The art of thinking

Each one of us thinks almost continuously. Anyway, that is what we think. However, is what we are doing really thinking?

You know it: An infinite stream of thoughts flows continuously through our head. Sometimes it keeps us from falling asleep, other times we wander away from a task and unintentionally surrender to the eternal murmuring of our consciousness.

However, these random thoughts, our occasional immersion in them and also the pursuit of one of these thoughts for a few moments have nothing to do with real thinking.

Everybody thinks! Or not?

First of all, we should make it clear that thinking is not thinking. Thoughts that come into our heads and for which we did not ask are not meant here. Although these are also “thought,” they are not actively processed in a thinking process that we want.

When we speak of thinking, we usually mean deliberate thinking. We do not just let a thought pass by but grasp it, look at it from all sides and try to develop it. In short: we deal with it.

However, even that is far from being deliberate thinking.

Often we roll a thought back and forth in our minds, worry about it, scare ourselves or simply enjoy it. Except we still do not know what to do with it.

Active and goal-oriented thinking begins as soon as we want to apply our thoughts to a goal or problem. No one has yet come any closer to solving a problem by mere pondering, but we succeed in doing so by targeted rethinking, thinking-over, and, above all, thinking ahead.

The better our thinking strategies, the better our results.

In summary, it can be said that on the one hand, we can think about something without pursuing a goal or on the other hand, we can think about something that corresponds to active goal pursuit.

So do I think wrong?

However, of course, there is no wrong thinking. Even the daydream has its justification, and nobody can seriously ask us to pursue goals and solve problems all day long.

Especially for creative processes, it is often beneficial to let thoughts rise from the subconscious without intention, to see what we carry around in our spiritual depths.

It only becomes problematic if we exclusively practice this kind of thinking and if we do not have any suitable techniques at our disposal to recognize valuable thoughts that may arise as such and then to hold on to them and develop them further.

On the other hand, a too logical and targeted focus is also not very helpful. People who continuously judge everything robot-like only by its use for their own goals will probably not have a particularly fulfilled social life, because they will quickly appear to other people as cold and strange.

As so often in life, neither the one nor the other way is absolutely right or wrong. We need a synthesis of both ways of thinking.

It is probably the case that most people currently tend to focus more on the side of unplanned and passive thinking and should give more space to purposeful thinking, but this is by no means valid for everyone.

What about thinking techniques? Are they any good?

We have long been familiar with the concept of learning techniques. There are courses and books on learning techniques, institutes have specialized in one or the other learning technique and offer courses in it.

The lesser-known field of thinking techniques is therefore often added to learning techniques, although they are two completely different things. For many of us, the thought that one could also learn to think seems absurd. In fact, on closer inspection, it is quite logical that it is possible.

Our brain is delivered without instructions, and higher thinking does not develop entirely by itself but is learned. We see this in every child: as children develop, their thinking becomes more and more refined. Their problem-solving competence rises steeply.

So why should we not be able to develop this skill as individually as language competence, social competence, or other skills that everyone develops to some extent during their childhood?

You probably already know many thinking techniques: Mind mapping, brainstorming, group discussions, etc. are real thinking techniques by their very nature.

Of course, there are countless others, but that is not the most crucial point. It is crucial to realize that there are methods that can make our thinking more effective and helpful for us. Everyone has to find the right method for him or her, but the most important thing is the will to start thinking about it in the first place.

One more warning at the end: Beware of any esoteric bullshit that comes in the guise of thinking techniques!

Thinking techniques do not make you superhuman and do not give you supernatural abilities. They help you to organize your thoughts better and to find better solutions faster.

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