Tips to think clearly

[Understand]

Hello,

There was a Youtube video where one person asked how he can think for himself and articulate things correctly.

And these are my suggestions that truly helped me a lot to think independently.

This is the most striking;

"Further research by Krugman revealed that our brain’s left hemisphere, which processes information logically and analytically, tunes out while we are watching television. The left hemisphere is the critical region for organizing, analyzing, and judging incoming data[4]. This tuning-out allows the right hemisphere of our brain, which processes information emotionally and uncritically, to function unimpeded." TV is heroin crossed with hypnosis

 

I'm afraid the same mode is activated when being infront of the computer. The difference is that you are activate infront of the computer though.

 

•     Critical: Have time, avoid schedule and stress (good luck). Be in nature for 1 month and you will understand how unconsciously stressed you were that blocked your way of thinking. I discovered this when I was put in a rehabilitation centre being burnt-out where I had no technology for 1 month. All I did was eating and sleeping.
   
• Meditation - if you can clear your thoughts completley you will discover a clarity and a rush of creativity. Think of it like untangling all your thoughts and ideas, like a cat ball, when they are untangled they can connect to each other in a new way, thus the enormous creativity flow afterwards.
   
• Stillness and silence is cruical components too, they are connected to meditation.

 

•     Food & Vitamine - Drink a lot. Check your vitamine levels. Eat green. Magnesium and B12 helped me a lot.

 

•     Excercise - might sound weird - but the ammount of clarity I have got from my jogging runs is unbelievable. You solve so many problems. I think smart people would be so much smarter if they had a healthy mind and body.

 

•     Don't watch or read for a certain period. We live in a time where we take in so much information and we believe that we are thinking, but we are really not. We forget the part called "processing".

 

•     Avoid TV, series and movies. This is something I've been thinking of myself - I'm a very much of a free thinker and always asked questions when I was watching movies like "Why don't they just do that or that?!". I couldn't stand watching movies because there were so obvious solutions and many logical misstakes. What I think happens in this day and age is that these "stupid narratives" makes us think in a certain way or pattern where logic is not used.

 

•     Ask questions all the time about everything - your mind will sub consciously answer them. Why? How?

 

•     If you fear of being wrong or sound stupid in a conversation - go and be as stupid as you can in conversations for a while. You must be able to "fail" and say "Oh, i'm sorry, I was wrong."

 

•     There is a difference between knowing and understanding.

 

•     Trust yourself when you go into the unknown realm of knowledge. See the gap but don't freak out.

 

•     Do something where you can be creative and don't follow patterns.

 

•     Write a diary and don't censor yourself at all. Just let it out.

 

•     Believe. Don't think too much what you are going to say - trust. You can hear that this guy is thinking what he is going to say.

 

•     Learn new words for a bigger vocabulary which is cruical to describe your thoughts and ideas.
   
•     Use an app called "Elevate".

Please share your tips!
 

Off topic: In 2 weeks I will release something I think you will all like. I think Stefan will be very interested.

[Ed888]

+1 on running and exercise

I've gone through a lot of depression spells throughout my life and walking and eventually running became one of my main and current means of relief. Some people have thoughts come to them but for me it just lets my mind get off of itself and zone out.

 

I also heard about doing a 1 week media fast and become aware of how constantly we are consuming information and being aware of what we actually are processing. (I still need to do this I kind of just scaled back but haven't done a dedicated fast)

 

For gaps of knowledge I've poked at a lot of different catagories of interest to where I'm familiar with the sense of overwhelming but the best tip I could have is to go at it at a comfortable pace and just keep yourself around it. I learned most of the stuff I'm interested in by osmosis and not so much doing methods I once thought where the best when I was in school.

Podcasts, articles, and my favorite; looking up several explanations of the same concept and letting your brain tether connections between them.

 

These are the main things that helped me a lot, just wanted to chime in and offer my two cents.

 

I'll keep an eye on this thread.

[AccuTron]

Thanks for that leading Krugman paragraph.  I'm printing it for a friend who is in a very misinformed and unhealthy state, tho' she'd never admit it on her own.

 

Lots of good advice.  The one about exercise reminds me of how I have been lucky to safely bike commute for very many years, and mostly on paths in semi-natural or calm surroundings (not counting flying thru the air in my one bike/car incident; beware, low sun blinds drivers).  When not at intersections or other hazards, I'm fully thinking about all the stuff that is going in my life.  The exercise may not solve any problem, but is a way to immediately use up any upset energy, so it doesn't store inside me.

