TGIM: Think Again

Welcome back to Thank God It’s Monday! Today is April 1st, also known as April Fool’s Day. Most people are keen to second-guess the preposterous news headlines and social media posts for the holiday. The schemes that seem too good to be true usually turn out to be just that. People tend to hone their critical thinking skills for the special occasion.
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tl;dr April Fool’s Day is the one day of the year people second guess what they read to consider if it’s true. For the other 364 days (or 365) people act like the news and the internet are peer-reviewed papers. Use those same critical thinking skills you use today on all other days to consider what’s true.​
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You might’ve seen one or two headlines today and thought “Oh my goodness!” or “No way!” only to realize it is, in fact, April 1st. That gut feeling when you questioned what the heck you just read is critical thinking. A skill that is severely lacking in the general population these days.

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Critical thinking is a difficult skill to teach and just as difficult to hone. I give teachers credit for trying to build this skill in young kids because anyone can teach someone how to memorize, but it takes real patience and practice to teach someone how to think. Even adults seem to be profoundly lacking this skill and take everything at face value.
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Why is it important to be able to think critically?
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I mean, if you’re okay with skating by in life I guess it’s not necessary. But if you want to learn and continue to grow, then critical thinking helps us form new neural connections in our brains, gain a deeper understanding of how the world works, and examine our own biases. It allows us to tackle unfamiliar situations with problem solving. Overall, critical thinking helps us develop us humans, it’s one of our superpowers.
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Now the second part of this newsletter is not going to be that lecture from our elementary-school teachers lecturing us on how we have to memorize the times tables because we won’t always have a calculator in our pockets (jokes on them now). But our society is constantly moving towards increased ease of access and decreased strain (ie amazon prime, door dash, etc). And people succumb to the technological advances because we’re human, and we like to follow the path of least resistance.

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But we need to take the path less trodden and critically think if we want to be successful in our jobs, in our relationships, and truly squeeze every drop of value out of our lives (not to be dramatic). Learning how to question what we see on the news or a belief we’ve held as truth helps us clarify our understanding of the world and of ourselves.
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So how do we build this skill of critical thinking?

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Well that my friends is not so easy because we are wired to take the path of least resistance, and critical thinking is an uphill battle. Again, it’s totally fine if you’re not willing to put that work in, but if you want the most out of life it’s going to be necessary.

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Start by questioning what you hold as “true.” Begin with something small like the sky is blue. Maybe to somebody who is colorblind it looks differently. Or maybe we all see blue slightly differently and how can we really know if what we all see is the same? Blue is really a measure of wavelength, and what does that even mean to be able to see wavelength? Physics and I were not friends so I’ll leave it at that.
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But you get the gist.
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After that exercise, you can practice second-guessing more fundamental beliefs you might have like political party beliefs, how you think gender roles should behave in the workforce, religious stereotypes… you know, the big stuff. Something that you know to be “true” may not be the same “truth” to others, and being able to critically think will allow you to have a constructive conversation instead of working up a temper.
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If that’s too much for you to start, you can try practicing asking why. Whatever you read on a news headline that day ask why. Any instagram post you see ask why. Sometimes it may lead you to a dead end. Other times you may notice you are making assumptions and need to do some more research on the topic first. If your search leads you to learning something new, you’ve successfully thought critically.
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So if you put on a pair of skeptical lenses today for April Fools, try to wear them around more often. Notice what thoughts cross your mind when you look at it with a healthy dose of disbelief. You may unlearn and relearn some surprising things. But it’s only in your own power to do, no one else can think critically for you.
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If you found some value in this, please share it with a friend you think would enjoy it! And let me know if you’d like to be added to get TGIM. Or visit https://walshwellness.weebly.com/ for older editions and if you’d like to subscribe.

This week my podcast recommendation is from Science Vs. “Dreams: What Could They Mean?” This is not my usual recommendation but this podcast is the best! Entertaining, educating, and evidence-based, what more could you ask for? The new season has episodes about Ozempic, anti-aging, dreams, and intermittent fasting so far so we know it’s going to be a good season. I thought dreams might be an interesting listen for you all.
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With that, next time you catch yourself saying (or thinking) “I think,” take a second to reconsider. What would critically thinking look like in that situation? Let me know what you find.
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Until next time,

Shannon