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Newsletter
Sunday Synapse
In addition to the FREE E-BOOK which gives you the fundamental, and basic groundwork required for building good thinking habits, you will also get one weekly email called the Sunday Synapse.
This FREE Newsletter talks about how to become a critical thinker or intelligent thinker. It is a balance between emotional intelligence and rational thinking.
We all can be better thinkers. Dysfunctional thinking practices are the cause of most of our bad decisions.
Some people have consistently better outcomes and more success in their lives. I argue this is because they have high-level critical thinking skills, including deep self-awareness, self-perception, curiosity, and creativity.
As a critical thinking educator, I know there are factors in your history, environmental, and biological factors that contribute to your current perspectives.
The reasons behind why you think a certain way is unique to the power you have now to approach the way you both view and engage with the world.
Scroll down for past Newsletters!
Latest
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Latest 〰️
Sunday, February 16th, 2025
This week's newsletter explores the complexity of truth—how we determine what is true, why social truths vary, and how critical thinking helps us separate useful knowledge from bias and assumption. I break down how truth functions in both objective and social realms, how our personal experiences shape our perceptions, and why the ability to tell ourselves the truth—especially about what we don’t know—is key to intellectual power.
TELL YOURSELF THE TRUTH
Sunday, February 9th, 2025
This week, we explore the role of discomfort in intellectual growth and how to distinguish between productive discomfort that aids healthy thinking and harmful discomfort that requires boundaries. I explain how cognitive discomfort signals opportunities for learning and how critical thinking happens in the space we engage with challenging ideas. Setting boundaries is necessary for psychological well-being but you need to also engage with the discomfort.
Boundaries and Discomfort: The Line Between
Sunday, February 2nd, 2025
This week’s newsletter explores why thinking feels hard and how to fix it by understanding the relationship between cognitive effort, discomfort, and intellectual growth. I talk about why some people struggle with difficult ideas and how unresolved emotional burdens block critical thinking. I illustrate this using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs which is useful in explaining the barriers to intellectual progress. I also introduce a self-reflection exercise to help you identify cognitive patterns in your own life.
IF THINKING FEELS HARD, YOU CAN FIX IT
Sunday, January 26th, 2025
This week I share my ideas on how we assess truth and validity—from scientific research to everyday ideas and opinions. I look at the differences between scientific validity and subjective validity, why credibility matters, and how our biases shape how we accept or reject information. I also teach you how to critically evaluate scientific papers, assess the reliability of ideas in social interactions, and engage in critical discussions without emotional reactivity. Finally, I introduce CT activities to help you apply these skills in real-world conversations and decision-making.
ASSESSING THE VALIDITY OF AN IDEA
Sunday, January 19th, 2025
This letter explores how critical thinking practice extends beyond intellectual analysis to connect the emotional and intellectual parts of the brain. By engaging in reflective practices and activating the Default Mode Network (DMN), we can heal emotional vulnerabilities and uncertainties, improve mental clarity, and make CT less cognitively taxing over time. The process encourages a balance between emotions and logic, transforming how we think and process experiences. This connection also promotes emotional resilience.
CONNECTING EMOTIONS AND INTELLECT
Sunday, January 12th, 2025
AFTER NEGATIVITY BIAS: THE PERFECT SPOT FOR CRITICAL THINKING
This letter focuses on negativity bias, the brain’s tendency to fixate on negative experiences, and how it impacts critical thinking (CT). Drawing on psychologist Rick Hanson’s Hardwiring Happiness, it highlights how mindfulness and reflective practice can counteract this bias, enabling greater clarity and emotional balance. By addressing negativity by thoughtfully engaging with it we can practice deliberate reflection, reshape our cognitive habits, enhance decision-making, and build stronger critical thinking skills.
Sunday, December 22nd, 2024
How to Practice Intellectual Humility
This letter explores intellectual humility as a cornerstone of critical thinking, If you are not intellectually humble you can not learn. I discuss the importance of focusing on recognising the limits of our knowledge and staying open to new ideas despite who they come from. Balancing intuition with reason highlights how feedback from those closest to us is best positioned to encourage intellectual growth. I think embracing cognitive discomfort and placing strategies to keep your mind accountable are the stepping stones for deeper, more effective thinking.
Sunday, December 15th, 2024
A Process for Good Thinking
This week’s newsletter I teach you a simple three-step process of reading, reflecting, and sharing through writing or telling. The letter discusses how we can avoid biases, assumptions, and overthinking while developing healthier and freer ways of thinking. When we continually reflect on what we think we are thinking, we find flaws and we develop more self-awareness. Read now for how to practice better thinking.
Sunday, December 8th, 2024
Institutions of Thought
This week, I introduce the idea of ‘institutions of thought’ that contribute to how our minds are shaped. The letter explores social structures, values, and expectations, and how they influence the way we think and act. By understanding the diverse spaces we need to operate within, whether at home, work, or within society, we can begin to identify how these institutions impact our thinking and learn to adapt our thoughts to thrive in each unique context. Sometimes due to a misuse of power, some resistance is required, other times we need to embrace parameters as they serve purpose. Critical thinking is not about conforming to a single framework but about recognising the purpose and focus of our thoughts and ideas in different spaces, allowing us to engage meaningfully and effectively with the world around us.
Sunday, December 1st, 2024
Subjective ideas: Who is right and who is wrong?
This week I explore the complex relationship between feelings and critical thinking. Using the provocative statement "Your feelings are not valid" as a catalyst, I examine how emotions shape perception and judgment. The letter suggests learning how to balance emotional awareness with objective reasoning. I encourage readers to understand the nuances of subjective experiences and their broader implications.
Sunday, November 24th, 2024
Availability heuristic and pools of information
This week's newsletter explores the availability heuristic and its impact on how we access and use knowledge. I examine the role of recent information in shaping our thoughts and decisions and highlight the importance of broadening our mental frameworks through diverse reading, conversations, and experiences. Ultimately, it’s a call to enrich our "pools of knowledge" (the depth & breadth of what we know) to encourage organic critical thinking and avoid cognitive biases that often stem from narrow pools of knowledge.
Sunday, November 17th, 2024
Why you DO need to learn HOW to think
This week I focus on the concept of re-learning how to think using critical thinking, as well as the ethics behind who should teach us how to think. While some people question the idea that humans need to learn “how” to think, this letter unpacks how social conditioning, from educational systems to cultural norms, shapes our natural thinking faculties highlighting the need to at times, re-learn. Drawing from interdisciplinary insights in biology, psychology, and sociology, it highlights the tension between our innate curiosity and societal influences. Note* There is a calculation error in this letter where 10% should read 15%*
Sunday, November 10th, 2024
Balancing Objectivity with Instinct: Paths to Clear Thinking
This newsletter explores the balance between objective thinking and emotional instinct, emphasising the importance of critical thinking in navigating complex social and personal decisions. It discusses how objectivity can be cultivated through knowledge and reflection, contrasting it with the instinctive responses that often shape our immediate reactions. As an educator I encourage readers to engage with diverse, and longer-form content as opposed to short form commentary seen on social media. This can be conversations or books with ideas that are explained through nuance. Engaging with ideas like this deepen understanding and decision making while acknowledging the need to trust one's instincts during vulnerable moments of personal growth.
