When it comes to your brain, stress acts as noise in your systemonly it comes in the form of nagging tasks, job dissatisfaction, bills, and fights about who's going to which family's house for the holidays. One of the keys to having a healthy mind is to live as much as you can in the momentthat is, thinking about what you're doing right now, not worrying about the mistakes you made yesterday or the headaches that await you tomorrow.

More stress means the inability to concentrate, and that's been shown to contribute to a shrinking of the pre-frontal cortex. Is living in the moment hard to do? Of course it can be, but it's a behavior you can learn with practice, similar to our previous strategy of thinking about thinking. Example: When you're playing with your kids and letting tomorrow's work day weigh on you, force yourself to concentrate on Candylandmaking it a great experience for your kids rather than a distant one for you. It takes some time and effort, but in the end, the act of living in the moment rewards not only you, but also the people around you.