What is the difference between mulling something over and contemplating?
A lot of people asked Dr. Peter Popper what it takes to be as knowledgeable is he is. His answer is: reading. And then contemplate over what you read. And then reading more. Contemplate more.
Contemplating means to think about, to LOOK thoughtfully for a long time at something. Instead of what most people do prejudge, or judge the thing. Or even simply just understand.
Contemplating makes you expand mentally.
You rebuild your worldview, you rebuild your view of the world when you do it rightly.
Understanding is always fitting something in the limited knowledge you have, not expanding it, not what Life or an author meant. Near worthless.
Instead of reading and contemplating, most people mull things over in their minds… after they judged it as right or wrong.
One is mulling things over… while the other is contemplating over what one read, what one saw.
One leads to more of the same… the other leads to an expanded view of everything.
Or digging your heels in. Digging yourself deeper into a ditch… the other is playing and climbing mountains.
The one is guided by a certainty that you are right and others are wrong… the other leads to inner peace.
Physiologically the one is tight cone of vision, and the eye doesn’t move. The other the cone of vision is relaxed, wider, and the eyes move to follow some idea, but don’t get stuck.
Emotionally the one is a threat where all you can do is dig in and resist… while the other is quite pleasant, like an adventure.
At the root of it, what it boils down to is this: how much you think the thing is about you. How much it effects you.
I track people on my calls, and watch what they do, where they go. And how long they stay there. And what brings them out, if anything.
Ultimately people who cannot or won’t contemplate, who can only mull things over cannot get out of their own way.
What does it mean that you cannot get out of your own way?
How and why are you in your own way to begin with?
From Psychology Today:
Getting out of your own way means being with who you are, moment to moment, whether you like it or not. Whether or not it’s easy or comfortable, familiar or disturbing. And then creating from that place.
From Quora:
It means that your habits, behavior, feelings, personal problems, etc. are stopping you from being successful. You need to change these things so your life will become better.
But what exactly is in your own way?
Here it is, simply: you are taking things personally. And personally you want to be right, you want to look good, you want to avoid domination, and you want to justify, explain… so you don’t have to change anything.
You insist that you are right, that you have always been right, and what you think about yourself and about the world is
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