[Neurons] 2018 Neurons #6 Thinking is in Short Supply

Sun Jan 28 17:46:36 EST 2018

From: L. Michael Hall

2018 Neurons #6

January 29, 2018

THINKING

IS IN SHORT SUPPLY

I've been thinking about thinking, again.   Well, actually I've been
thinking about thinking for decades.  After all, that's what NLP is all
about and what the Meta-States Model is about- stepping back to look at the
kind and quality of thinking that we are doing to see if the mental models
that we create in our heads are actually effective.  Picking up from
Korzybski's original thinking in Science and Sanity, NLP began by asking
about the mental maps we create because we do not deal directly with
reality.  We deal with reality as filtered through our mental models.
Knowing that initiated the whole exploration into the structure of
experience which means exploring how we are thinking and coding things.

Why focus on thinking-about-thinking?  Because of the fact that your
experience can be no better than the thinking you put into it.  It is the
quality of your thinking determines the quality of your experiences.

Given that, how's your thinking?  How is the quality of your thinking?
Obviously, poor quality thinking is, and always has been, a problem for us
humans.  In fact, it is humanity's biggest problem.  If you think
superstitiously, or use a child's wishful and magical thinking as your
style- you will be in deep ... nonsense.  That kind of inadequate, sloppy,
and imprecise thinking will undermine nearly everything you attempt to do.

Ah, thinking.  That is what education should be focused on- thinking
clearly, precisely, and intelligently.  But here's the problem.  Schools are
mainly focused on the content of thinking, not the process of thinking.
Test it for yourself.  How many classes did you have in school on the
process of thinking?  Did you have any?  I did not. 

Now you might be thinking, "'Thinking is not in short supply,' I think every
day.  I am thinking right now.  How can thinking be in short supply?"  If
so, then let me make sure we are on the same page about "thinking."  That's
because not everything that is called "thinking" is thinking.  Many mental
activities are falsely called thinking.

Thinking means taking facts and information and working them over in your
mind so that you can grasp and then understand what that data means.  To
truly think is to take an idea inside your mind, turn it over to look at it
from various positions, situate it in a context so that you understand what
it means or could mean.   A parrot can hear words and repeat those words,
but who would say that the parrot is "thinking" as we humans think?  It is
parroting.  It is saying words without those words really making sense or
meaning within in its mind - as far as we can tell. 

So merely talking and saying words and repeating things that you have heard
is actually not "thinking."  And isn't this the mental state of lots of
people?  They are really not thinking- they are just repeating political or
religious or business bullet points.  They are just repeating what they
heard parents, teachers, preachers, news commentators, and others say.
Thinking, real thinking, involves wrestling with ideas and concepts.  Mere
agreement, mere rehearsing the party line on something, can occur without
thinking being involved.  Real thinking actually involves a lot of mental
effort- work- to grasp, comprehend, and understand.

In this, real thinking involves questioning, exploring, wondering, and
intense curiosity.  You can tell that your thinking is becoming real when
you discover that you are expending a lot of mental effort.  Thinking is
actually hard work- which is why people generally avoid it.  Most people
seem satisfied with answers and so quit questioning.

This is one reason why I put scores and scores of funneling questions in my
most recent book, Creative Solutions.  In that book I used the
Neuro-Semantic Precision Funnel to create quality questions that facilitate
the creativity process.  Creativity starts with a desired outcome.  When you
create a well-formed goal, you actually thereby create a context for
problems.  That's because a problem is anything that gets in the way and
blocks your outcome.  Without an outcome, you can't even have a problem.  So
the great thing about a problem is that it says you have an outcome you want
that you don't presently have.

Then, in that situation, you need a solution.  This is where creativity
comes in- solving a problem so you can move to your outcome.  But before you
jump in there, there's another set of questions.  These are designed to help
you figure out the innovation process.  Should you innovate the solution?

Ah, the whole outcome- problem- creative solutions - innovation process
actually requires a lot of thinking!  It requires an active mind.  It asks
that you engage in the effort of really thinking through something to well
design it.  In the process, the real thinking that is required is
simultaneously both critical and creative.  It involves the critical
thinking skills of asking challenging questions and the creative thinking
skills of inventing solutions. 

That's one example of real thinking.  To be authentically productive in
setting goals and making them happen requires high quality thinking.  It
requires the ability to be precise and accurate, to be critical and
creative.  How's your thinking?  Get a thinking quality injection- discover
the Meta-Model and the Meta-States Model! 

Check out -                  Creative Solutions (2017)

                                                        Meta-States (2012)

                                                        Communication Magic
(2001)

Neuro-Semantic News

.        Trainers' Training (NSTT) in the USA this year is a definite go and
now is the time to register.  Dates: July 1-15. 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D., Executive Director 

Neuro-Semantics 

P.O. Box 8

Clifton, CO. 81520 USA                             

               1 970-523-7877 

                    Dr. Hall's email:
<mailto:meta at acsol.net\hich\af31506\dbch\af31505\loch\f31506> meta at acsol.net

    ISNS new logo

Dr. L. Michael Hall writes a post on "Neurons" each Monday.  For a free
subscription, sign up on www.neurosemantics.com.   On that website you can
click on Meta-Coaching for detailed information and training schedule.   To
find a Meta-Coach see  <http://www.metacoachfoundation.org>
www.metacoachfoundation.org.   For Neuro-Semantic Publications --- clink
Products, there is also a catalog of books that you can download.   

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