Thinking as is usually conceptualized is not all that its made out to be. For our processing to be heuristic and adaptive, we have to come up with the ways and means to make obstacles and setbacks a basis for growth and learning. This means that outcomes are secondary. What we measure as positive might not necessarily be so, especially in the long term. And difficulties could very well be facilitatory to greater satisfaction and openness.

Adaptive deliberation is described as a way to process our associations so that what might appear inhibitory can be reframed into cognitively and conatively meaningful resources.

There is a learning curve involved in being able to adaptively deliberate, and pain processing has to be undertaken. What this means is that to arrive at real value, we have to fully face and understand that which causes us distress, difficulty and pain.