Perhaps you do not think about the phrase "self-examination, active control", and think that you can self-examine at any time, and you can easily control what you think and talk and behave. If you hold this idea, then you may have simply understood the literal meaning.
The following scenarios are not familiar to you:
When we wake up in the morning, our first reaction is usually to pick up the mobile phone without thinking, and this habitual reaction that can be made without thinking comes from the subconscious mind.
In fact, the most important thing we should do at this time is to get up, get dressed, wash up, and when everything is in order, then check the information. Otherwise, it is likely to be pulled by all kinds of information to see this, to see that, and finally, dozens of minutes have passed, and people are still in the nest.
Do we have the ability to self-examine and take active control in this moment? It seems that there is none.
Many people often ask their souls at the end of the day: What did I do for the day? The most important things don't seem to be done much, and the messy trifles are done a lot!
At the moment, I suddenly woke up and made up my mind, reminding myself that I must do the most important things from tomorrow, but the next day I unconsciously fell into this strange circle. At this time, we still seem to be dominated by the subconscious mind and unable to control ourselves.
In order to get a good life, many people often set themselves goals such as getting up early, running, reading, and writing, but they give up after a few days, because most of those goals are set by the big environment.
Others say yes and want it themselves, but in reality, they don't need it. If you think about it, it's still our first reaction, it's the subconscious that's swaying us, and we're not really doing it.
If we get rid of the subconscious, self-examination and active control, when we wake up in the morning, if we can have a few seconds to think, we may be able to make a better choice between getting up and looking at the phone
When we see that WeChat has an unread message prompt, if we can stay for a few seconds, we may decide to do something important first, instead of clicking on the little red dot...
In short, whenever we encounter a situation that requires a choice, if we can stay for a few seconds to think about it, it is possible to activate our rational brain to examine the current thinking and then make different choices.
We are accustomed to not using our brains, acting directly, and like to move ourselves with saturated actions, and we are not willing to spend even a little time for deep thinking, allowing our instinctive desires to lose ourselves in the actions of self-satisfaction.
Being "autonomous" is really easy, but in this way, we can only watch the scenery on the side of the road flying in front of us, but we don't know where we are going and where we will eventually go. If you have been in this uncontrollable state of life, it is sad.
In summary, there are 3 ways to self-examine, actively control, get rid of the left and right of the subconscious, and become a thinking helmsman:
Stay aware of the present time, examine whether the first reaction is correct, and then make a clear claim;
For the whole day schedule, stay sober, adhere to the principle of putting things first, and always be clear about what to do next;
Keep thinking about long-term goals, think clearly about long-term meanings and intrinsic motivations, and unswervingly adhere to them once they are determined.
Whether it's the attention of the moment, the schedule of the day, or the long-term goals of life, they strive to think clearly about meaning, self-examination, and active control, rather than going with the flow.
When we start to self-observe and examine our thinking, something magical happens: we can realize what we are thinking, and then realize whether those ideas are wise, and then further correct those unwise ideas, and finally make better choices.
People who lack self-observation consciousness can only unconsciously act according to feelings and preferences, whether physically or mentally, they will unconsciously pursue the comfort and simplicity of the present, and will not perceive anything wrong with their current thinking and behavior until they hit a wall.
And life is made up of countless choices, and the accumulation of different choices creates different lives.