I'm always telling my kids to know what they believe and why they believe it. (This applies to adults also!) For example, they say they believe it is wrong to steal. I would challenge them and ask why they believe that and how do they know they are right? What if they are wrong? Just because you "believe" something doesn't mean it is true nor does it mean you're right. I'm not implying it is ok to steal. What I really want them to do is reflect on their reasoning. Is their reason based on their value system? Is it because we, their parents, told them this? Is it because they overheard someone say they believed it?

It is my belief that if a person does not know and cannot articulate why they believe something then they are susceptible to being manipulated by others. They are mindless drones. I also think it makes them irresponsible! Let's take the upcoming presidential election. Both candidates are making promises and making a case on why you should vote for them. At some point, assuming you're voting, you will make a decision on who to vote for. My question to you is why will you vote for that person? Is it because of their stance on a particular issue? Is it because you don't like the other guy more? What is it that led you to give your vote to this person?

The whole point of the exercise is ensure that you understand yourself and that you are making informed decisions. You may find out that you have taken a position for no real reason, or even worse, a bad reason.

There is a process used in industry to analyze problems and determine a root cause of an event. I'm sure it has other names but I know it as "The Five Whys." When an event happens you ask why did it happen. After determining why it happened then you ask why did that happen. You repeat this five times. At the end you should arrive at the root cause. In reality you may not need to go five levels deep or you may actually need to go deeper than five. The point is to continue to ask why something happened until you have exhausted all possible reasons. In the end you should be able to determine the root cause. I've simply applied this approach to a personal belief system.

I'd encourage people to apply this method to themselves. Ask yourself why you believe something, or why you feel a certain way. You may be surprised at the answer you arrive at.

I've played this game with some people who actually believed something for reasons that ran totally counter to their own professed value system, causing them to rethink their entire position on some issues.

Now I'm not saying that whatever you believe is automatically wrong, chances are your position will be unchanged. It is just that now you will at least now know "why" you believe something which is more than you knew before. You will also be in a better position to defend this position and make convincing arguments to sway other mindless drones over to your way of thinking. How do you think some politicians get elected?

Another game I play is "what happens then." It is similar to the above "Why" game but you ask yourself "if I do this what happens." After arriving at an answer ask yourself "if that happens, then what happens." This exercise helps understand cause and effect. It is totally subjective but it does help to think through important decisions and whether you will really achieve the desired results. You may need to run this through with several scenarios, but you get the idea.