We all have heard someone say, perhaps even ourselves, “That’s not the way I think” or possibly, “I just can’t understand it any other way.”
Pastor Glenn McIntosh at the Renaissance Unity Church in Warren, Michigan made a thoughtful point concerning our ability to think. Usually, as we get older and our “black box” (brain) is overflowing with information, we rely on past experiences to react to new situations. The typical response is, “That’s the way I have always thought about it.” In a group or business situation, the response is, ”That’s how we have always done business here.” The evaluation of these responses hinges on if the old way of thinking is doing us or others any good?
Hmm? Is it any wonder that prejudice or pre-judgment exists?
If our black box is full and used to processing new situations with the old experiences, then how can change come about? Pastor Glenn proposes that we think before we think. In other words, before we react with the same time-worn response, we need to evaluate what our thoughts have been and try to change them. Perhaps we should make some space in our brains by throwing out the old and bringing in the new, the different. Perhaps we should challenge ourselves with more of,” What was I thinking?” before acting or saying.
No one said it would be easy. Years of using the same criteria will take an effort to change. An American, bi-racial actress is now part of the English royalty. What in the world? Don’t you think it took a huge amount of re-thinking to make room in the Royals’ brains to accept her? I am sure you can think of many times in your lives that you had to readjust your thinking to accommodate a new reality.
Slogans such as “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” need to be replaced by “You are never too old to learn.” Certainly, the use of the word “thunk” in the title is different than the proper use of the word “thought.” “Thunk” should be our new catchword to replace the word “think” to remind ourselves of a new way of thinking . . . or is it “thunking”?
