Thinking about our thinking, determines how we will approach the entire process of balance across our life areas. Clarity of and over our thought process has the power to turn any thought (when considering how we can positively change any one of our life areas) of “I can’t” into a “how will I do this”. So, this really is thinking about our thinking or rather what is known as metacognition.
Metacognition
So, what is it?[1] Well essentially it encompasses how we think, how we process things, and how we reflect on our thoughts. What it enables us to do is to learn (and be open to learning), and to manage our experiences especially when we face challenges, set backs and competing interests. This is about our resilience. And it is very much about that running commentary in our heads about us and what we are doing. What … is that just me who hears voices? No, it’s you too! It’s the planning thoughts and conversations we have, the day dreams and in a negative sense it’s that voice that, well, makes us quit (or not even try!). And it is definitely that voice that says “I don’t have time”. Changing the narrative of our inner voice provides amazing clarity in our lives. It means that we ask ourselves better questions. Better questions mean that our wonderful brains find us better answers, better solutions. You see the way our minds work, is that it focusses on and delivers what we focus on. Let’s look at this a different way.
The Way our minds work.
Have you ever wanted to buy a new car? So that thought of buying a new car is in our head. And there we are driving along in our old car, or catching the bus, and if our only thought is a new car, we start noticing cars. Lots of cars. All types of cars. And the options seem plentiful and perhaps the choices confusing. So perhaps we instruct our brains with a little more direction. And we want a red car. Hey presto, we suddenly start noticing red cars, everywhere. Translate that to a make and model, and the same result. Coincidence? There just happens to be a lot of red Nissan SUVs on the road today? I think not. Now, this type of thinking was first introduced to me in 2003 by my Karate Master. The more we focus on, the more that which we focus on is delivered to us. Turns out a lot of people have extrapolated this idea (this is a good thing!). You can watch a pretty cool video about it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFa92WcKjoM interestingly called “Seeing Red Cars”.[2]
What’s this all mean?
So, what is happening here? Well there are psychological processes at play (yes, you knew that was coming didn’t you?). So, the overall phenomenon is referred to as “frequency illusion”.[3] The two processes in play are selective attention; that you unconsciously focus on the thought (the thing, the feeling), and confirmation bias; that the more frequently the thought (the thing, the feeling) surfaces, it is “proof” that this thought (thing, feeling) is omnipresent![4]
So, imagine
if those thoughts that you are focussing on are negative?
[1] Metacognition: awareness or analysis of one’s own learning or thinking processes https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/metacognition
[2] https://www.bkconnection.com/books/title/seeing-red-cars?
[3] https://psmag.com/social-justice/theres-a-name-for-that-the-baader-meinhof-phenomenon-59670
[4] https://psmag.com/social-justice/theres-a-name-for-that-the-baader-meinhof-phenomenon-59670
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