You are What You Think? 

Scientists and experts, from antiquity until the present day, have been investigating the link between thought and behavior. It seems that our thought, including feelings and attitudes, influences our action and wellbeing. Perhaps, we can control our lives by controlling our thoughts. Positive thinking is a necessary condition for a better quality of life.

Note: This page has been designed primarily for the purpose of English language learning and teaching.

Before Reading:

One way to tap on your schema is to ask yourself some questions:

1. What normally happens to us when we think positively?

2. What happens when we think negatively?

3. Can thoughts become things?

4. Is thinking (thought) an action?

5. What should we do to live a happier life?

                       You are What You Think

BY  Richard W. Paul and Elder, Linda 

You are what you think. Whatever you are doing, whatever you feel, whatever you want --- all are determined by the quality of your thinking. If your thinking is unrealistic, your thinking will lead to many disappointments. If your thinking is overly pessimistic, it will deny you due to recognition of the many things in which you should properly rejoice.

Test this idea for yourself. Identify some examples of your strongest feelings or emotions. Then identify the thinking that is correlated with those examples. For example, if you feel excited about going to work, it is because you think that positive things will happen to you while you are at work, or that you will be able to accomplish important tasks. If you dread going to work, it is because you think it will be a negative experience.

In a similar way, if the quality of your life is not what you wish it to be, it is probably because it is tied to the way you think about your life. If you think about it positively, you will feel positive about it. If you think about it negatively, you will feel negative about it.

For example, suppose you recently accepted a job in a new city. You accepted said job because you

had the view that you were ready for a change, that you want to experience living in a different place, that you wanted to find a new set of friends --- in short, in many ways you wanted to start a new life.

And let’s suppose that your expectations of what would happen when you took the new job did not come to fruition. If this were the thrust of your thinking, you would now feel disappointed and maybe even frustrated (depending on how negative your experience has been interpreted by your thinking).

For most people, most of their thinking is subconscious, that is, never explicitly put into words. For example, most people who think negatively would not say of themselves, “I have chosen to think about myself and my experience in largely negative terms. I prefer to be as unhappy as I can be.”

The problem is that when you are not aware of your thinking you have no chance of “correcting” it. When thinking is subconscious, you are in no position to see any problems in it. And, if you don’t see any problems in it, you won’t be motivated to change it.

The truth is that since few people realize the powerful role that thinking plays in their lives, few gain significant command of their thinking. And, therefore, most people are in many ways “victims” of their own thinking, harmed rather than helped by it. Most people are their own worst enemy. Their thinking is a continual source of problems, preventing them from recognizing opportunities, keeping them from exerting energy where it will do the most good, poisoning relationships, and leading them down blind alleys.

After Reading

1. What’s the main idea of this passage?

2. Why do the authors say that most people are the victims of their own thinking?

3. What’s the difference between subconscious and explicit thinking? What is the authors’ opinion on explicit thinking?

4. What does the word “blind alleys” mean?

5. What does the expression “If you dread going to work…” mean?

6. Do you like the idea expressed in this passage? Why?/Why not?

7. What do you think are some flaws (weaknesses) in the assertion --- you are what you think?

Source: Source: Richard W. Paul and Linda Elder (2002). Critical Thinking. New York: Prentice

Hal