 

And yes we, I, absorb so much info.  We were never naturally challenged to do that, not by orders of magnitude.  On the one hand, a learning brain is a healthy brain.  Yet, like overstuffing on foods, it makes me wonder about side effects.  I stopped reading the local paper and a general science magazine because I was overstuffing my head, for no real good reason.  I was of course absorbing lots of news and science online.

 

I chuckle about the TV, etc.  There have been certain plots that I just hated, because the of the obvious and very simple solutions that were evident but ignored.  Did you see "They Live?"  Two places in that movie, which I like, I wanted to jump into the screen, and have serious face time with a character, to get them to try the mindbogglingly easy act of simply putting on the eyeglasses, which they stubbornly refused.  Of course, it led to impressive fight and stunt scenes, and it is a movie that needs to pump the audience.  Yet it reminds me chillingly of my own experiences.

------------------------

"my favorite; looking up several explanations of the same concept and letting your brain tether connections between them."

 

Big yes on that one.

[Understand]

+1 on running and exercise

I've gone through a lot of depression spells throughout my life and walking and eventually running became one of my main and current means of relief. Some people have thoughts come to them but for me it just lets my mind get off of itself and zone out.

 

I also heard about doing a 1 week media fast and become aware of how constantly we are consuming information and being aware of what we actually are processing. (I still need to do this I kind of just scaled back but haven't done a dedicated fast)

 

For gaps of knowledge I've poked at a lot of different catagories of interest to where I'm familiar with the sense of overwhelming but the best tip I could have is to go at it at a comfortable pace and just keep yourself around it. I learned most of the stuff I'm interested in by osmosis and not so much doing methods I once thought where the best when I was in school.

Podcasts, articles, and my favorite; looking up several explanations of the same concept and letting your brain tether connections between them.

 

These are the main things that helped me a lot, just wanted to chime in and offer my two cents.

 

I'll keep an eye on this thread.

 

1 week media fast sounds great, good luck!

I'll follow what you said about "comfortable pace". I really need to think about that. Thanks

 

 

 

Thanks for that leading Krugman paragraph.  I'm printing it for a friend who is in a very misinformed and unhealthy state, tho' she'd never admit it on her own.

 

Lots of good advice.  The one about exercise reminds me of how I have been lucky to safely bike commute for very many years, and mostly on paths in semi-natural or calm surroundings (not counting flying thru the air in my one bike/car incident; beware, low sun blinds drivers).  When not at intersections or other hazards, I'm fully thinking about all the stuff that is going in my life.  The exercise may not solve any problem, but is a way to immediately use up any upset energy, so it doesn't store inside me.

 

And yes we, I, absorb so much info.  We were never naturally challenged to do that, not by orders of magnitude.  On the one hand, a learning brain is a healthy brain.  Yet, like overstuffing on foods, it makes me wonder about side effects.  I stopped reading the local paper and a general science magazine because I was overstuffing my head, for no real good reason.  I was of course absorbing lots of news and science online.

 

I chuckle about the TV, etc.  There have been certain plots that I just hated, because the of the obvious and very simple solutions that were evident but ignored.  Did you see "They Live?"  Two places in that movie, which I like, I wanted to jump into the screen, and have serious face time with a character, to get them to try the mindbogglingly easy act of simply putting on the eyeglasses, which they stubbornly refused.  Of course, it led to impressive fight and stunt scenes, and it is a movie that needs to pump the audience.  Yet it reminds me chillingly of my own experiences.

------------------------

"my favorite; looking up several explanations of the same concept and letting your brain tether connections between them."

 

Big yes on that one.

 

Yeah, just ask if X wants your advice

"What do we love to give but hate to take?

The answer is advice."

 

Biking is truly soothing. And what you said "energy storing inside" is also important. Many times these tensions causes great deal of problems.

 

It seems that the brain has no overload function in terms of information. It's not the same as when you run and become totally exahausted and can feel it.

Our mental energy is affected can affect us in terms of how we interact with other people. How aware we are and present about things.

 

That's why I feel a bit lonely with people I believe. Their brains are so exhausted but they take their coffee and they don't really notice their exhaustion. And then they behave in a ADHD like way.

