as such. This means protecting the mind by avoiding drugs, alcohol and stress.

Teenagers often feel as though they are old enough to make their own decisions. Sometimes, they choose to use their full brain potential and seek advice from elders. Other times, they make assumptions on their own, even when it comes to self-medication.

This may be especially detrimental considering the findings of a recent study, which suggested that pharmacists are not educating teens adequately about prescription drugs.

"Most teenagers take their medicines appropriately, but there is evidence of accidental or intentional inappropriate use or misuse," said lead author Priya Bahri. "Research has found that although pharmacists know about the importance of talking to teenagers about their medications, they tend not to."

The researchers, who presented their findings at the congress of the International Pharmaceutical Federation, reported that an estimated 35 percent of teenage boys and 45 percent of girls in the same age group take prescription medications, ranging from painkillers to birth control.

Complications that can arise from pharmaceutical drugs include anxiety, addiction, birth defects and a host of other conditions. Authors of the study said that open communication, paired with education through social media and other online resources, may help improve teens' knowledge of prescription drugs, thereby preventing misuse.

Philosopher and trailblazer Ilchi Lee believes that using human brain potential to its fullest extent is a key to attaining happiness and success. There are many chemical substances, like pharmaceuticals and alcohol, that can hold people back from achieving fulfillment.

As a result, individuals who are dependent on drugs or alcohol should make a focused effort to quit their brain-damaging habits. It will not be an easy journey, but it is a necessary one. Lee says that mind-body-spirit exercises like yoga and meditation may be able to assist individuals on their paths toward success.

People often act foolishly when under the influence of alcoholic beverages. Researchers at the University of Missouri College of Arts and Science conducted a study to determine exactly why beer, wine and liquor have this effect on adults.

In a trial, the team of scientists divided a group of volunteers into three subsets: one that was given alcoholic beverages, one that was not and a third that was administered a placebo. The researchers then monitored the participants' brain activity while they completed tests on a computer, with the goal of gauging how they reacted to making mistakes.

"When people make mistakes, activity in a part of the brain responsible for monitoring behavior increases, essentially sending an alarm signal to other parts of the brain indicating that something went wrong," said lead researcher Bruce Bartholow.

The team found that drunk individuals had a significantly dulled response to mistakes, compared to those who drank non-alcoholic beverages or placebos.

"Contrary to previous studies, our study shows that alcohol doesn't reduce your awareness of mistakes – it reduces how much you care about making those mistakes," Bartholow added.

In order for individuals to succeed in life, they must use their full brain potential. Author and philosopher Ilchi Lee believes this, and says that drugs, whether they be legal, pharmaceutical or illicit, can only hold people back from achieving their goals.

So, you may be wondering how to unlock brain potential. Besides avoiding mind-altering chemicals, individuals can try practices that aim to align the mind, body and spirit. Lee believes that meditation is one such way that people can use their minds to embrace the positive and eliminate the negative.

You may already be taking fish oil supplements in an attempt to boost your cardiovascular health, but new research reveals that you may also be giving yourself the benefit of full brain potential, according to scientists at the Rhode Island Hospital's Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders Center.

The researchers discovered that taking fish oil – which is packed with omega-3 fatty acids – was associated with preserved cognition with age as well as a larger brain volume.

"In the imaging analyses for the entire study population, we found a significant positive association between fish oil supplement use and average brain volumes in two critical areas utilized in memory and thinking (cerebral cortex and hippocampus), as well as smaller brain ventricular volumes compared to non-users at any given time in the study," said lead researcher Lori Daiello.

The study involved the health data of more than 800 participants over a three-year period. At the beginning of the study, volunteers – who either had normal brain function, were mildly impaired or had Alzheimer's disease or severe cognitive decline – were assessed and questioned on their dietary habits. Three years later, they were given memory tests and the researchers performed imaging techniques to measure brain activity.

The scientists discovered that fish oil supplements were especially effective in people who had normal cognitive function at the beginning of the study.

If you've been wondering how to unlock your brain potential, these findings may be of significant relevance. Additionally, you may want to try practicing yoga or meditation, which have been shown to have some major benefits to the mind, body and spirit.

Following the attacks of Sept. 11, residents of the U.S. cried out in fear and anger, ready to exact revenge on the enemies who killed so many Americans. Well, this was not the reaction for everyone.

The violence of the day actually inspired many peace groups in the country to come together in protest of a vengeful war. One such group, the Sept. 11 Families For Peaceful Tomorrows, was recently profiled by the Washington Post.

While members of the group were met with much opposition from pro-war individuals, they persevered and kept on making efforts to spread peaceful quotes of inspiration to the masses, who were – and are – in dire need of positivity in their lives.

April Naturale, director of disaster services for the Mental Health Association, said the groups showed just what full brain potential can achieve when it is focused and organized.

“I think it’s a natural, innate ability that we have to try to heal ourselves by coming together in a peaceful way,” Naturale said, quoted by the Washington Post. “There must be something about us as humans that knows we won’t survive otherwise.”

Just as these groups came together following Sept. 11, peaceful organizations are unifying to help soothe the public's pain of the recent riots in London, according to the Anglican Journal.

Individuals of many faiths gathered to hold a vigil for those who passed away in the chaotic violence that occurred on Aug. 6, a testimony to the true human reaction to suffering.

Author and philosopher Ilchi Lee believes that individuals can do much good in the world when they embrace peace, positivity and love for all mankind.