Great minds think alike

It has been said that great minds think alike, but so do idiots.  I hope I spend more time with the former camp and not the latter.  I suspect, depending on the category, I could fit nicely in either.  

Having the ability to use our brains to reason, consider, feel, love, and process the world we live in is one of our greatest gifts.  Our cognitive abilities establish us at the top of the food chain.  We don’t act like cows in a thunderstorm, following each other to hide under the closest tree.  We can think about what is best and even choose a different path than those around us.  Said differently, normally we don’t just do, we think and then we do.  At least we should.

Allowing our minds to go beyond the mundane task of living, we are free to explore whatever interests us, allows us to grow, makes things better for us and those around us, or amuses us.  Obviously, not all thinking is deep.  Nor should it be.  I can get lost in my head staring at my dog and wondering what he must be thinking as he focuses so thoughtfully on me.  Truth is, I doubt JB is considering anything.  He is likely just studying me to see if I am going to give him some sign that I saved a piece of bacon from breakfast and intend to slip it to him when no one notices.  My take, there’s nothing wrong with my mindless exercise of imagining profound thoughts flowing from a 50-pound basset hound.  

In fact, I couldn’t bear the idea that I had to spend all my time in deep thought trying to solve a problem, or considering what is next, or what someone meant when they said I’m not as big an asshole as I used to be.  It would be exhausting to be so serious.  

By the same token, we could all benefit from time spent freely thinking big thoughts.  And for that matter, wouldn’t it be nice if we could practice a little more critical thinking.  If you ask Wikipedia to define critical thinking it concludes, “Critical thinking is the analysis of available facts, evidence, observations, and arguments in order to form a judgement by the application of rational, skeptical, and unbiased analyses and evaluation.”  Sounds about right to me.  In truth, the world could use more critical thinking and lot less cow following.  

This blog isn’t about me sharing my opinion.  No one cares about my views, and I am not even sure I want to pretend to know much of anything.  My intent is to write about what catches my attention or is on my mind.  I promise to be apolitical and so this will not become one more blog trying to influence how you think.  I don’t care what you think, I would just hope you do it more.  

I put no limits on what I may write about.  There isn’t a theme.  My thoughts will at times seem random.  My life feels random, only fair my thoughts follow that path. 

First admission, I said I am not political, and I’m not.  But don’t be surprised if I stumble into some vein of thinking around politics.  If I do, it will mean one party, or the other, or both, have done something stupid or acted in a way that couldn’t help but lead to me pondering their actions.  To that end, I don’t mind if you don’t agree with my thoughts.  I understand my musings may be totally off base or inconsistent with how you see the world.  Remember, I am just thinking out loud.  I am not teaching or preaching.  I will leave that to people who spend more time being confident of all they say.  We all know that person, sometimes right, always certain.  I am comfortable accepting that no one knows everything.  It’s impossible and it would be so boring.  

Here's an interesting thought, what if you could spend time in your day exploring a new idea, or asking yourself “why in the world does my friend believe that?”  Not in a judgmental way, but rather seeking to better understand their view.  Or if some small part of the day included a moment to step away from life and think about stuff?  What I am proposing is different than the standard recommendation.  There are plenty of books and advice columns telling you the power of meditation and prayer.  I have no doubt about the wisdom of both.  The problem for me is I fall asleep when I meditate, and I think I sound stupid praying. 

What I am talking about is a slice of your day when you peacefully and curiously think about something.  It doesn’t matter what it is, nor how long you do it.  It is enough if it brings you peace, or joy, or emotion, or enhances your knowledge, or just gets you to stop dwelling in the misery of your day.     

I hope in some small way this blog stimulates you to expand your daily thinking.  If not about the subject I am pontificating about, maybe a topic that came to mind during your few minutes reading my couple thousand words.  

It would be a plus if this brings you laughter, causes you to step back and reconsider something, reminds you of a warm memory from your past, or gives you hope for something to come.  Time will tell if my peculiar twice-a-week blog comes anywhere close to entertaining you enough that it accomplishes anything.  I will do my best.

One final thing.  I mentioned my views might not resonate with you.  It could be worse than that.  You may find occasional grammatical errors.  You should expect this to happen.  I went to the University of Tennessee.  It can be a struggle.     

My plan is to write two posts a week.  That should adequately capture the various topics that come to mind and may be interesting to unpack.  I am excited about this opportunity.  Now I can put words to a phrase I have come to love, “I Was Just Thinking.”

Onward!