Take control of your desires

The source for this material and for our 25-Day CT Challenge is…

25 Days to Better Thinking and Better Living: A Guide for Improving Every Aspect of Your Life, by Dr. Linda Elder & Dr. Richard Paul, Pearson, 2006; and the Center and Foundation for Critical Thinking, CA.

TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR DESIRES

Check Your Desires…“Look closely at the implications of desires in

your life;“Seek to identify which of your desires you

can admit and which you try to hide;“Notice how often you pursue irrational

desires.”(Drs. Elder and Paul, Ibid)

Be on the Lookout for Desires…“Check the desires of others;“Notice how often people pursue irrational

desires;“Notice how often people try to justify self-

serving desires;“Notice how they object to self-serving

desires of others.”(Drs. Elder & Paul, Ibid)

To be in command of your life…is to be in command of your thoughts,

…and to be in command of your thoughts, you have to get command of the desires that direct your behavior

A self-reflective thinker differentiatesIrrational desiresDesires that are self-

destructiveDesires that are

harmful to others

Desires that make sense

Desires that can be justified

Desires that are helpful to others

Desires that are conducive to a fulfilling life

Taking Control of Your DesiresRealize that most

irrational desires function at the unconscious level of thought

Bring unconscious desires to the conscious level

Formulate your purposes, goals, motives explicitly

So that you can assess them

(Drs. Elder and Paul, Ibid)

Critical Thinkers Understand…The relationship

betweenThoughtsFeelingsEmotions

That whenever you have desires, you have thinking leading to those desires

You experience feelings when you act on those desires

(Elder & Paul, Ibid)

Take command of your desiresOtherwise, it is

all too easy to pursue the irrational, the self-destructive, the senseless

without knowing why

(Drs. Elder and Paul, Ibid)

Unbridled desires cause much sufferinge.g.,

Pursuits of greedPursuits of powerPursuits for approvalPursuits of domination

Develop conscious habits to monitor these all-to-often natural, but harmful human desires.

Strategies for controlling your desires:1. Recognize that

every action you take is driven by some purpose or desire that you have

(Strategies suggested by Dr. Linda Elder and Dr. Richard Paul, Ibid)

Make a list of every behavior that leads to humiliation, pain, suffering

Question why you engage in this behavior

Identify what motivates you

…strategies, cont’d2. Think through

the implications of each behavior you just listed

What happens, or might happen, as a result of each behavior?

Be specific.

Don’t hide from the truth.

…more strategies from our authors3. List some things that you can do

immediately to alter your dysfunctional behavior, (remembering that your behavior comes from your desires) -

your behavior is probably influenced by your situation…

(Ibid)

Change some things in your situation…e.g.,

Move? Change jobs? Get out of a bad relationship? Get help from a

professional? Learn better coping strategies?

Strategies, cont’d…Write down a detailed plan for

changing your dysfunctional behavior—the more details, the more useful your plan will be.

(Ibid)

Take control of your desires

-Pythagoras

Daily Reflection NotesPrint the following slide, one copy for each

day of this week, (remember to use “print current slide” and use grayscale).

Reflecting and making some notes on your thoughts and experiences of the day help to internalize this “challenge”, as you know.

DAILY REFLECTION NOTES Today I was successful in using the following ideas/strategies:

The key insights that emerged for me today were:

One problem in my thinking that I now realize is:

I plan to continue working on this problem using the following strategy: