The Art of Thinking
What do we mean when we refer to the Art of Thinking? The Tyber Lustig Foundation wants to impress upon everyone how important the ability to think is to our overall mental wellbeing. Most of us have at one time or another uttered the rhetorical question, “What were they thinking?” The answer in most cases is that they weren’t, so how does one become a better thinker? Is it an art or an acquired skill? The last internet search on our namesake’s computer was, “How to stop overthinking?” If we allow it to do so, the mind can often play tricks on us that negatively impact our day-to-day happiness.
Many things are thought about naturally. We do not have to think if we like the taste of a certain food item. We do not have to think if we like a certain activity. Nor do we have to think if we like someone. These are just a few examples. However, there are many more circumstances that require additional thinking. When driving a car, what direction, what speed, other drivers, pedestrians, visibility, etc., all require thinking. Pedestrians need to think to look both ways before crossing a street. Pilots need to think of a Plan B in the event of engine malfunctions. The list goes on and on.
How does one get good at thinking? Is it just supposed to be trial and error? Must we stick our hand in a fire to know that it will painfully burn us, or is that something we should have thought about first? Life is a learning process. Some things need to be taught like walking, talking, or using a bathroom by oneself, as well as learning to read, communicate, and doing basic math. The question our foundation raises is, “How do we acquire the skill sets necessary to think for ourselves?”
It starts with education. In our EDUCATION tab in this website, we go through the modern education process. Our primary belief is that highly effective educators teach us HOW to think for ourselves and not WHAT to think. Learning to become an excellent reader is a critical component in this process. The better a person’s reading comprehension skills, the more areas of life they can become knowledgeable about. Trying to understand something that you know little about is often stressful.
Becoming a better thinker also leads to improved judgement. Having good judgement is an important benefit of smart thinking which leads to a happier life. Our foundation uses an acronym that we refer to as a JIV. JIV stands for JUDGEMENT IMPAIRMENT VEHICLE. Most everybody experiences at least one. These are things or circumstances that impair our judgement. An example would be consuming too much alcohol or pot. We have all heard of driving under the influence, which is obviously dangerous to you and others, but what about other activities? Having impaired judgement can have serious consequences. In a social setting, one might be more likely to say, “Whatever; let me try this pill.” In other instances, impaired judgement could lead to unwanted sexual situations. A JIV is not restricted to over consumption. Struggling periods of a person’s life can also lead to bad judgement. Decisions made during stressful events like grieving, going through a painful breakup, or sudden financial loss, can also result in a series of ill-advised decisions. We are all prone to making poor decisions even when we are unimpaired. Making decisions while impaired increases stupidity by multiple factors.
At one point or another, everyone has either thought or said the following, “I wish I knew then, what I know now.” For this reason, The Tyber Lustig Foundation encourages everyone to challenge themselves to ask what will they know later, that they would be better off to know now. We encourage everyone to learn something new every day. Even seemingly little amounts of new knowledge adds up over time. Better thinking skills also leads to improving one’s self-esteem. So many people suffer from low self-esteem. Low self-esteem often begins at very early ages. Young children and adolescents often feel isolated because they do not fit into what they feel is normal. Be it their looks, or voice, or the way they dress, or whatever, the trauma they feel is real to them. The Tyber Lustig Foundation wants to reach out to all ages to help them gain the self-confidence to not be bothered by what others say or how they treat you. While most education needs to be age appropriate, learning how to cope with bullies needs to start early. Coping with online bullying takes that issue to another level. Even as adults, we all need to have the self-confidence to not have the haters take up any space in our heads. The key is to educate yourself to be confident and comfortable with who you are. The only opinion that matters is the person in the mirror you look at each day.
Self-confidence also comes into play in today’s world where “self-identifying” is for whatever reason a hot topic. The Tyber Lustig Foundation takes the position that if seven feet one inch Shaquille O’Neal is pictured next to seven feet six inch Yao Ming and wants to self-identify as being short, that’s his business. If people want to truly find a happy life, not worrying about what other people think of you gets you closer to that goal of self-contentment.
Improved thinking skills have other added benefits. So many of us spend enormous amounts of time worrying. At every stage of life, we all have things that worry us. Every single worry in the world falls into one of only two categories. One is worrying about things we have personal control over and the second category is worrying about things we have little or no control over. If your only worry in life is not having enough money, congratulations because that is a self-solvable math problem. But if most of your worries are about things out of your control, stop wasting time worrying. Prepare for the worst outcome and hope for the best outcome. Spending any time on worrying about things out of your control is a complete waste of time that you can never get back.
Becoming less gullible is also a benefit to learning to think for yourself. So much of what we watch, read, and hear, are nothing more than carefully crafted sales pitches. The more knowledgeable one becomes, the more likely they are to skillfully ask the question, “What are they trying to sell me and why?” More often than not, it comes down to simply following the money. These cleverly created sales pitches are designed to elevate your fears or appeal to our greed. Increased knowledge protects you from being taken as a victim.
The Tyber Lustig Foundation is committed to providing content to encourage people to take on their personal responsibility by training themselves to become better self-thinkers.
