Here’s my take on Brain Gain. Brain Gain is a silly rhyme referring to the amassing of knowledge that you will own and actually use, help in critical thinking and in making good decisions.
I ask you to bear with me as I am going to get a little podantic… “seek and find” is not the same as “ask and receive”. To “seek” requires action, research. Today seek is represented by a magnifying glass somewhere on a webpage.
For me brain gain starts with a book - an actual book with paper pages, not an e-reader or an iphone. Year’s ago this was preceded by a card catalog, at this place called a library - Raise your hand if these sound familiar…or hit the dopamine inducing button that’s shaped like a heart at the bottom of this page.
I adopted a saying a number of years back from one of my favorite writers that I have found tremensously insightful, in the long run; very beneficial and will trot it out on occasions like this …
If you learn one thing in life, learn to make good decisions because you make them everyday.
At the crux of Brain Gain is knowledge and how you come into that knowledge - I believe how you come into that knowledge makes a difference - It makes a difference if that knowledge becomes part of your intellectual foundation and how you apply that Brain Gain to your decision making. It’s like the saying “Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a life time.”
Here are some Brain Gain snippets to think about:
Ask and you will receive. I’ve heard that in some other book but I can’t remember which one.
Trick or Treat? - What should I do will somebody please tell me?!! But, I want one of those full size answers with 20% more free and not one of those little “fun size” answers!
Eggs come from a bunny, it’s everywhere so it must be true! Just because it’s repeated by the populous doesn’t make it so. - don’t know when this became a candy holiday. I’m sure the date is in that other book I can’t think of right now.
These have absolutely no place in brain gain.
To simply ask for the answer without any prior research is simply creating a veneer of knowledge that’s easily worn away and forgotten. When aksing for others’ direction in what you should do, right from the start without considering this yourself, you are putting your fate in the hands of others. Just because most folks believe and promote a perspective or strategy doesn’t mean that it is “true” or it may simply be a fraction of the whole answer.
An elephant is long, skinny and kind of hairy to the blind man holding its tale.
This may seem like a frivolous thread and you may say so. 
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I simply - though this wasn’t - wanted to say dig deep with your own shovel, sift the information you find with your own screen, take a few steps to the side to contemplate a different perspective, ask “what if…” (do this alot!! and actually explore your “what if” question), consider what you have and how it applies to your situation and bring that to the community.
Informed dialog and exploration through research and conversation can be a wonderful learning experience lending a valuable knowledge that can be applied to critical thinking and decision making.
This is what I am thinking. What are your thoughts?
KC
