PACKING MIND SENSIBLY

The most interesting interdisciplinary conversations are held with the self. These conversations keep our mind vibrant. Inside the mind both idle gossip and cerebral discussions are practiced. How we conduct our talks with ourselves is therefore important. We ask ourselves many interesting as well as foolish questions. We build castles in the air. We put foundations under these castles. We pack our minds sensibly and otherwise. Our mind determines the size of our world. We often send our mind on a brief vacation. Minds that are on short vacation often yield very useful results. It is said that brain has “use it or lose it” approach to neurological maintenance.

Our brain not only thinks, it constantly keeps a tab on how we think. Our metacognitive abilities help us to reconcile with the fact that we can be biased and, therefore, can go wrong. Our metacognitive abilities give us an opportunity to avoid blunders. Our brain is always eager to check if the progress of our pursuit is satisfactory or not. It takes the path to reach a goal, and at the same time keeps handy another follow-up path, lest the earlier path fails to take us to the destination. Because of this follow-up thought, we can’t avoid what we want to avoid. This follow-up thought is useful in many situations. It helps us, not only to avoid errors, but also to modulate the mind.

Decision making is a complex process. Different situations need different kinds of decisions. Some rely on reason, and some on emotion. The ‘art of self-overhearing’, some psychologists believe, is one way to make good decisions. This ‘art’ requires one’s willingness to engage in introspection when one is confronted with an uncertain situation. Such situations don’t give enough time for ‘doing maths’. Decisions in such situations depend upon one’s emotions, instincts, and mental short-cuts. People, who are more rational, don’t perceive emotion less, they just regulate it better, believe some psychologists.

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