To think is to be and to have…
Winnie the Pooh calls her mates to order and demands them to “Think!” “Think!” “Think!” An anecdote from the life of Bill Gates resonates with Winnie’s instruction. When he was in sixth Grade, his parents decided he needed counselling. The reason for this was that he did not always respond to his mother when she called him for dinner.
“What are you doing?” his mom once demanded with irritation.
“I’m thinking! he impatiently shouted.
“You’re thinking? she responded.
“Yes Mom, I’m thinking! he shouted back fiercely. “By the way, have you ever tried thinking?”
When we rattle away on our PC’s today, most of us are pleased that Gates applied his thinking to invent it. Another affirmation about the power of our thinking are the words of Albert Einstein when he said, “The world, (you and me) will not evolve past its current state of crisis (changes, threats and challenges) by using the same thinking that created them.”
Life is an uncertain trip, a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs. We are placed on this journey at conception right through to the end. How well we deal with what life dishes up for us, depends entirely on how we think. It is the impetus for all our feelings and actions, our breakthroughs, and breakdowns. It is the baton with which we conduct our own symphony orchestra. We can either play with synergy and beauty, or making jarring, disturbing noise…
So, what does the act of thinking really mean? It has to do with the mental manipulation of information from our environment. We subsequently express these in decisions and actions. We form ideas, pictures, concepts, engage in problem solving, reasoning, and making decisions. The mental processes of thinking allow us to interpret and model the world around us to effectively deal with it in accordance with our plans, ends and desires.
Sadly, most of us have some thinking habits that hamper us without us even knowing this.
Examples are clinging to some old perceptions, and ideas as if they are valued possessions and prevents us from breaking free from the prison our minds can be. Maybe you sabotage yourself by criticizing yourself non-stop? Perhaps you compare yourself to others in negative ways?
The reason for ineffective thinking lies in the fact that although thinking is the pivotal point that makes our lives happen, it is unfortunately not part of formal education. Although it is an art well worth learning as everything, we do is dependent on it, a lack of attention to acquiring these skills is largely neglected by our formal education. Thinking skills which includes a specific focus on creative and critical thinking should be considered as a separate school subject.
So, where do we start with making our thinking? We start with examining our thinking processes and habits. It means collecting data about how we think, placing these habits under microscopic observation and scrutiny.