Daily Times

The human mind is a mysterious entity. It helps us contemplate over the actions we need to take in the present, assists us in analysing our past decisions and supports us in planning our future.

The mind is the body’s powerhouse because of its cerebral capabilities such as observation, alertness, awareness, judgment, decision-making, consciousness, cognisance, memory, retention, and recollection. As we face challenges and experiences, and solve problems about facts and norms of the world, our thoughts broaden our mind whereby evolving itself and our character. The thought — although part of the mind’s greater construct — also evolves with time. In my opinion, a human thought evolves through the following three ways: instruction, information, and intuition.

When growing up, a child receives all the do’s and don’ts — which are instructions — from elders. Moreover, the teachers at kindergarten and elementary school provide basic instructions to the child, including how to talk and interact with people, how and why to respect elders and to understand the difference between right and wrong.

Becoming honest, confident and polite also becomes a part of these set of instructions a child receives at home and from school. And if appropriately taught, these traits etch with children, leading them to become a mature, responsible adult. The instruction phase, however, begins even before a child starts schooling, as the mother’s lap is the most important institute for a child.

Our intuition is formed by the amalgamation of two aspects. One is when divine thoughts guide us towards the right path and second are the instantaneous and split-second decision-making skills we develop as we strengthen our information base with our experience and observation

The human thought evolves through experience. The child develops the instrument of curiosity as he moves towards the teenage hood. Life and the world become a place to explore and discover as life’s concept, theory, and practice create a sense of wonder in the child’s mind. Through the inquisitiveness of learning about life, the child begins to experience life as it happens. Children become confident when they experience life in the smallest of moments such as when they ride a two-wheel bicycle for the first time, when they stay up late past their usual bedtime, or when they travel for the first time without their parents.

Even a simple conversation with classmates at school brings to fore in the child’s mind new information. However, children learn more by practically involving themselves in action, and hence the knowledge gained through such experience leads to the creation of first-hand information and further develops their thought.

Children, when performing casual activities such as playing cricket, ironing clothes under adult supervision, tying shoelaces or combing hair, learn and explore the basics of life that add to their experience. Furthermore, experience and observation instil new learnings in the child’s mind that evolve their personality and mind. Most of the information children acquire — during their kindergarten and primary schooling — is through observation as they eagerly mimic their parents’ and sibling’s actions.

As the child grows into a teenager and later enters adulthood, the build-up of these experiences translates into guiding pillars he/she uses when evaluating the present or predicting the future. Have you ever wondered why our parents’ and elder’s estimations, predictions, and approximations are similar to the actual outcome?

It is because their experiences are more than ours are, and their acquired and learned information is greater and more accurate than the one we possess. The information phase of a person is part of the lifelong learning process and remains active throughout life.

During the information phase, as we learn through experience, acquire evidence, and build knowledge during the information phase, we gain intellectual insights — as spontaneous thoughts through conscious thinking or from our subconscious — to predict outcomes of our actions and foresee the future. This is what we call intuition. Because of intuition, we develop the aptitude and ability to feel people’s emotions, sentiments, and intentions when meeting them for the first time and foretell their thoughts and actions by witnessing their nonverbal gestures.

Once we are able to understand our thoughts, accept life as it happens and let the learning seep inside us, we develop the power of intuition. Our intuition is formed by the amalgamation of two aspects. One is when divine thoughts guide us towards the right path and second are the instantaneous and split-second decision-making skills we develop as we strengthen our information base with our experience and observation. Through instruction attained during childhood, teenage and post-teenage life, we connect the dots to predict an action or occurrence before manifesting into reality. Our intuition gains strength as we listen to our thoughts while taking actions with an open mind backed by the learning gained through instruction and information during our life.

The writer is a columnist and an author. He can be reached at omariftikhar82@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, February 4^th 2018.