10. Metacognitive Capacity (Master Cycle)

10. Metacognitive Capacity is the “thinking-about-thinking” backbone of the Lifelong Capacities Map®. It integrates four competencies — 10.1 Perspective-Taking on Others, 10.2 Perspective-Taking on Self, 10.3 Adaptive Self-Monitoring, and 10.4 Reflective Decision-Making — into The Reflective Awareness Cycle. Instead of being fused with your thoughts and automatic reactions, you learn to notice your thought stream as events (not truths), take multiple perspectives, monitor patterns, reflect on options, and choose a wise next step. The mantra “Notice → Perspective → Monitor → Reflect → Choose” and the anchor phrase “I can think, observe, and choose” guide you from automatic reactivity → awareness → reflection → adaptive choice.