Senior center session helps jump-start mental fitness

Q. I am really interested in your ideas about mental fitness and would like to pursue them, but I am the kind of person who wants things to move along as quickly as possible. Starting to do crossword puzzles, it seems to me, would take a long time to produce results. What do you think would bring about the most rapid change?

A. My belief is that mental fitness is helped most by challenging mental activities that previously have not been experienced. Learning something completely new, solving puzzles involving techniques and thinking patterns that you never heard of before.
The Mind Works program provides precisely those things I just described. If you live within commuting distance to El Cerrito, I strongly recommend that you try Mind Works. There are two one-and-a-half hour sessions a week--Thursday morning at 9:30, and Thursday afternoon at l o'clock, at the Open House Senior Center at 6500 Stockton Avenue.
Besides learning many new things, we have a great deal of fun. The most heard sound in any Mind Works session is laughter. The atmosphere is totally noncompetitive and unthreatening; it is perfectly all right to make a mistake--everybody does, even I do on occasion!
Some members of my group have been attending Mind Works for well over ten years. They are dedicated to thinking and learning, including those who are over 90 years of age. No matter what kind of problem I may present to them for solution, they will give it their very best efforts.
We also try to welcome newcomers by reviewing some of our basic, simpler activities that will introduce them to various concepts upon which they can build and learn. With the help of the veteran members of the group, it usually doesn't take long for a newcomer to become familiar with it all.
When we approach a new and different type of problem to understand or solve, members who are seated adjacent to one another tend to work together. As they share their impressions, their different ideas often come together to help the whole thing to be understood more quickly. No one tries to be "first" with a solution. The effort made is truly one of cooperation.
Recently a member who joined one of the groups over a year ago, came to me following a session. She wanted to share with me some of the ways that Mind Works has affected her. She has become far more observant and aware of her surroundings, and of activities that are occurring there. Her problem solving abilities have improved and she is just feeling generally more in command of her life.
If you find it impossible to attend Mind Works sessions, my book "Don't Lose Your Mind" could be a great help. It is a workbook, easy to use, with spaces for writing. It leads you in a step-by-step manner toward improved awareness, communication skills, concentration, and memory. There are also suggestions that will help you to avoid misplacing those important objects that you need, such as keys and eyeglasses. The price is also right--only $10. For other questions, please contact me at the at the number or email address at the end of the column.