Understanding Metacognition

So, metacognition is said to be the highest form of intelligence.

And metacognition, very loosely defined, is the ability to think about your own thinking.

So, metacognition refers to knowledge about one's own thoughts and cognitive processes, as well as cognitive regulation involved in directing one's learning.

Engaging in metacognition allows learners to recognize gaps in their knowledge or difficulty in acquiring new information as well as to identify and integrate new knowledge into their existing cognitive framework.

So metacognition allows you in real time to observe yourself and then gain more perspective on your experience and what you're doing so you can continuously assure that your thoughts, your behaviors are in alignment with your highest goals and intentions.

In essence, it allows you to get a bird's eye view of your own cognitive functions, not just your thinking, but your processes.

and then identify if those processes are effective and ultimately correct them if they are not.

In addition, it allows you to self-reflect on experiences that happened based on outcomes that occurred, identify where the processes can be adjusted so that you can essentially reach your intended outcome more effectively using different, more effective processes, programs.

So when it comes to trauma and abuse, metacognition is going to be extremely important and I would argue paramount and very fundamental when it comes to healing because observing yourself is essentially a must.

And it's the most effective way to understand why are we the way that we are, why we show up to life this way, and ultimately identify how the way we show up to life might have might be stemming from experiences that happen, let's say, in childhood, and it allows us to course correct and heal those programs, those wounds in the present moment using our observer self, using metacognition.

Now, it is very understandable that when we are traumatized, this is very synonymous with trauma, I would say, is that when we're traumatized, abused, specifically as children, we're overwhelmed from the experience.

We don't have the ability to cope.

We are essentially left to our own devices.

And what we naturally do is we will dissociate from our experience, which essentially is to disconnect from it, to split off from it, to essentially escape our bodies and enter into our minds and As a result of feeling unsafe, to be vulnerable, to be present, to be in our bodies, we are as a result of the complete emotional overwhelm.

Now, by doing this, we're doing it to protect our psyche from complete annihilation, which is essentially, like I said, a defense mechanism that is extremely life-saving and powerful dissociation.

Now, obviously, this is tragic when it occurs.

However, people who've experienced the splitting experience, the splitting off, the dissociation as a result of trauma, actually have, in a way, a leg up in developing their metacognitive skills because as you begin to heal and you come back to your body, then you still have the ability to sort of detach from your body, from yourself, and observe.

And this metacognition skill can essentially... be developed as you observe yourself.

So while dissociation over a long period of time can actually be very dangerous because if you completely disconnect from your present moment experience, you can be at risk of just being psychotic or disconnected from reality.

Healing has a lot to do with coming back to your body, being present, but you still have the ability to leg up in developing the ability to use metacognition as a result of your ability to sort of step outside of yourself and observe yourself.