Keep that mind alert!

I think it's pretty much agreed upon that as we age it's important to "exercise" our brains. There are many ways to do this: attempt another language, play bridge, learn to play a musical instrument, take a different route to the store or to work each day. I enjoy working jigsaw puzzles when time allows for it. Life's been too busy for that in recent months, but there are a few "brain exercises" that I always make time for. My local paper carries three daily puzzles that some folks would consider time-wasters, but I look at as ways to enhance my brain power.

I begin with the daily crossword puzzle, which is a simple one. Created by Thomas Joseph, it rarely takes me more than ten minutes to complete. If I'm really feeling daring, I work it using my left hand. (I'm right handed) There is one a little more difficult in the state-wide paper my husband reads, but I'd rather do the easy one and still have time for the other two puzzles. On rare occasions I will work the more challenging Los Angeles Times puzzle which appears in my Sunday paper. If my husband and I take a road trip on a Sunday, I'll take it to work in the car. (Yes, I'm one of those lucky people that can read while riding in a car.)

I next move to the cryptoquote. It's all about looking for patterns that appear in words and grammar. Sometimes the author of the quote is what gives it away. (look for anonymous, source obscure, source unknown, or some country's proverb) Also, if you do these enough, you'll start to recognize a lot of the folks who are quoted. I can't always work the cryptoquote. If nothing jumps out at me I move on to my last puzzle and come back to it later. Even that doesn't always work and it just goes unsolved.

The final puzzle I work is the sudoku. The version in my paper is called Conceptis Sudoku and starts the week easy, getting more difficult as the week progresses. I challenge myself on Mondays to work the puzzle without making any notations in the process. As the puzzles get harder, though, I have to makes notes. By the end of the week, I don't always complete them. If I find I've made an error or I just plain get stuck, I won't slave over it. I think one of my pet peeves is when folks claim they won't try sudoku because they "don't do math". It has nothing to do with math. The numbers could just as easily be substituted with the first nine letters of the alphabet. It's all about logic.

So..... that's how I try to spend about a half hour of my day. I find it relaxing. Hopefully it's doing my brain some good in the process!