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Dec. 26th, 2004 01:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cislynHaving just finished The Tao of Pooh, a few thoughts.
The wondrous thing about the human mind is its ability to find patterns. We are pattern finding creatures. We see things and connect the dots. We group. We categorize. We fit things together. This helps us to survive - gee, we bury dead fish in the fields, and the corn grows more! Or I put my hand on a hot burner and it hurts like hell; won't do that again. All that. It helps us advance. It helps a great many things.
It's also one of our biggest flaws. We see patterns everywhere. Sometimes it's harmless - I was wearing this bra the last four times I got a date! This must be my lucky bra. And sometimes it's not so harmless at all. That widow woman looked at my cow and then it got sick and dried up! She's a witch! We make false connections. We see patterns that aren't actually there.
I think that maybe overanalyzing things, overthinking, at least in my case, comes from having a particularly good pattern finding brain. I see patterns - but I also see the pattern of seeing false patterns, and so I try *very hard* to avoid it. This isn't a bad thing, but it does lead to a certain hesitancy, a pattern (to abuse the word even more) of spinning my wheels around and around and around things instead of just doing and being and enjoying.
The last chapter of the book talked about the marvelous sophistication of the mind, and the way we can and do make fantastic intuitive leaps and come up with splendid new ideas. The machinery of the mind is spectacular, and you know, it doesn't really need that much input from the conscious side of things. The biggest and strangest connections are made when we're not looking, when we're not trying. Duly noted, Pooh. I would say that I'm going to try to keep this in mind in the new year, but that would rather defeat the purpose, eh? ;)
The wondrous thing about the human mind is its ability to find patterns. We are pattern finding creatures. We see things and connect the dots. We group. We categorize. We fit things together. This helps us to survive - gee, we bury dead fish in the fields, and the corn grows more! Or I put my hand on a hot burner and it hurts like hell; won't do that again. All that. It helps us advance. It helps a great many things.
It's also one of our biggest flaws. We see patterns everywhere. Sometimes it's harmless - I was wearing this bra the last four times I got a date! This must be my lucky bra. And sometimes it's not so harmless at all. That widow woman looked at my cow and then it got sick and dried up! She's a witch! We make false connections. We see patterns that aren't actually there.
I think that maybe overanalyzing things, overthinking, at least in my case, comes from having a particularly good pattern finding brain. I see patterns - but I also see the pattern of seeing false patterns, and so I try *very hard* to avoid it. This isn't a bad thing, but it does lead to a certain hesitancy, a pattern (to abuse the word even more) of spinning my wheels around and around and around things instead of just doing and being and enjoying.
The last chapter of the book talked about the marvelous sophistication of the mind, and the way we can and do make fantastic intuitive leaps and come up with splendid new ideas. The machinery of the mind is spectacular, and you know, it doesn't really need that much input from the conscious side of things. The biggest and strangest connections are made when we're not looking, when we're not trying. Duly noted, Pooh. I would say that I'm going to try to keep this in mind in the new year, but that would rather defeat the purpose, eh? ;)
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Date: 2004-12-26 09:05 pm (UTC)