HEALTHY THINKING
by Dr. Lawrence Wilson
©
September 2010, L.D.
Wilson Consultants, Inc.
All information in this article is for educational
purposes only. It is not for the diagnosis,
treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.
Thinking styles can mean the difference
between life and death. This
article offers suggestions for a manner or way of thinking that begins with
yourself and radiates outward from there.
I believe this is a simple formula for a successful life, whereas other
thinking styles do not work nearly as well in almost all cases. So while there are a few exceptions,
here are the simple rules for this way of thinking about all situations and
problems.
1.
Do not begin your thinking trying to make everyone equal or happy, and feeling
depressed because there seems to be no fairness or equality on earth.
In reality,
there is a kind of fairness, but it may not be apparent. What occurs, I have found, is that a
personÕs thinking really does determine his or her life and circumstances more
than one can imagine. However,
outwardly, there is no equality on earth, and things occur in peopleÕs lives
for unforeseen and poorly understood reasons.
Perhaps this
is ÒunfairÓ, but objecting to it will not change it. You can never know all of a personÕs past actions and
thinking patterns. So what appears
to be unfairness may not be so.
The attempt
to make everyone equal always is disastrous. The French Revolution is the best example of this. In modern times, the doctrine of equal
outcomes for all is the basis for communism and socialism. Such philosophies do not work well and
have caused major wars and other problems.
Equal
justice. Having said this, there is a legal
doctrine in America and some other nations called equal treatment under the
law. This is also called equal justice. This is stated in the American Declaration of Independence
that all men are created equal. In
law, it is the idea that if two people steal a loaf of bread or shoot someone,
both should be treated exactly the same by the criminal justice system. This is a sound doctrine that is not
enforced enough. It means not
making excuses for people due to the color of their skin, how much money they
have, their religious beliefs, or anything else. If one breaks the law, the consequences should be the same
for everyone.
This idea,
however, is different than the belief that everyone should have an ÒequalÓ
life, with the same kind of house, the same amount of money, the same
satisfying job, etc. This kind of
equality never occurs and cannot occur in a free society because people make
choices of how to spend their time and their money, and the outcomes will necessarily
be different for each one. All attempts to equalize outcomes are bound
to fail. The best we can hope
for is to teach people how to spend their time and money wisely. This is why the idea of taking from the
rich and giving to the poor is a bad idea in almost all cases.
2.
Do not begin your thinking with ideas about ÒbalanceÓ or ÒtoleranceÓ. The reason is that one is not aware of
all the factors in most situations, so ÒbalancingÓ them is not easy, and is
often impossible. Balance is not a
sound legal or logical doctrine in most cases. Right or wrong is a better one, but even here one must be
careful and always begin with survival of yourself, as explained below.
3.
Instead, think first about your physical survival. What will it take for you, personally,
to survive physically and to be safe and secure? This is not selfish.
Rather, it is common sense.
However, too many people worry about others first, or about the
environment first, or about something else first such as animals, or their
families or even strangers.
While very
noble-sounding, thinking of others first is not sound thinking. You will be in a much better place to
help others if you first help yourself.
Having said this,
by helping others in the correct way, you will also help yourself. This is the basis for capitalism, for
example. By setting up a business
or corporation that offers a product or service, you will help others and you
will help yourself as well by making a small profit.
Those who
rant and rave against capitalism and business are misguided because they donÕt
understand the real basis for a free market capitalist system, which is to help
yourself first and to do so by helping others. This does not mean that all corporations and businesses do
good, but most of them are very good for the workers and for the consumers of
the products and services.
4. After yourself, think of those who are
closest to you physically. These
are your immediate partners and children, for example, or neighbors. What will it take for them to survive
and prosper?
This step is
also very critical in your thinking.
Too many parents forget the needs of their partners and children, for
example, to Òtake care of othersÓ or Òtake care of the worldÓ. Usually, their relationships fall apart
and misery follows. So it is
important to look to those who are physically close to you first and make sure
all is well there, before venturing out in your thinking and your actions to
help others or start projects in the world.
5.
Next, think of your community or town.
What is necessary for it to survive and prosper ? Then, expand your thinking to your
nation. What will it take for the
nation to survive and prosper?
Once again,
many people ignore the needs of their local communities in order to pursue
grander-sounding plans. This
usually leads to mistakes and disasters.
It has led to the downfall of entire nations that have worried more
about others than about themselves.
