How do you think effectively?

While sitting on the couch, curled up under a blanket with a hot coffee in my hand I had the privileged of  reading some very insightful comments referencing my last post about Amelia Rivera.  It was such a good moment... The girls were playing so sweetly with their little animals and the boys were having quite the Madden battle on Xbox and I felt... good, worthy.  I stopped for a moment to reflect and realized that I was feeling so fulfilled because I was thinking.  I was feeling intellectually engaged while still being here.. giving my kids everything they needed!  I was using my brain in a way that doesn't happen all too often any more... I then began to feel a bit pathetic.

Don't get me wrong... I have a some really wonderful, very intelligent friends, they are so engaging and self affirming but it always leaves me craving more from them.  It was such an odd realization... I mean we are all thinking, constantly (well, maybe some more than others) but this was different, I wasn't thinking through worry as I have been for years.  This was the higher order thinking that I've so been missing and don't get nearly enough of... maybe I was on to something with this blog.  Still feeling a bit pathetic though... ;)

Don't get me wrong I love being home with the kids, honestly, I would never change a thing, but I use to feel smart.  I knew things right off the top of my head... you know, not things like what to make for dinner or how to sooth a tantruming preschooler.  Now, I find myself coming up with pretty intelligent thoughts and then I seem to struggle through the conversation to find the right words.  I know what I want to say, the thoughts are still there, it's the execution that's lacking.  This is why I've been so reluctant to go back to school... again.  On one hand I am so excited about the prospect of starting something new... something I've wanted, but I'm dreading it all the same.

I fear my brain turned to mush!

Then it dawned on me... why starting the blog seemed to fit... yes, partly because my husband suggested it and I am never one to back down from a challenge (ever) but mostly because I miss thinking.  I am sure that I've learned many things in the past 7.5 years but I've lost any verbal acuity.  Writing is a bit of a struggle too... but that's possibly due to the million interruptions I get during a single paragraph!  Without an effective thought process I find myself struggling in many settings.  I guess the old "use it or lose it" adage works here too.

Check this out...

The benefits of developing thinking ability are manifold. By developing one's thinking skills one can make achievements; can become successful; can shine in social life; can attain emotional, social and economic maturity and so on. By developing one's thinking abilities it is possible to transform one's aggressive tendencies, bad temper and other negative tendencies creatively and constructively. It has been found by Dr.Edward de Bono that when school students were taught to think effectively, their ill-temper and aggressive tendencies reduced significantly. Clinical Psychologists have also found that those who have neuroses are poor thinkers compared to normals. Neurotics scored significantly lower scores in decision making, problem solving and creative thinking. Interestingly, when neurotics were taught to think effectively, they showed a remarkable reduction in their neurosis. 

I don't think I'm aggressive but I can certainly have a bad temper... and the crazy neuroses!  So, I need to start thinking, effectively!  If only it were that easy!  

Please tell me I am not the only one that feels this way sometimes!?!  

Still feeling a bit pathetic but if you know me you know a plan can make just about anything right in my world.