Philosophy is everything in life, really, but most people don’t go around wondering about what actually exists, questioning science, or pondering the immensity of the universe. • Philosophers look at the world with an open mind. When trying to answer big questions, they consider everything, and question everything

Becoming An Unofficial Philosopher

Imagine you don’t know anything. No one really does. All the things we humans have invented are propaganda, and we don’t really know a thing about the world. Let that sink in for a moment…

Getting Into The Philosophical Mindset 

If you don’t know anything, it should be pretty easy to form questions. But if you can’t, here are a few to get you started:• What makes an action the ‘right’ action? • How can we be so sure of what we see in front of us? • What makes people believe in science and everything else we’re told?

Start Questioning

When we theorize, we are thinking of a possibility. Usually, we ask “What if?” questions while forming or explaining a theory. The nice thing is that there’s no wrong answer with philosophy. It’s all about opinion and theory. Here are some theory examples:• What if we are all living in a dream? • What if you are like the main character in a story, your life if just about what you do, and everyone else is like a robot?

Theorizing 

Many have different theories about possibility. But the thing about possibilities is that no one has really ever proven anything, because it’s always possible that they’re wrong. That makes possibility a very philosophical subject, because it makes people wonder.

Possibilities

Here is something to think about. • In an infinite amount of possibilities, only one -the one that will occur- is possible. But in a bag of objects, is it possible to pull out any one of them? These are two different possibilities !

A Thought On Possibilities

• Ontology— what exists• Epistemology— how we know what we know• Ethics— politics ( first order: what is right vs. wrong; second order: what makes something right vs. wrong )

Some Common Philosophical Topics

You can form your own theories about things whenever you want! The thing is, everyone is capable of it. Also, philosophy can boost your creativity and drastically change the way you look at the the world.

Try It!

Philosophy has been studied for thousands of years. It involves the use of reason and argument to search for the truth about reality - about the nature of things, ethics, aesthetics, language, the mind, God and everything else. This series of five introductory lectures, aimed at students new to phil…

How To Become An Unofficial Philosopher In A Few Minutes

• Think back to the Stone Age. Our species was like any other; survival was constantly on our minds.• If we were threatened in any way, our brains went straight to survival mode. • When we get panic attacks nowadays, it’s that same instinct. We feel unsafe, or threatened, and our brains turn on survival mode.

Why Panic Attacks Happem

• Some things that we do to help calm ourselves down are mental. For example, some might repeat phases like “I will be okay, I will be okay” in their head. • Mental Solutions are usually the first type of solution our brain tries.

Mental Solutions 

• Telling yourself a story. It could involve you as the main character, in your threatening situation, and how you end up solving the problem, and everything ends well.• Sum up your worry in one mental sentence, making it seem simple and unimportant to you. • This tip is from a book I read: “ You can mentally talk to your worry as if it is a monster, and you can tell it nicely, or sternly, to go away”.• For a long term tip, can (and I read this in a book too) “choose five minutes from every day to worry. Not near bedtime, not at school/work. No worrying at other times in the day.

Mental Solutions You Can Use

• This involves actually taking action on your anxiety.• If no mental solutions work after several tries, this is where you go from there.

Physical Solutions 

• If you’re around others, you can ask to take a minute. If you need an excuse, say you’re not feeling well, because that is technically the truth. • If you repeatedly need something to calm you down, try holding on to an ice cube while sucking on a super sour candy. • Get outside and go for a run or a walk. Go somewhere like a like a forest, though, where the likelihood of running into other people is slim, and you have calm surroundings with lots of nature. • Something that a lot of people do is get a counsellor/ therapist. It can be very helpful to have someone trustworthy to talk to.

Physical Solutions You Can Use

I have experienced (and still do) a lot of severe anxiety, and I know how important it is to have good ways of coping.

Worry has a way of growing, shifting from not-a-big-deal to a VERY BIG DEAL in the blink of an eye. This big-deal Worry is tricky, luring children into behaviours that keep the anxiety cycle going. Children often find it hard to fight back against Worry, but not anymore. Outsmarting Worry teaches 9-13 year olds and the adults who care about them a specific set of skills that makes it easier to face - and overcome - worries and fears. Smart, practical, proven techniques are presented in language immediately accessible to children with an emphasis on shifting from knowing to doing, from worried to happy and free.

How To Become An Unofficial Philosopher In A Few Minutes

Outsmarting Worry

Coralie R