The brain seems to rev up when tired, instead of rev down.

 

Yes just watched "They live". Thoughtful movie. Haha I felt the same! It was so frustrating. Your experience in terms of fighting or "waking up"?

[AccuTron]

"Yes just watched "They live". Thoughtful movie. Haha I felt the same! It was so frustrating. Your experience in terms of fighting or "waking up"?"

---

Hmm.  Have to think about that one.  I first thought to look into my past, then realized it's right now.  This is going to be a personally valuable answer to construct.

 

It's curious to think, that right now, my totality of healing and learning over years, has trouble recalling my more ignorant and damaged past.  Which overall is a good thing, like skin "forgetting" to retain a scar.  (But remembers the lesson to not get one to begin with.)

 

My own mental journey is largely an internal discovery, and here I intend to address the external political/economic, yet they are intertwined.  The #1 theme in both worlds is the fraud, lies, deceit.  Then the realizations of the damage caused.

 

Trying to track specifics, it was about eight years ago that a whole bunch of things happened within a short time.  (I'm realizing my fingers don't have this much typing in them at once.  They need to loosen up with bwahaha combat gaming blowing out the tendons, then come back later.  So I'll do some but keep returning with additional material, like a serial, so keep checking.  Not just my tendons, my memory has to sort it out in chunks too.)

 

I was working with a now defunct grrreeeeeeennnnn (this word now has to me the same emotional reaction as "botulism") business.  (To pre-pop the worry balloon, the creep CEO, due to a buyout that ended up consuming himself, was left in the investment and employment void, owing original investors who were themselves left in the void; and all the cars were recalled and destroyed.)

 

I made wire harnesses for the cars being modified.  Perfectly safe major brand electric hybrid cars had their original battery guts ripped out and put into a pile of such guts, the car now irreversibly altered.  

 

A different battery pack...and little oopsies can melt metal really quick...was installed, the intention being this one made it an AC house current rechargeable.  In fact, I was appalled these things were on the road with families inside, and it cost bundles too.  About 10% caught on fire, and it was providential grace that it happened in such particulars that nobody died or had their house burn down.  But the opportunity was very well offered.

 

You thought that if somebody altered a car, it must be okay with the Fed transport people, and okay with UL and God all simultaneously, didn't you?  The reality: No oversight or checking at all, real crap, very dangerous.  Hobbyist level at best.  The CEO was fabulously a hot air generator that could not not not accept new information that contradicted his world view.  A total stranger at a break in a public event, discovering where I no longer worked, remarked on this mental aspect of the CEO, so affected was this stranger by his one encounter with the CEO and simply trying to be rational with him.

 

It was about this time that other stuff happened, but for now notice the take-home lesson, regarding what assumptions we make about products that could kill us.

 

 

Another employee told me about the YouTube of Zeitgeist.  This was my first real eye-opener about systems at large.  I'd known a number of disparate facts, but didn't get the big picture.  

 

With YouTube providing so many suggestions, that was just the beginning.  Quite possibly, it's how I stumbled upon Stefan's videos and FDR.  From there, it's like information fissioning, just keep following what YouTube suggests on the side plus links from commenters.  

 

Always do so intelligently, for it's possible to go down established trails only to find eventually the one omitted fact or consideration that kills the whole thing.  Nonetheless, it's education, and the negative space is education too.*  (I'm reminded of being in wilderness trail areas, and there's that one false trail, looking well established, and it's just a dead-end to a place to where many hikers relieved themselves, with a few dashes of old toilet paper.)

 

What a fabulous finishing note that would be...  ...while I left for now.  So I add this one:

 

*Old TV show, Maverick, a comedy western, but more towards the gamblers than the gunners, with James Garner playing twins, sometimes on split screen.  One brother says to the other, "You know, Pappy said it was all right to have the wool pulled over your eyes, as long as you know how it was done."

 

Till later....

[Normal Person]

 

Krugman revealed that our brain’s left hemisphere, which processes information logically and analytically, tunes out while we are watching television

 

Krugman's publication does NOT claim that the areas of our brain primarily responsible for logical and analytical thoughts tune out.

 

The sample size is one woman. She was given magazines to read. Then she was shown TV ads. The publication claims that her brain was more active while reading a discussion about "different techniques of applying make-up" than it was while watching the TV ads. The woman also reported that she was "annoyed when the TV commercials came on".

