OWN YOUR MIND

Episode 1:  Understanding your Reasoning

According to Wikipedia; Reason is the capacity for consciously making sense of things, establishing and verifying facts, applying logic and changing or justifying practices and beliefs based on new or existing information.

Essentially, reason is the scale upon which we weigh the substantiality and significance of ideas, situations and events especially as they affect us.

As humans, our ability to reason is one of the major characteristics that distinguishes us from animals, unlike animals we think before we make any decision, even before we believe anything we are told, we apply reason.

There are different forms of reasoning like abductive reasoning, intuitive reasoning, deductive reasoning and inductive reasoning to mention a few, but we would not be looking into all those, as this article seeks to help you understand (by yourself) how your reasoning affects your state of mind and not to teach you how you ought to reason or what type of reasoning is the best.

So in this episode of 'Own Your Mind', we would be looking at how you can objectively get more control over your reasoning and effectively manage the way it affects your decisions and state of mind generally.

Although all humans have the ability to reason, no two people in the world reason exactly alike thanks to our genes, our unique experiences and natural preferences.

Also the way we reason influences the  decisions we make, which inadvertently  leaves emotional residues that either strengthen or weaken our psychological and mental interface.

In other words, every decision we have ever made (based on our reasoning) leaves either positive or negative marks on our minds.

We are not just talking about how the decisions we make affect our lives (or various aspects of our lives), but how they affect our minds specifically.

We make decisions based on how we reason, and these decisions affect our lives one way or the other. And sometimes  the effects of these decisions on our lives (or various aspects of it) are immediate and readily noticeable, but the 'emotional dividends' that these effects bring back on our minds are often subtle and not instantly recognizable until they have accumulated significantly.

 For instance, when we make a decision and the outcome is favorable (a noticeable effect of that decision), there is a residue of positive emotions on our minds, but when the outcome is not favorable, (also a noticeable effect of the decision), there is a residue of negative emotions on our minds.

When positive emotional residues accumulate, our minds become sounder and healthier but if the negative emotional residues accumulate, our psychological interface become weaker and our minds become unhealthy over time.

 Most times, before we make  decisions we think about them, we evaluate the pros and cons, we try to predict the outcome of those decisions based on the information available to us so that we can get the best out of whatever situation we find ourselves, and that is what reasoning is about.

There are so many factors that influence the way we reason, and over time these factors either evolve or devolve. From social identities to acquired knowledge, beliefs and experiences, just to mention a few, the factor(s) that define our reasoning change over time either by building on itself (or themselves) or by shedding  off itself (or themselves).

However there's always a primal factor (which houses other factors) and it is always present, and it revolves around our fundamental proclivities which is inadvertently defined by our genes and natural preferences.

So there could be several  factors influencing the way we make decisions, but ultimately it is our fundamental proclivities that make us embrace some factors more than the others (either consciously or subconsciously), which in turn play significant roles in our decision making process and consequently affect our state of mind.

So one important way of understanding your reasoning is by sitting down (yes! literally sitting down) and trying to know what your fundamental proclivities are. Those things that you know you didn't copy from someone else, those things you do without even thinking or planning, those things you didn't learn to do on TV or anywhere else, those things you didn't 'inherit' from your parents, those things that no one convinced (or confused) you to like, those things that even you cannot explain why you like them (or always want to do them), those things you don't even have  names for. Yeah!! those things (everyone has got them). If you can objectively point them out by yourself (if possible write them out) then you are one step closer to understanding your reasoning!

After pointing out those fundamental proclivities, another step to take is to know the factors that influence your reasoning the most and which of your fundamental proclivities make you embrace these factors more than others. For instance a person's reasoning could be influenced significantly by religious beliefs because the person is fundamentally conservative and naturally appreciates morality. While another person's reasoning could be influenced significantly by pop culture because the person is fundamentally liberal and adventurous. And another person's could be influenced significantly by science simply because the person is fundamentally curious and skeptical. If you can objectively point out the factor(s) that influence(s) your reasoning the most, then you are another step closer to understanding your reasoning!

The next step to take after knowing what factor(s) influence(s) your reasoning the most is to objectively look back on decisions you have made (or been making) under the influence of those factors. Look at how those decisions have been beneficial to your mind  and/or how they have been detrimental to your mind.

 Ask yourself, could the outcome of your decisions have been more favorable (both emotionally and practically) if you had reasoned under the influence of an entirely different factor of reasoning apart from the one stemming from your fundamental proclivities?

 Also ask yourself; are you capable of allowing yourself to reason under the influence of other factors outside your fundamental proclivities?, and if you are, which other factors outside your fundamental proclivities do you think would be more beneficial to you as an individual?

Conclusively, take some time to ask yourself these questions and objectively answer them, then based on whatever you deduce, apply to your mind what suits you the most!!

And never forget this;
"It's your mind, you alone are in charge of it!"