Thread: Tell me how your mind works

Maybe you could kick this thread off and by telling us how your mind works?

For instance, I was watching someone philosophize on youtube last night and became aware of how my receptivity to the speaker was shifting and modulating. Partly it was rational assessment of the content, partly intuitive probing for the speaker's true position and intent, but also a more subtle base activity underlying those, in which my ego was using the video as a support for its existence, as a boundary against which to press itself in order to take shape.

Other things I'd read and heard recently had me on the lookout for ego-making, and here I caught it in action.

It brings to mind a mindfullness practice I think I picked up from Pema Chodron; when encountering forms--people, places, things, ideas--that elicit a strong response, remind yourself, "This is an ornament of the mind, a support of the mind." It's kind of a reality check for, well, reality =D

Almost solely through in-housed three dimensional bllitting and visualisations.

As I have said before, I walk around and see things through an automatic HUD.

So--

- Analytical
- Visual

I'm mostly visual, and can think of abstract things visually.

Did you know that in north american culture, most people fit into three categories of thinking? Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic (touch and feel). Which is their primary "thinking sense" is often reflected in how they talk. "I see your point" vs. "I hear what you're saying" vs. "I feel good about this." If you match their speaking patterns to use visual words for visual people, etc. then you will find you get along a lot better with them, like you're on the same wavelength.

Another useful tip to go with this: Ask someone a mentally-stimulating question and check for which way their eyes go when they think about the answer. Make this a habit in your life, and you will find you become a much more likable person. How to read the eye movements, you ask? Bam!

Originally Posted by Replicon

Another useful tip to go with this: Ask someone a mentally-stimulating question and check for which way their eyes go when they think about the answer. Make this a habit in your life, and you will find you become a much more likable person. How to read the eye movements, you ask? Bam!

Heh, that's cool. I have good eyes/telescopes, so sometimes I can tell people's reactions from changes in pupil size.

I am an extremely visual person.

For a while, I thought I didn't have a preference, since I process all types of information roughly as well. I've realized, though, that when I'm given non-visual information, I convert it to visual, process, and convert back.

I'll give you an example of my thought process when presented with this problem:
sqrt(X)+2=X



I used dots here because I knew the answer would be of integer value - normally I use a slightly more abstract system with just generic 'distance' and 'area' involved. I've used ceiling tiles to help me through problems before, and it's already much easier to deal with fractional tiles than it is to use fractional dots. But anyways, here's a quick verbal explanation:

Visually, sqrt(X) is the number of dots which make up one side of a square array containing X dots. The equation states that by adding two dots to this lower row, you create a square containing x dots. Logically, the only way this will work is if those two dots represent the upper row of a 2x2 square. X must then equal 4. Keep in mind that in myhead, the sqrt(X) is not a fixed length (hence the arrows under it). It can slide from short to long, any distance, and it takes the 'X' square with it. In my head, the sqrt(X) line of dots shortens, collapsing the square, until the two floating dots are snug inside of the square and make a perfect array.

I know that not everyone thinks this way, and to some people this process seems long or complicated, but the reasoning took place in literally 2-3 seconds. This was a question on a timed math quiz for entry into a competition, and I didn't actually examine my thought process until I used this problem as an example of the quiz's contents when speaking to my parents, and neither of them solved it as quickly as I had.

A while ago I came across another problem which I also solved much more easily than my peers, and I recorded my method for that, too. Here it is:



As you can see, I made a graphical representation of the population, sorted by "generation" (meaning first children, second children, etc.). Each generation only exists in the families which had girls last generation, and each generation always has a 50-50 ratio of boys and girls. When you slide the graph's layers over to the center, it's obvious that the final population tends towards a 50-50 ratio overall.

My way of thinking is very helpful in some areas, and hindering in others. For example, with my system of arrays and visual intuition, I was able to use algebraic techniques before I was taught algebra in school. Things like calculus, which are pretty visual at their base, are really easy for me to pick up and even the nuances make sense. The downside is that things like trigonometric identities, which I've never really taken the time to visually process, escape me. I can't just memorize the equation without understanding it unless I put serious effort into it.

