Rethinking thinking

If you guys were asked if you knew how to think, I'm assuming most of you would say yes. After all, how do we even function if we don't know how to think? However, in David Foster Wallace's speech "This is Water", one's own natural thinking is challenged. He argues that thinking isn't "really about the capacity to think, but rather the choice of what to think about". While I do agree with most of his points about changing the way you think to make a positive impact on the world, some of the stuff he calls for is hard to immediately switch to. 

I decided to take some of his advice and do some thinking of my own. I tried thinking about everything around me from my conure's point of view. This may not be exactly what Wallace was trying to get at, but it did teach me some pretty new things. For example, an everyday sound like the fridge door closing could seem like a thunderclap to a small bird, or a small foam ball kicked around the house could be the ball from Indiana Jones rolling down. It really made me realize how different something may seem to someone else, not necessarily just a bird.

While it may seem a bit silly to some of you, I really suggest everyone try it, even if only for a minute. At the very least, it will freshen up your perspective of the world and make you reevaluate and appreciate smaller things more.