A steady diet of outrage and despair doesn’t just darken our mood; it diminishes our capacity to think.
I’ve been absorbing reports of the barbarism we’re witnessing in the Middle East. If you believe that people can only be oppressors or victims, you’re not just mistaken; you’ve been hoodwinked. Believing that conflicts are defined solely by the positions people take means you’re unwittingly participating in the wrong game.
Like a toddler’s tantrum, entertaining and sharing angry thoughts can temporarily dampen our fury. However, that doesn’t make these thoughts legitimate. Our brains prefer, and perhaps even need, ways to simplify reality. For our primitive ancestors, the brain’s job was akin to taking a daily multiple-choice exam about the world:
Which of the following is true about what I’m noticing?
A) It’s food; I should eat it.
B) It thinks I’m food; I should run.
C) It smells nice; I should have sex with it.
D) None of the above; I’ll take a nap.
Today, our world requires us to get comfortable with thinking about things that are not simple. Our situations are more akin to answering essay questions. Faced with a complex, ambiguous prompt, we’re required to create a well-reasoned response.
If your mind is getting flabby, here are a few simple exercises to build stamina for complexity and uncertainty:
- Learn about Zen kōans and meditate on one.
- Enter conversations about problems with the intention to discover rather than influence.
- Change a simple habit to become more mindful of all the things we do without thinking (e.g., switch the order in which you put on your shoes).
- Explain your opinion to an 8-year-old. Putting something you believe into simple language requires clarity of thought and openness to unbiased questions.
- Check out a couple of Unstuck Minds’ Blog Posts about building a fitness regimen for your mind: The Unstuck Mind and How are you Thinking Today.
When it comes to the calamities buffeting our attention, I’m not worried about which side is right. I’m worried about our impoverished ability to think things through. If we insist on oversimplifying the world, we’ll eventually view everyone as either a winner or a loser, an ‘us’ or a ‘them.’
Jay G. Cone is the author of The Surprising Power of Not Knowing What to Do; Discovering Creativity and Compassion in a Time of Chaos. He is the co-founder of Unstuck Minds.
This is short, thoughtful, poignant, funny, and helpful. A two minute read that could save you hours of fury, anger, and rage….