Posts Tagged thinking

Our Beliefs and the Outside World

We’re never gonna win the world
We’re never gonna stop the war
We’re never gonna beat this
If belief is what we’re fighting for
~ From John Mayer’s ‘Belief’

It is human nature, we think in terms of what we are exposed to or what are familiar with in our surroundings. Our thinking and the way we behave is greatly influenced by how we grew up – how we were raised as a kid.

The childhood is when most of our beliefs are formed, when we watch others and try to figure out what is the accepted norm – what is right and what is wrong. As we watch the world around us day after day, our beliefs firm up over time. We start to make our own mind and our own opinion about everything around us.

“Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.” said Albert Einstein. By the time we enter our adulthood, we already have our own beliefs about the world around us.

Just think about it:

  • Our political and social views are always influenced by the community we live in and by our own social circle. Don’t confuse this with your Face Book or Twitter network – there is a real world out there;  just look outside the window. :)
  • We always follow the same religion as our parents; our religious beliefs are greatly influenced by our family and the religious preaching while growing up.

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Do you ‘think’ in your mother tongue?

NRI Tips: The ‘unconscious adaption’ to the foreign culture and language.

When the mind is thinking it is talking to itself. ~ Plato

sxc_man_thinkingI talk to myself all the times, I always have. Bigger the dilemma, more I talk; this is also another way of my brainstorming and mulling over new ideas.

Be it a thinking out loud or in whispers or in silence, thinking is part of being human. Thinking and logic is what separates us from the animals. We all think, it is a part of our problem solving nature.

For those living overseas or away from the place of your childhood, do you ‘think’ in your mother tongue or the adopted foreign/new language?

Back home in India, my train of thought was always in my mother tongue. It was natural; speaking the same language as my brain, thinking something and then saying it loud during the conversation. It was automatic -without noticeable delays.

Ane then, I came to America. :)

When I first came here, I recall that I continued to think in my mother tongue, even when talking to my American colleagues - in a meeting at work or any other social settings. I used to think in my Indian language, and then translate my thoughts it into English for the verbal exchange. At times it slowed me down; It was no longer automatic. I used to re-phrase a lot. This is how it was; I never thought it would change much.

However, lately I find myself thinking in English more and more often. Read the rest of this entry »

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