Mind Matters - 21 Practical Tools for Better Thinking

There have been many studies aimed at HOW we learn but relatively few centred on HOW we think. Thinking is not a subject at school but why not? I presume that educators of the past thought that thinking was taken for granted. I believe that we cannot take thinking for granted because it effects our whole life - waking as well as sleeping.

More recent work in psychology has looked at how our mind works and some fascinating discoveries point towards humans having many unconscious biases. These are explored in module 5 - Fast and Slow.

Thinking is a new subject. Despite the work of early philosophers such as Plato, Socrates and Aristotle who laid the foundations for philosophy. Of course, Descartes is famous for stating "I think, therefore I am" but I do not believe that thinking comes before being. We still exist when we sleep or even when we lack consciousness.

I teach thinking because it is possible, because it is useful and because I benefit from it, especially in terms of how my own mind works.

In this lecture, I introduce the first Practical Tool for Better Thinking - Change the Brain State. In some ways, all the tools of this course are about changing your state of mind so this one is fundamental. If you conduct a Google search on brain states, you will find that there are any number of categories of brain state. The categorisation is not the important part. The realisation that there are different brain states and the ability to be aware of these differences is the vital learning to be gained. From this awareness you can then move forward and change your brain state to a more useful one.

Here I introduce an essential book that you need to read. Thinking, Fast and Slow has become somewhat of a phenomenon. It is interesting to note that Kahneman himself acknowledges his own unconscious biases and it appears that his studies have fallen victim to his own findings!  We explore the research in the book in module 5 and how we can become more aware of these two systems.

Another essential book on the reading list. Pinker writes with clarity and wit, something that not all cognitive scientists can claim! His work is accessible and broad ranging. I recommend his work on language too.

Some things we simply cannot control, optical illusions are a perfect illustration of this fact. Therefore, the conclusion we must draw, is that we cannot master our minds because we cannot control some aspects of our mind. We can have better thinking and become more aware of what we can and cannot control. 

Many materialist philosophers maintain that the brain is mechanical/biological material and therefore, predictable.  I disagree, I believe that we do have free will and so does Mark Solms - see the link below - Can we control the mind? Solms believes that instincts can over-ride free will.

Practical Tool number 2. The Serenity Prayer. Learn it. Use it. Treasure it.

It is important to bear in mind what we do not bear in mind!

I use both words subconscious and unconscious to refer to the same system within our brains, that is, the mental processes of which we are currently unaware.

Ezequiel Morsella, Director of the Action and Consciousness Laboratory, San Francisco State University (and his colleagues) proposes something they call “Passive Frame Theory,” and their provocative idea goes like this: nearly all of your brain’s work is conducted in different lobes and regions at the unconscious level, completely without your knowledge. When the processing is done and there is a decision to make, or a physical act to perform, that very small job is served up to the conscious mind, which executes the work and then flatters itself that it was in charge all the time.

The conscious you, in effect, is like a not terribly bright CEO, whose subordinates do all of the research, draft all of the documents, then lay them out and say, “Sign here, sir.” The CEO does—and takes the credit.