Reverse Thinking

Effective thinking II

Last time out on this blog I republished the Effective Thinking Test.

This time out I am going to be discussing your answers.

Please don't read this article until you have completed the test for yourself.

Having taken the test, you will recall that you were asked to answer 'True' or 'False' to each question.

Here are my comments on the right answers to each question for the first seven questions. Comments for the next seven answers will follow on Monday.

Questions:

1. You can't change the way you are.

Ineffective Thinking: True
Effective Thinking: False

Effective thinkers know that some words can be dangerous and so they avoid words like 'you', 'people' or 'personality' because words like this are too vague or abstract to be useful. Effective thinking also focuses what you can do and how you can do it, rather than denials that disempower and discourage.

2. It's natural to get stressed when things don't go the way you want them to.

Ineffective Thinking: True
Effective thinking: False

Effective thinkers don't see 'stress' as a natural state. When things don't go the way they expect they either adapt to the new situation or (if that is difficult) avoid worry by focusing the attention on better things.

3. It's ok to be angry when people insult you.

Ineffective Thinking: False
Effective Thinking: True

Effective thinkers are clued up about emotions and see anger as a Bodymind signal that it is time to practice assertiveness (without being confrontational about it).

4. I tend to worry a lot.

Ineffective Thinking: True
Effective Thinking: False

Effective thinkers don't worry. Period.

You can read more about why worry is both useless and bad for you here.

5. I am frequently under pressure of time.

Ineffective Thinking: True
Effective thinking: False

If you are frequently running behind time then you are not using your mind to plan ahead, organise your day, say 'no', get help, or give yourself a break. Here's another article I wrote about time management, along with a free book, here.

6. People should not let their emotions influence their judgments.

Ineffective Thinking: True
Effective Thinking: False

It is insane to imagine that you can make any kind of judgment without an emotion behind it. Bodymind uses emotions to guide us towards making decisions that are aligned with our personal needs and perceptions. Our decisions can never be completely objective; they are based on our desires, too.

7. It's not 'heartless' to move on quickly after a bereavement.

When we lose someone close to us Bodymind releases the emotion of sadness. When Headmind is on the ball it recognises that sadness is a signal for us to a) honour the memory of the person we have lost, b) move closer to the other people around us in order to fill the hole, and c) let go of the other person and move on to new sources of love and fulfilment. There are more of my thoughts on grief and bereavement here.

First image by Elizabeth Welsh

Second image by by Wonderlane

Effective Thinking

We have now revised and updated the Thinking Skills test in response to feedback from readers.

You can retake the test right here.

In the next post I will be reviewing your answers to the questions. 

When taking the test please be aware that many of the questions require careful reading and thinking before you answer! There is no time limit!

As a general rule, you are aiming to get at least 21 questions (75%) right in order to consider yourself as a reasonably effective thinker!

More on this soon.

Image by magnetbox

Your balancing act

One feature I frequently observe about my clients - those who have non-specific illnesses that is - is that they have unbalanced lifestyles.

Obvious catches are that they focus too much on making money. Or being 'perfect' parents. Or that they spend too much time chasing other people. Or too much time alone.

Narrow-mindedness is a Headmind trap typically linked to the human weakness for what I have  elsewhere called 'bananas'.

Another way to put this is that when we become obsessional we become joyless. We also reduce the emotional rewards available to us - which leads, eventually, to reduced endorphin release in the brain.

A narrowing of interests leads to boredom, routine, repetition and a loss of creativity. Which, in turn, triggers a reduction in brain neuroplasticity.

Finally, an unbalanced lifestyle reduces our access to personal genius: We become less than we could be - and far more predictable.

You can do a rough check on how balanced your life is right now by having a look at the wheel of life diagram at the top. Going round each of the sectors, give yourself a score out of 10 for how much interest you take in that area of life (you have to be really honest here).

For a well-balanced life you need to be scoring at least '5' for each item. The higher your scores the higher your self-actualizing potential (provided the score for any one sector is not too far ahead of any of the others).