Unscrambling. Mixed media on paper. Discovery Bay, 2024. Ageing wisely requires us to build resilience, which in turn depends on being able to read and trust our body’s signals, while also understanding how to best respond. Tuning in to the language of mind-body communication facilitates brain health, because it provides data for tracking responses to lifestyle choices. Our ability to perceive the body’s signals (and to translate them into words and numbers) gives us a secret superpower that...

Fractal blooms. Mixed media on paper. Discovery Bay, 2024. It’s often surprisingly difficult to get patients to communicate about the discomfort they’re feeling. The human brain experiences pain and discomfort sensations internally, where they can’t be objectively measured or quantified. So, a broken leg can be diagnosed on X-ray and assessed on the basis of whether the leg can be used to bear weight. But we have to rely on a patient’s words and actions to tell us about their pain. Most...

Power Dynamics. Acrylic on canvas. Meydenbauer Bay, 2022. Brain-healthy lifestyles require us to break out of unhelpful routines and build better habits. We pretty much know what we’re supposed to do to take care of ourselves, right? Exercise, eat healthy, get enough sleep, etc. But we struggle to follow through. It turns out that each “falling off the wagon” moment (when we’ve failed once again to do what we promised ourselves we’d do) represents an underrated opportunity. When these...