The Case for an Orderly Mind

At a certain age most children are taught how to tidy their bedroom and the benefits are obvious. Things are stored where they should be making them easier to find and a sense of order and calm is established.

Most importantly, the child realises that they have control over their environment and are not dependent on others to manipulate it for them.?

The mind is no different.

When students are taught how to ‘take charge’ of their thinking processes and optimise the tools responsible, their quality of life improves.

In the context of academic performance, an orderly mind means that information is more accurately taken in and stored making it easier to retrieve and manipulate.

But the benefits don’t stop with academics - anxious thinking,goal setting and every other area of life is enhanced. Meditation is great for this, but explicit teaching of these skills is also needed to ensure they are generalised to every context.

How to do it?

Define the endpoint: A good working definition is - ‘I choose what, when, and how to think, I am in control of my thought processes and I know how to optimise the equipment that drives them'.

The alternative is where much of the world lives. Rather than thinking intentionally, they are constantly buffeted by a never ending stream of mental reactions to stimuli around them and the emotional states that ensue. Even worse, many are predisposed to going down the well worn rabbit hole of the least helpful of these. Any 'intentional' thinking is diluted by constant mental 'background noise', the suppressing of which comes at the expense of cognitive clarity, accuracy and speed.

?Model the Process: When students see and hear adults in their lives model the use (and non-use) of intentional thinking, they are reminded that these skills are applicable to all areas of life. And that progress in their fluent use is incremental – nobody gets it right straight away, but with practice the mind becomes clear and can be controlled at will. The spotlight of focused attention, considered clarity of accurate analysis, open space of creativity and rejuvenating power of complete mental rest are all mine to direct as I choose.

?Examples and Non-Examples: There is no lack of reference points for both. Novak Djokovic and Sam Kerr are great examples – even under pressure negative thoughts are unable to find any traction because the neural pathways that envisage a positive outcome are so well travelled (the same process as Retrieval Practice). This is not a delusional ‘everything will work out’ mindset. It is the power of intentional thought creating an emotional state that motivates and enables persistent effort and refining of skills.

?Practice with Feedback: The explicit practice of intentional thinking is critical. Teaching students about different brain modes is one example - Focused and Default modes in particular - and applying both in an intentional way can be easily built into most lessons (and subsequent study sessions).

Teaching a student to use structured, intentional thinking processes to manage an issue like test anxiety is equally empowering and is at the core of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. What tends to be left out of most CBT sessions however is the brain science that informs the process - understanding how the new neural ‘trench’ that is dug with intentional, repeated thought precludes the ‘needle’ of anxious thinking dropping back into the old groove.

At a time when so much of the educational landscape is dominated by the noise of competing short term political and pedagogical narratives, the case for teaching students how to think with clarity is only enhanced.

? www.potentiamentis.com