A critical thinker is one who examines messages for intent, content and truth. Once examined, the critical thinker can decide to accept or reject the message in different ways. The critical thinker also considers how they come to their own beliefs and knowledge.

Critical thinking is a path to making sure that your identity, your beliefs, and your decisions are the dominant force in determining how your life runs. Nobody lives in a vacuum - we are influenced from a lot of places, including teachers, friends, parents, literature and media. Our thinking is defined in four critical aspects;

• Choosing these sources and messages (including accepting some and blocking others)
• Examining them for truth (the critical inquiry)
• Deciding on how they will affect us (should I change my behavior? have I been wrong about this all along?)
• Acting on those decisions (being open to new ideas, trying out new behavior, or abandoning behavior and beliefs that can’t be supported).

There’s a lot to learn to get all this going, but once you’ve adopted these practices, they have a tremendous impact on how you behave, how you feel about yourself, and how others perceive you.