You should stop and examine how you think sometimes, you'll be surprised at what you think is natural, but is strange to others.

Auditory for me, visual too.

I'm having trouble fitting my ideation to the visual/audio/kinesthetic paradigm. I'm leaning toward kinesthetic, but I've tended to term my own thinking as holographic and synthetic (as in employing synthesis). I have a good instinct for the shapes paradigms take, so I can get a rough sketch of the "big picture" of any given paradigm with very few details. I remember things best by fixing them at the intersection of multiple paradigms, and find solutions to problems by...kind of figuring out what fits in the hole in one or more paradigms referenced in the problem. Also, I often find novel or difficult solutions by referencing seemingly unrelated paradigms to get a feel for how the situation at hand should flow.

My interpretation of the dancer is clockwise most of the time in my perception as a viewer:
However I able to switch that direction on demand.

For those who have not seen this before go here

I tend to be rightsided in my use of the brain/

Noooooooooo not the dancer! Trust me, we've all seen it.

Visual for me. Alot of times I feel like I am the only human being with consciousness at times. Especially when im out on the town and just watch how people react to situations and move about. I think Im the only one that's actually thinking. lol.

I don't know how to describe how my mind works. People talk about visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners, but I am equally good in each of those methods. I have a constant stream of thoughts in my head along with a movie that the thoughts are describing. If i'm doing a math problem it goes like this:

434
654
-----
1088

I end up with that image in my head while my thoughts are going "Okay 4+4=8; don't need to carry, 3+5=8; don't need to carry and 4+6=10; i need to carry the one, so the answer is 1088"

It sounds like you are more visual because you get a picture in your head.

Im gonna take the lazy way of explaining how i think. According to the dancer test posted by Mystery Hunter i am Right Brained.

RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses feeling
"big picture" oriented
imagination rules
symbols and images
present and future
philosophy & religion
can "get it" (i.e. meaning)
believes
appreciates
spatial perception
knows object function
fantasy based
presents possibilities
impetuous
risk taking

I never bought the right/left thing, as it relates to jobs. People like to say software people are left-brained, but left-brain does not mean "logical"... it's more... busy-work. Even math/computers/sciences becomes right-brained, especially when you get into more abstract reasoning.

More direct, intuitive, even idiosyncratic assessments of your mental processes are welcome, also.

When adding larger numbers in my head, I always add left-to-right, though in school they taught us only right-to-left. Anyone else do it that direction?

Originally Posted by skysaw

When adding larger numbers in my head, I always add left-to-right, though in school they taught us only right-to-left. Anyone else do it that direction?

Ya i do that to....weird most ppl were i live add left to right. atleast i think they do..

In response to your question... it doesn't, it sits around all day eating my mayonnaise and cheese. Get a job, mind!

Seriously though, I'll have to come back to this once I give myself a self-diagnosis.

I'd say I'm mostly visual. I tend to organize my thoughts spatially relative to each other. Basically everything I know is in a big web that I can see in my head. When I study for exams, I tend to unfocus my eyes, and move my hands around so I can really get the picture in my head.

Originally Posted by skysaw

When adding larger numbers in my head, I always add left-to-right, though in school they taught us only right-to-left. Anyone else do it that direction?

Yeah, I always start with the large sums and work toward the more particular, adding the smaller number(s) to the larger. Seems faster and more intuitive, and eliminates carrying.

I add right to left

eliminates carrying.

How?
because if you have
456+654
going left to right
4+6=10
5+5=10
6+4=10
so then you have to carry to get the result of 1110

Hmm, I guess you're right. It doesn't so much eliminate carrying as make it more intuitive (for me). When you go left to right, you've got something whole or complete the whole way along, and you just adjust or fine tune it as you work toward smaller values, whereas right to left you've got nothing until you hit the final answer. More of my holographic thinking at work, I guess

Very slowly!