The Effects of Metacognition

 To what extent does metacognition help us with our life?

Metacognition, the word "meta" is derived from the Greek root word meaning "beyond" and the Latin word "cognoscere" meaning "getting to know." It refers to one's ability to be able to be aware of their thoughts and feelings. It helps analyze how we think, helps us control our thoughts, and it also helps us choose helpful strategies for a given task. Metacognition is sometimes defined as "thinking about our thinking," but it's way beyond that. This is a whole new level of self awareness where you can channel your thoughts and alter behaviors to enhance fulfillment. Metacognition makes you smarter, it aides you to take full advantage of your abilities. It's an internal counsellor that knows when you slowly stop paying attention, or when your memory fails you, and so on. This might not seem like a very useful skill, but as you learn more about it, you realize how effective it is in your daily life. 

For instance, we've all faced the feeling of having the answer to a question at the tip of our tongue, but can't quite recall it at that certain moment, well realizing that is an example of metacognition. Putting tiny little reminders in our heads, that's also an example of metacognition. Have you ever been involved in an argument and then after the argument you keep thinking back at it and realize you've found a new comeback or insult, but the time's already passed? That's an example. It basically helps you re-focus, asking yourself questions, rethink your actions, and many more of the same. 

To conclude, I would like to say metacognition takes up a huge portion of our daily life, without us realizing or defining it, we've been all using metacognition. It's important and it's very useful.