Thinking

Maybe it is because I attended two funerals in two weeks, maybe because someone in our street took their own life last week, maybe because I caught up with my closest friend this week for the first time in eight years and I know I left it way too long. Maybe it is less recent than that and it is related to the kids growing up.

It is probably all of these things but I have struggled to sleep of late and have been thinking about the time passed, the time remaining and how I spend it. That is alot of thinking. So I sat down today and wrote about thinking and do we all think the same, not the same thoughts of course we don’t but how much do people really think.

Thinking is the undoubtedly a cognitive activity, a conscious use of our brains to make sense of the world. Chains of synaptic connections firing in realtime to process the every day. That is not what I want to write about today. No it is the next step, what we do next and how we decide to respond to it.

To think, reflect and reason is really difficult and so we should not be surprised when we see very few examples of this in the everyday world. We seldom respond in the best way and or do not spent the time to reflect and reason before an action.

A recent example of this came to my attention that a group of parents on hearing their child was being taught things they were not happy with, decided to not check with the teachers but to post incorrect information on Facebook as if they had the facts.

I am not judging those parents, OK I am a little. To think, reflect and reason is a difficult task. It requires real investment of time not to mention energy and dare I say it training. To think you have to learn to divide yourself into sub personalities, each has a well elucidated differing opinion and then you set them against each other and then critique to a conclusion.

Most people don’t have the inclination or energy to think in this way. Talking socially is how most think, their thoughts and beliefs are a result of that social interactions. They contribute an opinion to the discussion and the result of that becomes their opinions, decisions and actions.

People don’t think so much as thoughts appear in their head and they believe them

Jung

I am not judging anyone in this post, we all must decide if we are inclined to learn to think deeply and are prepared to spend my time with our thoughts. We must be aware when our thoughts and opinions are the result of group thinking and social pressures and when an idea, issue or matter is deserving of more reflection and reasoning.

Hearty handshakes from me to you