The Sound of Silence
I love music. Really love it. Yet you’ll never hear me playing any at home in the mornings. I start every day the same way. With silence. No TV, no radio, no background noise of any kind. I honestly believe this habit is one of the secrets to my success.
People Are Crazy!
If you read my Mad Genius book, you’ll probably fondly remember the chapter about The MYSTERIOUS PEOPLE in charge of THE SECRET SYSTEM THAT RUNS THE WORLD. I’m still fascinated by the topic of cultural craziness and devoted a recent Friday Filosophy newsletter to it. Nietzsche famously said, “Madness is rare in individuals – but in groups, parties, nations, and ages it is the rule.” And that my friend, is stone cold truth. Perfectly sane people gather in a group and things go crazy. Here’s the thing you must understand…
You Are Meant to Be Happy
Think about a newborn kitten or puppy, or a toddler left to her own devices. They are all inherently happy. It is their natural state. And your natural state as a human being.
Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life
n the last post, I told you that changing your thought process is one of the most important transformations you can make in yourself to become healthy, happy and prosperous. Let’s explore some additional ways you can apply this process.
I Love It When You Hate Me
God I love it when people hate this blog.
That probably surprises many of you. Because most speakers, authors, podcasters, bloggers, etc. love it when people tell them how much they love their work.
Keeping Your Mind Open
People can be faced with a tsunami of facts and evidence on something, but if this conflicts with a cherished belief of theirs, they find a way to completely negate the facts. This isn’t a case of just filtering out evidence that clashes with their opinions. It’s a case of them being smacked upside the head with the evidence and consciously finding a way to invalidate it. No matter how much they have to contort, warp or totally flee from logic.
Ask Better Questions
If we break it down to its essence, critical thinking is having the discernment to intelligently process information. Process it in a way that is relevant to your desired results. And that means asking the right questions.
Be Willing to Do the Critical Thinking
Millions of people just want to settle for easy, superficial answers, and blame their situations on fate or other outside factors. It is becoming exceedingly rare to find people who even understand the concept of critical thinking. Even of the few that do, many of them would still much rather play it safe and hope for others to tell them what to think.
Transforming Knowledge into Wisdom
Always question the premise first. It’s amazing how often something is based on a flawed premise. And if the premise is wrong, everything that comes off it will be too.
The Process of Mental Transformation
Of course the real breakthroughs come when you learn how to think instead of what to think. It is those two last steps above, the reflection and contemplative experience where wisdom, insights and innovation come from. Buddhists may not see it that way, but I view this as the critical thinking element.
