Marie Pasinski - Beautiful Brain, Beautiful You: Look Radiant from the Inside Out by Empowering Your Mind

INTRODUCTION
The Beauty/Brain Connection

Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes.

It is not something physical.

S OPHIA L OREN, ACTRESS

I n the search for that magic lotion or potion that will make us more beautiful, Im here to tell you that the answer lies inside your head. Thats rightyour brain is the key to improving every facet of your life. It generates your thoughts, emotions, actions, reactions, moods, dreams, and creative ideas. It holds all the memories, experiences, and knowledge that you have accumulated since you were born. It interprets every sensation you experience and controls each movement you make. It allows you to learn and to remember, and it ultimately determines whether you will live a productive and meaningful life. Your brain is your essence, and it is also the essence of your beauty. By enhancing your mind you can feel more energetic, creative, and aliveall of which makes you more beautiful!

In my training at Harvard Medical School and neurology practice at Massachusetts General Hospital, I have been fortunate to witness and contemplate the beauty of the human brain. I wrote this book so I could share the empowering knowledge of what you can do to get your brain in peak condition and keep it that way for life. Other brain books will advise you to challenge your brain with puzzles and memory games. While these might be helpful, I encourage you to embark on a wider journey that includes optimizing the lifestyle and health factors that impact your brain function, as well as pursuing adventure and enriching yourself by trying new activities that will challenge and expand your mind.

Beautiful Brain, Beautiful You is a guide to achieving your personal best brain. By following my seven-step program, you will learn how to reap the benefits of a healthy, active, vibrant mind at any age. With your brain at its best, your ability to think creatively, make wise decisions, and problem solve will improve. Your mind will be focused, your mood high, and your self-confidence boosted. What could be more attractive?

So how can we tap into the beauty/brain connection? It starts with understanding how your face mirrors the chemical activity going on in your brain. This activity produces microfacial expressionsthe tiny involuntary reflections of your thoughts that radiate from within and give you that inner glow, which we will talk more about later. By transforming the workings of your inner mind and altering the way you think, you can change the way you present yourself to the world.

Consider how you look after youve stayed up too late or had a few too many glasses of wine. Chances are you are not at your best. When your thoughts are sluggish and your mood is low, the twinkle in your eye that you have when you are at the top of your game disappears. This is what I call a Bad Brain Day. We all have them. Whether we call it Mommy Brain, PMS, or Senior Moments, these are the times when we are running on empty and our brain finds it harder to muster the energy to get through the day. Fortunately there are concrete steps you can take to improve your brain performance, uplift your mood, and trigger creative thinking.

The beauty of the brain is that the more you use it, the stronger and more resilient it will become. Unlike a road that becomes riddled with potholes the more its used, neural pathways actually get reinforced and become more flexible with use. The scientific term for this is neuroplasticitythe brains ability to remodel itself by making new connections as well as new neurons. We once believed that we were born with all the brain cells we would ever have in our lifetime. We now know that our brain is a fertile field that is capable of producing new cells and creating new connections throughout our lives. What makes this such an exciting new discovery is that we now know its possible to keep our brain vibrant and supple as we get older.

When we put on makeup, we are creating a superficial kind of beauty that is erased as soon as it is washed off. But when you give your brain that much-needed makeover, the changes that occur are profound and everlasting. Your brain is constantly evolving below the surface so that your inner beauty can shine through. By providing a luxuriant, nurturing environment, your mind will thrive and remain youthful.

A beauty/brain makeover involves indulging in the new, because the more you learn, the easier it is to learn more. In this book, you will discover what happens to your brain when you are exposed to something new, and why your brain is the gift that keeps on giving. I will explain how physical ailments, mood disorders, hormones, and medications directly affect brain performance. I will also tell you which supplements work and which do not, and how the beauty we see on the outside is a direct reflection of whats happening on the inside.

Ever wonder why its so hard to lose those extra ten pounds? It has to do with your brain! I will show you how changing the way you think can help you change your brain and your body. I will ask you to take better care of your health by getting your heart pumping, which improves blood flow to your brain and encourages the growth of new neurons and new brain pathways. I will explain why having the proper mind-set will help you to lose that unhealthy weight you might be carrying around. By controlling your mind, you can change your negative behavior, thoughts, and actions. The same goes for adopting the the Smart Diet, which will help boost your brain function while trimming your waistline.

You will also discover how to make over your mind by engaging in relaxation techniques that relieve stress, improve mood, and enhance mental clarity. Similarly, you will have a new understanding of how to beautify your brain rhythms through restorative sleep and how to synchronize your brains internal clocks, which influence your concentration, energy, hunger, libido, and emotions.

While reading this, I hope you will be inspired to make the most of your brainour most precious gift. Once you notice the change in the way you feel and the way you look (and others start noticing as well!), I hope that you will help spread the word to other women about how gorgeous their minds can be, and how the lifestyle choices they make can transform their brain and appearance from dull to dazzling. As much fun as a brain makeover can be, there is no quick fix for a Bad Brain Day. Some of the lifestyle changes in my program will require more time and effort on your part. Still, as you progress in the program, you will start replacing Bad Brain Days with Beautiful Brain Days by tapping into your brains ability to change and renew itself. By the end of the book, you will discover the richness of your minds unlimited potential and realize that you can achieve your personal best only when your brain is at its personal best. When this happens, you will see why the most powerful kind of beauty is the one that emanates from within.

Picture Perfect
(A Beauty/Brain Exercise)

L ook at several photographs of yourself at different stages in your life. Now select the ones where you appear the most radiantones in which you have that special gleam in your eye. Whats happening in the photo? What were you thinking when the shutter clicked? Are you crossing the finish line in a race? Maybe you just had a baby. We might not always look our best after running a marathon or after hours of labor, but even if your hair or makeup isnt perfect, what youre seeing in these photos is that inner glow that radiates from your thoughts and lights up your face through your eyes.