The nation and the community must be defended and made secure first.
For example,
some people do not like the fact that the state of Arizona, USA, passed a law
that police can ask people for identification if they believe the person is not
in the country legally. This is an
example of misguided thinking in my mind.
The nation and the state must be defended against illegal immigrants,
and it is the federal law, though it not being enforced. So the state is correct in dealing with
the proglem if the federal authorities will not do their job.
Other ways
people ignore their own nation and community include those who first want to
Òsave the earthÓ, but forget that their community must survive first. Perhaps the people in the community or
nation need inexpensive gasoline to burn or coal to burn, or other things. Then this must be taken care of first.
A
sound foundation for action.
To summarize, one can and should think globally, but always begin your
thinking process and your actions locally, aimed at survival of yourself and those
around you first. This will give
you a sound foundation. Then you
can reach out to others and to the larger world. If the order gets reversed, even slightly, you will be
easily thrown into chaos and are more likely to fail in your efforts and in your
logic.
Safety. The above
order of thinking will also tend to keep you far safer. Safety must always be a primary
concern, not peace or love or harmony.
Those can come later when you are safe. Peace or love without safety is stupid and does not last. Those who put it first are usually being
used by propaganda experts or dark forces that know how to trigger peopleÕs
emotions. Safety is a very
physical, grounded and centered concept.
Clear-headed. If you think in this order, you will
not be swayed by false arguments that you are ÒracistÓ, ÒunfairÓ, Òunloving to
foreignersÓ, or donÕt care about people around the world, and so on. Your answer will always be the
same. That is, I must start with
myself, those around me such as my family and my neighbors. If we are okay, then we can be helpful,
generous, loving and sharing with others.
But it I listen to you, you tell the person, I may not be around to help
anyone.
TRAPS
THAT STOP LOGICAL THINKING
Here are
five ways that people sabotage their thinking process, or upset it so they
become confused and off track.
Knowing about these can help you avoid them:
1.
Relying too much on first impressions.
This is sometimes called the anchoring trap. First impressions may be important, but they may be entirely
wrong. Do not judge people, ideas
or anything by your first impression.
Some would say ÒNever judge a book by its cover.Ó
Instead,
always look beyond the surface and beyond first impressions. In other words, give new ideas, new
ways of thinking, and new people a chance.
2. Getting stuck with the status quo. This means that you cannot see
possibilities and you think that what exists is what must be. Often, what exists is just the result
of a series of accidents, or corruption, or ignorance. Always
look beyond the status quo and be willing to think of other possibilities. They sometimes call this Òthinking
outside the boxÓ. It is a critical
concept for creative and just accurate thinking.
3. Protecting earlier choices. This is a common trap. Many people continue with their former
ways of thinking and doing things because to change means acknowledging that
they made mistakes, which is embarrassing, and it often means losing money,
friends, associates, status, or something else.
Effective
and wholesome thinking requires the courage to give up your past in physical,
emotional and mental ways, and the willingness to instead embrace the future.
4. Seeing what you want to see. This is also a common mistake. It is usually caused by unconscious impressions
or traumas that basically blind one to reality and instead one looks for oneÕs
past in the present. So one only
sees or is willing to embrace certain ideas, certain people, and certain ways
of thinking.
Try to allow yourself to see all sides of a
story and all perspectives.
Sometimes the truth will be ugly or repulsive, and it will not be what
you thought it would be or what you want.
However, it is still extremely valuable to seek for truth, and not for
what appears acceptable to your mind.
5. Incomplete information. This is a trap we all fall into at
times. It means drawing
conclusions about ideas, people and situations when you donÕt know the full
story. At times, it is hard to
know the full story, and some would say we never will have all the facts about
a complex issue. However, you can
know about this trap and do your best to avoid it. Here are some of the ways to do this.
1. Take your
time and gather your facts carefully.
2.
Make your assumptions explicit.
This means to try to uncover how you are approaching situations and
ideas instead of glossing over your assumptions and moving too fast into your
conclusions.
3. Favor
hard data over ÒsoftÓ information or just mental or emotional impressions. This is sometimes difficult, but is an
important consideration in some types of decisions.
4.
Question your assumptions in all cases.
5.
If Òthings do not add upÓ, or do not make sense, donÕt stop searching for the
answers. Look deeper, and gather
more facts until you have a logical and clear picture of a situation.
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