How did you learn to think for yourself?

I think I've been thinking for myself for most of my life. Growing up, the only ones who really influenced the way I thought were my parents. During most of my childhood we lived in a "subrural" community, not quite in the boondocks but far enough away from everything that it was a hassle for me to visit friends. There were no kids around who were my age, so I played with my younger brother nearly every day until I hit my teens. So it's not like I was getting pressure from other kids.

At school, I was "assigning" myself projects as early as first grade, when I designed two projects about the solar system and about butterflies. In first grade I also wrote the first story I remember writing, about a penguin, because I forgot to do my book report homework. I continued to write stories and I still do, and in a way, *that* alone is thinking for myself.

I've always been a creative person who comes up with ideas, plays pretend, and gets restless when I have nothing to do. So by inventing things to keep me occupied, I was thinking for myself. I guess you could say I "learned" this when I was encouraged and praised by the adults in my life (parents, teachers, family) to grow creatively.

EDIT:
Upon more thought...

I learned how to think for myself spiritually because my parents never enforced any kind of dogma on me. We went to church until I was seven (Episcopalian) but all I remember was going into the back room to play with the other kids because the service was sooooo boring. The only other church services I went to were funerals, and I found them offensive. Both of the funerals in my memory included the pastor/preacher/whateverman saying "If you need some help in this time of grief, come to this church"! It was like a banner ad on a casket. Disgusting.

No one ever told me Jesus died for my sins until I was too old to believe it anymore.

I was churchless for ... 12 years before I found the place where I am now, the Miami Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. It's really the utterly best place for me to be because guess what? no dogma. The second someone starts telling me what to believe, or that I have to change, I'm outta there faster than you can say transubstantiation. But at the UU fellowship, the only beliefs they "enforce" are ones that I already have. I couldn't have designed it better myself.
I've also lingered in other religious corners. I considered myself atheist for a while (now? agnostic 'buddhitarian'), I got into Christianity for a few months, and finally settled in Buddhism. All the while, my parents gave me very little flak about it. They bought me a book on Christianity, and later another on Buddhism. They did not oppose me joining the UU church or 'converting' (as much as I have) to Buddhism.

I got a little opposition from others... friends, acquaintances, people at school ... but because my parents raised me to think for myself and be comfortable with my individuality, the opposition I faced did not change me.

And so, friends, that is how I learned to SPIRITUALLY think for myself. But wait, there's more!

To this day my fiance, my wonderful Shawn, has encouraged me to think differently. It's not really thinking outside the box or anything creative like that. His thinking challenges authority and seeks its own truth, only rarely accepting what the textbooks say about something. He's great at sniffing out lies, conspiracies, and cover-ups, although it sometimes goes too far.

Most of the time I find myself in disagreement with him. I like the no-hassle, go with the flow approach. But I admire him, and his courage to speak his mind when he knows something is wrong, and his tenacity. He is a rebel in his own way. He is a geek, and he is a hacker (good hacker, not bad hacker), and I've always said that the hacker mentality of "there's a back door to everything" isn't limited to computers. It's a philosophy of life.

Anywho. I've rambled long enough to satiate me for tonight. Adieu, bonsoir, arrivederci, adios, good night.