Before entering the topic, please take five seconds to think about it: In your daily life, do you use the following option (1) or option (2) more often?

1. forever, certain, all, absolutely

2. Maybe, may, should, try

We generally think we know and control the way we think, but many times the automated responses know more about ourselves than we do. If the usage rate is biased towards option (1), the thinking mode will be dominated by black and white thinking; if the usage rate is biased towards option (2), the thinking mode will be dominated by gray thinking.

What is black and white thinking? What is grey thinking? In simple terms, black and white thinking advocates polarized thinking of absolutely right or absolutely wrong, while gray thinking advocates the rule of thirds with infinite possibilities between right and wrong.

What is black and white thinking?

Black and white thinking is the way of thinking that categorizes everything as black or white, good or evil, right or wrong, friend or foe, etc. There is no such thing as a middle ground in black and white thinking, there are only two extremes of opposites.

After taking a deep look at what is right and wrong as regulated by society, I discovered that there is a symbol that can represent black and white thinking: the equal sign (=) , a symbol that can cover everything and get the final answer .

In black-and-white thinking, the answer is greater than the process , and all thinking is just a way to get the final answer to a multiple-choice question. This model makes good use of the same thinking to summarize everything, to set different questions as multiple-choice questions with only two options, to create shortcuts for answers, to draw conclusions for events, and to set a framework for thinking .

for example:

• Persistence equals victory, giving up equals failure
• Birth is the beginning, death is the end
• Diligence equals wealth, laziness equals poverty

 📌Everyone has a different definition of behavior. You can also use a minute to recall, will you also unconsciously classify a certain behavior, a certain person, or a certain moment?

In fact, we cannot avoid some unconscious ways of thinking, which have a lot to do with our beliefs instilled by our environment, society and personal experience, which is why we should train gray thinking: 'Let's explore more in the given choices. many possibilities'.

Why is black and white thinking not the only truth?

Let me use a slightly extreme example of black-and-white thinking, which is probably the deadlock that black-and-white thinking practitioners often get into.

1. Society instills in you the belief that 'persistence equals victory and giving up equals failure'.
2. You spend your whole life regulating yourself, believing that no matter in any field, as long as you persevere, there will be results.
3. You deny any other way to achieve success.
4. You believe that you have an absolute advantage in judging the right and wrong of others, or often feel unworthy because the other person 'gives up'.
5. When you lose the ability to persevere, you 'can only' give up because you have no other choice.

This is not to refute the saying 'perseverance equals victory'. On the contrary, persistence may be an important personality trait for success, but at the same time, we also ignore some 'grey areas' such as innovation, courage, humility, enthusiasm, and connections to create a complete individual , and limit all thinking space with 'persistence' . Without the ability to explore the unknown and plant this belief in our minds, we would think 'persistence' is the only way to success.

And many people who make their cognitive mistakes in this situation will blame it on ' I have no other choice ' because in their minds there are only two choices of doing the right thing or doing the wrong thing, Frustration, adversity and tribulation are not on the list.

This is why we often wonder why some people still take the road of no return when they have a choice:

• suicide
• robbery
• drop out

Because they 'have no other choice'.

What is grey thinking?

 Ren Zhengfei said: Allowing dissent is a strategic reserve. Those who are full of rules, and those whose hearts are full of right and wrong are often slaves to emotions/rules or prejudices, because they are always affected by their own emotions, always bound by external rules, or in their own way. Inherent prejudice to draw conclusions, this is self-enclosed.

Black and white thinking advocates dividing a given situation into two extremes, but in fact there is still a range of possible positions to divide between these two extremes (like good, no opinion, not so good, etc. ), and this is the 'grey' between black and white. What gray thinking advocates is to always recognize things with an open mind and always be ready to accept any situation.

The iPhone 1 released in 2007 took the world by storm, but will it still apply to society in 2022? The vast majority of the answer should be no. No one person or one thing will always be right, all strategies and thinking need to be re-examined and revised. Today's iPhone 13 retains and adds functions that conform to the trend of the times, and cancels the system that has been eliminated by society. These actions to 'get a balance' are the results of gray thinking.

Gray thinking, black and white decision

After learning about gray thinking, some people may think, 'Isn't this just a piece of grass? '

The so-called gray thinking is not to copy what others say, but to let us rethink our own views and positions of thinking, to achieve a balance , and then take action . 'Thinking' and 'decision-making' are two completely different things. We accept all possibilities with the transformation of thinking (gray thinking) and help us make relatively objective decisions (black and white decision).

Here is a simple example:

📍"Mr. Huang killed someone"

At this time, as a judge, will he immediately sentence the prisoner to death without any thought? The answer should be no. The judge will only sentence the prisoner after the police find out the reason, the lawyer collects evidence, the prisoner takes the confession, etc.

To bring this example into thinking mode, all we need to do is see ourselves as the judge of something, accept all possibilities and accept arguments supported by evidence (gray thinking), and then form our own opinions and act ( black and white decision). Decision-making requires a firm decision in a dilemma, just like a judge will not sentence a prisoner to half the death penalty and half the life sentence, right?

Some people say don't watch the news, it's all negative and depressing; some people say watch more news and keep up with what's happening in the world. Black and white thinkers like 'don't' and 'yes', grey thinkers advocate 'appropriate'. 'I watch the news, but don't let it consume my life ' is the act of finding a balance between extremes.

How to practice using grey thinking?

📎Don't rush to a conclusion , try to accept all opinions and listen to different voices.

📎Observe your automatic reactions and actions , like when you see a cigarette, you want to take a puff, thinking that smoking is equal to relaxation. In this cognition, we will not explore other relaxation methods, but only have two options: smoking (relaxation) and not smoking (stress). Preconceived notions in life can be clues to deeply ingrained beliefs.

📎 Be curious and keep asking questions like 'Is this really the case? or 'Why is that? 'Wait. The dichotomies that plague our thinking can lead us into the illusion that we have only limited options.

📎Be aware that we do not have the ability to fully understand all cultures and peoples , don't make generalizations and assume that a small sample group is representative of the entire group.

In the previous article " Independent Thinking ", 'having one's own point of view' and grey thinking are not in conflict, but support each other. Gray thinking does not make you compromise, but embraces all logical and theoretically supported viewpoints and balances them with them. If you like it, please give me a thumbs up~ I look forward to sharing with you next time~

Medium : https://medium.com/p/b1449f377f72

Square : https://vocus.cc/article/63174983fd89780001b90c45