Thinking About Thinking: How Metacognition Is Kinda Like Meditation
Introduction
Alright, so here’s the deal. Metacognition is this fancy term for “thinking about your thinking,” which honestly sounds a bit pretentious, but stay with me. It’s basically like pausing and asking yourself, What am I even doing? Turns out, this kind of reflection might actually help you do stuff better, whether it’s stacking cups or, I don’t know, writing this paper.
The point of this paper is to figure out if metacognition is actually good for you, or if it’s just a thing people bring up to sound smart. Spoiler: it’s kinda useful. Also, I’ll tie it to meditation because both involve introspection or whatever.
What Even Is Metacognition?
Metacognition boils down to two things:
Knowing what’s going on in your brain (metacognitive knowledge).
Example: Realizing you suck at time management because you’re writing this eight hours before it’s due.
Adjusting what you do with that knowledge (metacognitive regulation).
Example: Setting a timer for each section of this paper instead of just hoping inspiration strikes.
People who are good at metacognition can think ahead, plan better, and fix mistakes faster. Basically, it’s like a cheat code for life.
Also, this is where meditation sneaks in. Meditation is basically metacognition with extra steps: you focus on your thoughts and try to “get present” or whatever. Both are about being aware of your mind, so it makes sense that meditative people are sometimes better at thinking clearly.
