This blog post is Sponsored by Celgene. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

I’m excited to tell you about my recent activities. Not only does it have to do with multiple sclerosis but also about a new perspective that I believe is important for the MS community. I’ll begin by saying it centers on brain health, MS, and the symbiotic relationship between the two.

After thirty-three years of living with this disease I was thrilled to see that a new perspective about MS is finally here, namely, the MS MindShift. Believe me when I tell you that if I didn’t believe in the message of MS MindShift I wouldn’t invest my time and energy in it.

This new perspective focuses on the critical role the brain plays in multiple sclerosis and how we can create better brain health for ourselves by keeping our brains in good shape.

How can we do that? Read on.

Between living with MS for such a long time and celebrating my 60th birthday this year, I became a willing student by inhaling new information on how to maintain my brain health.  As I read through the MS MindShift website I felt I was following my New Year’s Resolution of self-care and became excited to learn a new thing or two (or three, or four…)

Listen to this! Did you know that MS is more than a white matter disease?  Or that a decrease in grey matter affects MS more than previously thought? Did you also know the volume of grey matter can help predict long-term disability? Neither did I! Check out the website to learn some fascinating and useful information.

Now back to my activities.

I recently, along with my MS colleague and buddy Caroline Craven (The Girl with MS), were fortunate to spend two glorious days being interviewed in Liberty State Park (Jersey City, NJ) and Manhattan about the new MS MindShift initiative.

We answered questions (along with Dr. Barry Singer) about why we think it’s important to talk about the critical role the brain plays in MS, what lifestyle changes we can make to achieve optimal brain health, and we shared our personal MS journeys with many people from the media and also with interested visitors to the Liberty State Park event.

Staying socially active is one of the ways to keep your brain healthy, so I guess when Caroline and I hugged our brains were very happy!

I felt like a rock star with paparazzi (translate: media outlets) snapping photos, videotaping, and Instagram storying (is that a phrase?) me. I was asked questions about the areas I spoke about above. It was so gratifying to see such a collective interest in learning more about MS and how the disease manifests itself in our bodies. After living in what I refer to as the “Dark Ages of MS” when there were no approved MS medications, no internet and no patient voice speaking up for our community it was music to my ears  to have such a deep interest about MS and the MS MindShift.

As you look at the photos in this post, the happiness I’m feeling is palpable.

What I learned from the website translated into my new self-care program for better brain health. It includes the following that will help me do that:  

• Sleep - I’ve always had trouble sleeping well, something that’s affected my cognitive abilities (finding the right word, difficulty with memory) and trouble with balance while walking. Now I’ll research holistic ways to get better sleep, which I’m sure includes getting more exercise.
• Exercise - I need to stay more active that will in turn help in processing information faster and helping with some of my MS symptoms.
• Diet - I’ve been focusing on removing gluten, dairy and sugar from my diet, but I also need to lower the amount of fat and cholesterol (I do love my cheese!) to reduce inflammation, something that the right diet can do.
• Keeping my brain active - It’s been proven that a good brain workout helps with neurological reserve. I already do a lot of reading, writing and playing eight games of Words with Friends. Now I want to step up my game by learning a new skill like crocheting and finally tackling the tower of books that occupy a permanent place on my bookshelf. They are all works of fiction and I’ll enjoy some summer reading.
• Mindfulness - This is something I’ve written about often. Now I want to increase the time I spend on meditating, sign up for more yoga classes and follow a video of breathing exercises my friend sent me some months ago.

There’s a new kid in town and its name is the MS MindShift. Do yourself a favor and check out their website. I know you’ll be glad you did.

The MS MindShift