What Are People Thinking?

This question is a phrase typically use in judgment of the behavior of others. It was my reaction 33-years ago to my then seven-year old son when nearly electrocuted himself one night while conducting an unsupervised and self-devised experiment designed to relieve his bedtime boredom. It involved inserting objects into the electrical socket by his bed – and as I ran through the darkened house to check on him – thankfully to find him doe-eyed by safe, “what were you thinking?” flew out of my mouth like it was shot from a gun. 

This was just one of what felt like a million thought racing through my brain as I realized what had just caused the circuit breakers to trip – and my son to holler WOW at the top of his lungs. Any parent understands that young children tend to keep our minds overactive with thoughts that range from concerns and worries to endearing thoughts as we marvel at their innocence, beauty and creative intelligence, to rage when they misbehave.

Your brain is non-stop thought generator. Whether they total the 60,000 to 70,000 thoughts often cited from research – or just 20,000 as others suggest – it is literally mind-boggling.

Most of these thoughts are repetitive and relatively benign impulses of the human operating system and are relatively mindless. They cause us to drift through our days – snacking on chips, scratching our noses or simply directing our attention to external stimulus at any given moment.

The problem with thinking is that most of time our thoughts are either random or reactive. Most people, it seems, spend little time with deliberate and structured thoughts. Does it seem odd that we consider problem-solving a skill? Aren’t we all hard-wired to solve problems? It is, after all, a basic component of survival. Making matters worse, we spend most of our problem-solving resources – fixing the problems we have ourselves created.

Perhaps we create some of these problems purely as a means of developing the more critical thinking ability required of higher-function tasks. Isn’t this how we are taught math and science? We invent problems in order to solve them. And, then, at a certain level we have the mental prowess to think deeply and ponder the mysteries of life around us. You hone your sense of curiosity and explore life in search of greater understanding and a sense of purpose around improving things where you can – or must.

Yet, in a larger sense, people create problems out of carelessness or mindlessness. Hence, the question, what are people thinking? 

Dr. Lee Thayer – who has written a great deal about thinking and how we utilize the capacity of the human mind –notes that it is very different than how we engage our brains. He points out that the brain is an organ that serves certain critical functions essential to life. It is the source of the central nervous system and controls instinctive behaviors, bodily functions, reproduction, basic fight or flight and our motility.

All these essential functions are literally hard-wired. But how we think is more of an amorphous experience – one without wires: our thoughts are the product of the mind. We cannot detect the mind within our brains. It has no physical mass or any definable characteristics. It exists because our minds allow us to believe so.

Our brains may enable the nerves power our five sense – that provide the raw data about what we experience through what we hear, smell, taste, see and tactilely feel, but it is our minds that informs us as to how we feel about all we experience. And how we feel about things are a product of our values and beliefs. Our brains may make us alive and sentient – but it your mind that makes us uniquely human and makes you uniquely you.

The mind is a meaning-making machine that enables you to interpret the world around you – and form your beliefs around what you experience.

Thayer would also say that thinking is hard work. We need to train our minds to do it well. Compare it to throwing a ball. Most normally developing toddlers figure out how to throw objects beginning at around 18-months of age. Compare that to how a Major League pitcher throws a baseball. Thinking is the same way. Most people can think (and behave) like a toddler – but it takes work to be a major-league thinker. Becoming a virtuoso at anything requires dedication, practice and a determination to be exceptional – and getting there requires connecting to a sense of purpose.

This is where being a leader comes into play. As a leader you cannot make people think – but you can give them something worth thinking about.

Exceptional leaders help others find inspiration by offering-up a great and worthy cause that connects to your own sense of purpose. They show you what’s possible and allow you think about whether it is necessary. This is how leaders cultivate competence and performance. When people connect what is possible to what they believe is necessary they perform to their best ability. Great leaders illuminate a shared sense of destiny – and enables people to think of their own efforts and part of a larger and more significant purpose than serving just their own needs and interests. This is the source of conscientiousness that draws-out your grit and causes you to get comfortable being uncomfortable; to push your personal boundaries and expand your capacity to perform.

It is possible to perform well without thinking. In fact, it is absolutely necessary to your survival. The adrenaline that courses through your body – and surges in the presence of perceived danger – actually short-circuits your thinking to limit your decisions and focus every bit of your available energy to meet that threat and survive. While essential, this is not a sustainable condition. Adrenaline exhausts you – right down to a cellular level.

Mindfulness is sustainable; it is ultimately more valuable resource than adrenaline. Many high-achievers choose to thrive off their adrenaline. It becomes an addiction and a way of life.

But while getting “pumped-up” before lifting a tree-limb off a wounded child may change the course of a life – improving your capacity to really think can ultimately change the course of society and create a better world.

Being mindful allows you to access the more creative thinking we are all quite capable of. It is the means to focusing your thinking- and then your energies on accomplishing what matters most.

Deep thinking nourishes the soul like deep breathing nourishes the body. Thoughts can be like oxygen that brings life-generating energy to the body. Or thoughts can be like a poisonous gas that chokes the life out of you. The practice of mindfulness not only creates the mental oxygen you need – it helps you detoxify your mind and enhances the resourcefulness and resilience of your thinking.

How you think – ultimately defines who you are, and who you are defines what you do and what you can accomplish.

So, what are you thinking?

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