I've been thinking that i havent been thinking. The irony of it all is that this is actually the kind of thinking that we are being trained to do. But like the speaker states, at this stage of my life, my initial thought when someone tells or gives me notes to read on about thinking to me I’m thinking, what makes you think I can’t think?? What makes you think I haven’t been thinking and made you want to teach me on how to think? This is almost entirely insulting right? Because it’s literally insinuating that I have been living my life without thinking. The rude awakening here was that YES Nthabiseng you actually haven’t been thinking at all. Yes you haven’t been thinking about how you live your life, yes you haven’t been finding meaning to the things you experience everyday and yes you have been thinking that everything that happens is about you, you, and you. Just to highlight myself centeredness, the critical thinking training that’s been taught isn’t being taught to me alone. It’s not a private tutorial teaching Nthabiseng on how to think, but here I am thinking, me, me, and me. And thinking why would my lecturer give me notes on critically thinking? When in actual fact what I should be maybe looking into is, why would she think there is a need to teach all of us on how to think? Because then, that would give me a better understanding of what kind of thinking she’s implying we haven’t been doing. And it was only after this 22 minute clip by David Wallace _Titled This Is Water that I got my “AHA” moment. It not the thinking that we haven’t been doing, it’s the Critical thinking rather.
“Learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience…” It’s about constantly selecting what is worth a thought and critically finding meaning and application to that thought. Do you know how draining that seems? I’m finding it hard just thinking about it, lol. It’s saying that, I have the power to select what I want to think about and the power in that selection then determines the outcome of how I see my surroundings. Thinking means actively and consciously engaging in the everyday happenings, constantly! everyday. Wow! I think that’s a hell of a job to do. And I think it’s a skill really because it requires a lot of thought processing and rationalization. And I think it’s something you learn and eventually master and isn’t something you just waking up in the morning and magically know how to do.
But just imagine you become that person who has to think of reasons for why an idiot decided to hit the red light so you don’t get easily frustrated but rather pray that he doesn’t cause an accent because of his speeding, or how, after standing a ridiculous amount of time in the line of a grocery store. You get to the till to face a lady who has plastered a fake smile and with a drained out voice asks you “would you like a packet for your milk and bread?” And you so consumed in your centeredness, thoughtlessly get frustrated because she is wasting your precious time by asking you stupid questions. But how much of your time did she really waist? No think about.
Imagine being so engaged with what is happening around you that you seize the opportunity to spare a though for someone else and you actually come to a realization that the universe isn’t a space created just for you. And that there are others in need of a smile, in need of hearing an uplifting song or in need of an outstretched helping hand. Just think about having the humility to think not less of yourself, but to think about yourself less.
And you know what’s really funny? “The client is conscious and aware of her surrounding” This is how I would report on assessment finding about a client and his/her level of consciousness. But is he or she really? ...Are you and I?
To check the video out got to: http://amybrownot.blogspot.com/
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