You know the phrase “having second thoughts”? Well, turns out these changes of mind aren’t enough for people like us. We need to have a whole new way of thinking just to get on in the world.
We need to follow a special process – one that lets us break down our world in to manageable chunks, ruminate on them, and then examine these ruminations.
- First Thoughts = this is your immediate response to input, stimulus or a change in cognition. Reactive and raw, automatic and unapologetically judgmental.
- Second Thoughts = this is what you think about the input, and your response. This is where most people live. Cognizant of their own awareness, but unaware of their ability to shape it. Still just reacting to the world.
- Third Thoughts = this is what you think about what you’re thinking. Is this response okay in context? Am I comfortable with this situation. It is the most helpful thing you can ever think, and unfortunately it is rare.
Part of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), mindfulness and a range of bipolar management strategies is the recognition of an episode before it begins.
For me, this involves taking a moment to examine not just what I’m thinking, but also why I’m thinking it and how that thought then impacts on everything else.
I stare into space a lot. But I’m working on it.
And if other people could just manage to try it once in a while, I have no doubt we’d be living in a nicer world.