I began by practicing exercise in a new way. Exercise offers significant benefits for people with MS, helping to improve mobility, balance and overall strength.  It also helps reduce fatigue, enhance mood, and promote a better overall quality of life. 

A couple years after I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis I started exercising slowly.  I drove my car to the high school track, got my walker out and wheeled it to the track.

  On this Thankful Thursday, I’m very grateful for exercise. I exercised my brain by accomplishing my college degree, then two masters and finally a doctoral degree from Seattle University. My plan, which hatched during the late eighties, was to become “someday” a high school principal. I learned at that time, as a woman, I’d need to complete a doctoral degree if I wanted to be a high school principal.

     So, I set about accomplishing my goals. All the education goals were completed by 2005 when I was forty-one. As I walked in my doctoral graduation, I had no idea that a soon to be discovered disease of Multiple Sclerosis was about to surprise all my goals.

Do you ever talk to yourself?  I’m not referring to the mumbling all of us have in our heads.  I’m referring to audible, out loud talking.

Sometimes, I have regular oral conversations with our dog and cat. I’m imagining what they might be thinking and then I speak it…

I had given up any hope for my right hand to ever work again.  Then, I started following some research on the Neufit device, which was having some positive affects on some M.S. folks.  It’s similar to a tens unit, but unlike a tens unit, which works on Alternating Current, (A.C.) it utilizes Direct Currents (D.C.).

As someone with multiple sclerosis, I became profoundly disabled from the disease.  I was unable to keep doing the work I loved as a teacher and Elementary School Principal.   I was unable to see clearly.  I was unable to walk to the end of my driveway (50 feet) and stand at the kitchen stove for longer than 20 seconds.

Last week I challenged you to begin to do simple exercises in your daily life to improve your brain’s executive functioning.  This week I’m challenging you to continue adding simple exercises into your daily routine..  Choose three from this list below, reminding yourself you’re improving your brain’s executive function.

The more you can think creatively and begin to incorporate exercises into your everyday, the more you’ll feel successful and want to do more. I’m challenging you this week to grow your brain through simple daily exercise.

I’m a gardener.  I love to grow, till, weed, feed and tend to my plants.  Your brain is like a plant. A plant needs to be watered regularly.  It needs to be exposed to the right amount of light.  It needs nourishment in the form of additives and vitamins.  Lack of any of these components will result in the plant not flourishing.