#meta-thinking

[robynzone5]

CIRCULATIVE THINKING

thinking about thinking (Meta-thinking) 

[aseaton]

USDA spends $900,000 to teach ‘meta-thinking’ about water to children

USDA spends $900,000 to teach ‘meta-thinking’ about water to children

April 22, 2015

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) spent nearly $1 million on a project to teach kids “meta-thinking” about water, featuring rap songs and spoken-word performances.

“Global water awareness and future water security happens locally—one student, one teacher, and one lesson at a time,” the USDA said in a blog post Tuesday.

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[absurdlakefront]

"I have always..."

This phrase is one of the most dangerous when it crosses my mind or emerges from my lips.  It binds me to a course of action I decided upon consciously or unconsciously in the past and allows that habituated action or feeling to continue without thought or attention.  When I think, "I have always..." it often creates a sense of identity and personal continuity, but with these symbolic representations of myself it also creates a fatalistic sense of the future.

This sense of fated continuation is not always harmful, but does require attention to determine whether this identified feeling or action is beneficial or harmful.  For instance, if I think, "I have always felt close to my mother, " I would like for this feeling to continue and see the outcome of this thought continuing to be very positive, but if I think, "I have always hated my body" it creates a different kind of fated relationship with my mind.  Both statements are generally true of my past experience, but by projecting the latter forward I end up locking myself into a habitual negative thought cycle where I bypass the opportunity to mindfully engage with the thought and dismantle it.  I get caught in my own history and begin to feel trapped and desperate which can negate efforts to constructively change my thinking.

[whydoilivewiththesepeople]

El: My professor. Is getting way too fucking philosophical for a business class. Meta thinking is not a topic necessary for a business class.

[full-circa]

Meta-Thinking

I've been researching this for literally 5 minutes, so more on it soon.

For now, I came across an article that focuses on the importance of enouraging the development of Metacognition in children.

Its good, and its bad. 

Metacognition is taught and used for all sorts, and yes I would agree that encouraging metacognition to children will help them in their learning curve, and help identify their morals in any given situation.

One thing thats always got my noggin going, is how people who murder could lacks the morals to see what their doing is wrong. Maybe thats down to the fact they arent Meta-thinkers? Maybe they were never taught morals, or maybe they were but were stuck in a state where they couldnt think outside themselves? 

But meta-thinkers on the internet seem to say that metacognition to a certain extent is only exclusive to some of us, that only some of us can really think about thinking. 

So potentially, a lot of people could be murders, had they been driven to it. 

For a while i've been suffering with sleepless nights, and I can put it down to three things;

I often have made myself go to bed late. No matter how tired I am, I spend up to at least two hours every night analysing things, no matter how trivial they are. I fidget, its ocd and i constantly scratch my wrists and my elbows.

I've looked into compulsive scratching and nothing on the internet shows other than people who self harm, and thats not what I do. And going to bed late is generally something I would consider a lot of teenagers to do. 

But thinking is different, and I hadn't thought to look it up. I'd been to the doctors and councillor, and every time I've been told that the reason I can't sleep is because I had too much energy, and that I had to analyse my problems while I wasn't in bed. But they aren't problems, they're everyday things, even stuff like my wisdom teeth are finally coming through. Even if i did think about them while I was out of bed, they'd still come back up into my mind while I was in bed. Its like every night I have a conversation with myself. 

Imagine you're talking to your friends, and you talk for hours. During an awkward silence someone nearly always says  "how did we get from this subject to that subject?". Thats what its like when I try to sleep, I end up from A to Z, and think god how did that happen, and continue to think about it. 

(I babble about my own experience so...conclusions down the page a bit if you'd rather)

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In fact its put some real pressure on me, in terms of experience. Faced with someone I like, it will cause me to change. I'll refuse to eat something that makes too much noise or looks silly. I'll not do anything that to me seems embarrassing, or ridiculous. Even sitting on a swing, and I'll refuse to say select words that I would otherwise say. My problem is that I'll imagine myself doing it, and have a preempt feeling that its wrong.. even though a lot of people would think that as being fine. 

Faced with someone who has higher authority than me, I'll end up in situations that I find embarrassing, and this will cause me to over analyse that situation. I'll try to change that situation in my head until it doesn't seem too bad. 

I actually think this applies to a lot of people, not just meta-thinkers. But there are a few things that I feel I cannot accept, that other people can.

Commitment is a big issue, not only with hobbies, but in relationships too. I'll not go into that because its very personal. 

New experiences are also an issue, and sometimes I will jump in. I can say that anyone who's met me, and thought I was loud, or forward...its a façade. I've been told so many time when I was younger that I was quiet, and I didn't partake. It was pressed into me, that for some reason, being quiet and not partaking was morally wrong, even though I know it isnt. I'm naturally still like that, but to keep myself from feeling guilty, I'll try my hardest to push through and be louder than normal. 

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So back to the point.. 

The way I think about new experiences causes me to try and avoid such things. Because I imagine myself in those situations, and I will basically think about how I think; how I would feel at the time, and what the consequences are of that, and how I could possibly have got there, and what will the people sharing the same experience think, and do they realise what they are doing. 

Then this takes me back to my education in primary school. Are all of the people in my class meta-thinkers?  Or is it just a few of us? And if so, why was it drilled into me so hard, to think about thinking. It helped me gradually become more self aware, and yes I would say it has corrected mistaken morals. But its been overdone, and now metacognition has taken over nearly every aspect of my life, and jumping into new situations is near on impossible without trying to first find an answer which doesn't exist.

Unfortunately, meta-thinking is an addiction almost, and though I would like to break free from it, I can't..because I like it. To me, it feels like being more self aware makes me smarter, and more powerful in my analysis... however much it restricts my life, I  choose not to let it go.

It's lead me to think about what events in my life have caused me to be like this. But here I am again, thinking. What if this level of meta-thinking is natural to me and some others, maybe metacognition should be encouraged anyway, and there will always be some who just naturally over-develop it.

I'm not meaning to talk about this like its some kind of rare talent. Im not. If anything its a kind of curse.

I've been in situations where my whole mood will change down to one little moment that doesnt matter.

Just the other day, I was looking at my birthday money. Real cash in my hands, and plenty of it. I looked at it for a while, trying to work out how this is making me feel, and good it does feel. Then I realised it was dictating my mood, even my life. Then I thought about all the other people, rich and poor, who's lives really are dictated by money. And everyones life is. Everyone. I just don't realise it yet because I have the support of my parents. But where would you be without that money? It controls everything about you; your morals most specifically. 

But how many people would rather ignore that, and live happily as a consumer? I know I would.. 

And now this leads me to the conclusion that metacognition should be left to come naturally, and leave it to the parents and guardians. 

It will leave some people morally corrupt, and some morally correct. The morally correct can then be sub-divided; some who live as a happy consumer of life, and some who think about every decision, and may or may not be happy.

And there will be some who's level of self awareness is completely non-existant, but they will be the happiest of all, as they say...ignorance is bliss.