 

Additionally his publication is from 1971. In neuroscience this matters. fMRI did not exist and old EEG was used.

 

After a quick google scholar search I have found no evidence that would support this claim. And while anecdotal, I can assure you that my analytical thinking does not turn off while watching TV, which is why I find myself unable to enjoy most TV entertainment.

 

 

I'm afraid the same mode is activated when being infront of the computer.

 

Why would you make such an assumption? Watching TV and using a computer are very different activities.

 

There is no scientific or logical reason that justifies worrying about a screen magically inhibiting your capability of reasoning. Actually, the complex digital environment might stimulate and train your brain.

 

 

 

And these are my suggestions that truly helped me a lot to think independently.

 

I would use a different approach than a list of suggestions.

 

First you need a good foundation. Sleep enough and consistently, have a good diet, do regular and intense physical exercise. Mens sana in corpore sano.

 

Then you can be more specific. You want to train your analytical thinking but also maintain awareness. Build up momentum and keep it going.

 

A balance of scepticism and acceptance is important. For this you need critical thinking and an open mind. Do not just be critical of others but also yourself. Understand that you could be wrong with everything but also that living in doubt gets you nowhere.

[Understand]

I can't find the sources for the studies I previously seen.

To me, it's no wonder that there are very few studies. If it went public that the TV is literally brainwashing citizens, I think people would react. (Hmm...maybe not)

And I'm sure "google works as intended".

 

You say we should use our analytical and logic parts: If a person, just by talking, can put us in a trance state, you don't think a TV can?

 

 

And to be honest, the only evidence I need is to watch a child in front of a TV. Or try to talk to someone in front of the TV, it's like talking to a zombie.

[Lykourgos]

Nice thread; I agree about jogging and exercise in general. When I go for a run, I always wind up thinking of new ideas and solutions. I used to jog with an audio book, but depending on the length of the run I think that the ability to wonder is a little more valuable.

 

I have a small tip for critical thinking. Whenever you read a claim, rewrite it so that the speaker's name appears at the start, and the owner of each subject is listed. For example, if a Burger King advertisement says the following:

 

"this burger tastes great!"

 

I would add "Burger King says" at the beginning, and then add the owner (Burger King) to the subject (burger):

 

"Burger King says that Burger King's burger tastes great!"

 

Suddenly, I'm a lot less convinced. It's a practical and simple tool that works for a lot of different situations. It can also be used as an easy argument method, too.

[Frosty]

I suspect that how engaged you are at your computer depends on what you're doing, I use a computer most of the day which ranges from gaming to reading, learning, watching TV, work as head of ICT, and a huge number of other things. I think the brain shutting down ability to logically process data is more to do with passivity, TV shows you're spoon fed and don't generally require any thought to consume where as most actions at a computer require some kind of interactivity and response which requires thinking.

 

My main tips would be to study how to think, it's a skill like just about everything else and that's something you can learn about and study to improve your thinking. I would advocate studying scepticism to help you question new information, study formal logic and formal arguments which is how you construct arguments and the errors (fallacies) in logic, this is vital for spotting bad arguments. Study epistemology to understand the sources of knowledge and potential limits on knowledge. definitely study science and establish for yourself a standard of evidence required for belief.

 

I'd worry less about meditation and state of mind type approaches, once you have a clear methodical approach to parsing information you don't really have to worry about that kind of thing, it just takes practice. Lastly I'd say you need to train yourself to be comfortable with being wrong and be comfortable by admitting that you simply don't know some things, so your emotional state is less of a bias with regards to your thinking, study your own biases and be wary of them.

[mlsv2f]

I stopped watching TV outside of a few sports events and movies with my Fiance at night (which i end up just critiquing based on the propaganda and bs).

 

In addition to listening to the show for the past four years, my ability to think logically, find holes in premises, and see logic jumps in other peoples arguments, is extremely honed in and better than its ever been. I think the show has something to do with that. 

 

I never thought about TV, but for the holidays, I spent a week at my fiance's parents, where they have Fox news on a 24/7 stream. Granted, at least is not commivision MSNBC, CNN, ect, it really made my head hurt. The thought process these networks use are horrific, and after a few days I couldn't take it anymore.

 

All and all, its more rewarding to spend your spare time socializing with friends, working on getting to the next promotion or a side business, exercising or learning, than to watch the television all day.