I stated on my Welcome page, I have owned this site for some time. This first post on the new edition is pulled from one of my older posts.
I am interested in understanding what it means to be self-aware and conscious, in control of my thoughts and actions. I recently finished a very good book on this subject, Who’s in Charge? Free Will and the Science of the Brain by Michael Gazzaniga. While I do not fully agree with some of his premises, he throws doubt on free will, I did find the discussion extremely interesting. So, who is in charge? How much control do you or can you exercise over your actions? Is there a hidden puppet master or are we just random firings across the synapses? If these questions intrigue you then I encourage you to read his book.
I will be exploring this and other related subjects in future articles. You are welcome to participate if you have an interest. I am a firm believer in Free Will and believe our actions stem from thoughts we can control. I also believe the language we use, words, in our daily conversations and when we talk to ourselves internally, greatly influence our view of life. We can talk ourselves down and have a negative view of life and what is happening around us our we can talk ourselves up and have a more positive outlook on life. For some, this is hard to do. Mostly because they have talked down all their life. Perhaps they were put down and came to believe that was who they are. I believe we can change this by changing the way we converse with ourselves and others. This requires introspection but most of all require greater self-awareness. If we always just say the first thing that comes to mind, we do not give ourselves an opportunity to reflect on what we are about to say.
A lot of people are at first put off by me simply because I am not as spontaneous as they would like but once they get to know me they find I am engaging, thoughtful and speak from knowledge and experience.
