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What are Thinking Skills? 5 Ways to Boost Them

By Operation-Meditation

Thinking is a vital part of our lives; we need to be able to think around problems, consider major issues and work out what to do next. Thinking is important to come up with new ideas and be creative and for new inventions to come to fruition. Is it possible to increase your powers of thinking and what are thinking skills exactly?

Educational Beginnings

What are thinking skills then? Humans have a high capacity for conscious thought, hence ‘sapien’ (from homo sapien) meaning ‘wise’. We have many processes of thinking such as remembering, problem solving, imaging, reasoning etc. As a baby we increase our thinking skills while exploring the world around us, and throughout our lives thinking skills are the practical abilities we use in order to investigate and navigate through life. Key skills in levels of human thinking have been defined in Bloom’s Taxonomy – knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation – these have been commonly used by teachers in order to plan activities to help children learn effectively.

High Powered Thinking Skills!

There are several ways to improve your thinking skills and here are five ways to start:

Just as you can improve the fitness of your body, you can also increase your mental agility through brain exercises. Puzzles can be an effective way to have fun and boost the power of your thinking. Try doing crosswords, Sudoku and lateral thinking puzzles are particularly good at allowing you to think your way around problems and be inventive. Let your creative side out and create your own puzzles for others and there are many puzzle games on consoles, phones and computers to keep your mind in shape.
Lack of sleep and poor diet can actually affect your brain power. It seems that these factors can lower the chances of your brain forming connections and so in order to keep your mental faculties sharp, make sure that you get plenty of sleep in a routine and nutritious food. Green leafy vegetables such as kale or spinach added to your diet may help to improve brain power.
Be open to completely new experiences, it is shown that our brains are highly stimulated when performing tasks for the first time or trying a new experience. Listening to a different type of music, trying a new sport or eating a new food can help the brain create new connections.
Memory techniques can help a great deal in improving brain power. As well as memorising things, you will be learning new information and so you could make this a fun activity by memorising facts that you find fascinating and where you find an interesting fact, make sure to follow up on your research to learn more about the subject and any connecting links. This is a great way of expanding your mind as well as improving your memory.
Meditation is a fantastic way to improve thinking skills. You may not realise it but your brain needs to rest and be calm sometimes in order to process and absorb information more effectively. Meditation is a useful way of improving focus by clearing the mind and practising the ability to focus on your breathing. It also helps to alter brain waves and increases the production of hormones that can help achieve better concentration and focus. There are many techniques in meditation that can lead to greater mental focus and relieve stress and tension to boost your thinking skills.

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