{"id":1929,"date":"2013-10-12T06:15:42","date_gmt":"2013-10-12T13:15:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michellejolin.com\/wordpress\/?p=1929"},"modified":"2013-10-11T22:01:14","modified_gmt":"2013-10-12T05:01:14","slug":"disordered-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=1929","title":{"rendered":"Thinking about thinking"},"content":{"rendered":"

Think, think think
\nLet your mind go<\/p>\n

Let yourself be free<\/p>\n

–Aretha Franklin\/Think<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You mind is made up but your mouth is undone.
\n–Elvis Costello\/Accidents Will Happen<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

I’ve run across the phrase “disordered thinking” several times recently at work.<\/p>\n

It considered a bad thing to have disordered thinking. In fact, it’s one of the symptoms of schizophrenia. I want to make sure I don’t\u00a0 belittle the actual psych diagnosis, which is serious. I wouldn’t want to actually have disordered thinking as a diagnosis, but I don’t mind a little disorder in my thoughts. I’ve been known to encourage it, in fact.<\/p>\n

If your thoughts are all orderly all the time, how is there room for any serendipity to sneak in?\u00a0 I’m betting that serendipity is not a big fan of order.<\/p>\n

Not to knock critical\/analytical thinking–it is definitely one of life’s essentials. It is something that should be a bigger focus in school.\u00a0 A bigger focus, than, say, teaching kids to pass tests. Teaching us to think analytically is crucial in making sure we are (for one thing) not prone to believing anything anyone\u00a0 tells us. Without critical thinking, there really is<\/em> a sucker born every minute. Politicians, advertisers and religious leaders tend not to be big fans of critical thinking as it teaches you to question everything and apply disciplined thought processes in the analysis of what you read or hear.<\/p>\n

There’s a balance to hit though, because too much critical thinking makes us dull. Too much analytical thinking kills inspiration, intuition, imagination and art.<\/p>\n

Yeah, balance again. Sneaky bastard.<\/p>\n

It’s pretty apparent where I fall on the scale. I think I used to be more analytical in my personal life, but once I started to do work that was more analytical in nature I tended to use it all up at work. What that means is that if you talk to me outside of work, I may be a little prone to going off on tangents.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I’m guessing most of you who know me outside of work have noticed that.<\/p>\n

It’s a big part of why I started writing again. I needed a space to corral the tangents. Which is not the most rational thing I’ve ever written, when I see it on the page. What I mean is that it gives me a bit more of a disciplined approach to the tangents. In writing, I can take a particular tangent, and flesh it out a little bit in writing instead of spinning off into a million different directions. I can indulge myself in a little scrambled thinking in a slightly more orderly way.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Great. Now I’m being both tangential and paradoxical.<\/p>\n

Oh well.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On an odd, random note: spell check tried to suggest that the correct way to spell critical is triticale.\u00a0 I disregarded the suggestion. Sometimes I think spell check just likes to fuck with me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Think, think think Let your mind go Let yourself be free –Aretha Franklin\/Think   You mind is made up but your mouth is undone. –Elvis Costello\/Accidents Will Happen   I’ve run across the phrase “disordered thinking” several times recently at work. It considered a bad thing to have disordered thinking. In fact, it’s one of … Continue reading Thinking about thinking<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-words"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7lr3R-v7","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4343,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=4343","url_meta":{"origin":1929,"position":0},"title":"Shut up and climb","author":"Michelle","date":"March 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"You gave me a ladder now I surely believe I'll climb It don't even matter now I'm willing to take my time --Joan Osborne\/Ladder Do you ever feel like you have all of the tools you need to live a serene, healthy life but you just ignore them and keep\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1293,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=1293","url_meta":{"origin":1929,"position":1},"title":"How much is too much?","author":"Michelle","date":"September 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 The moment that you feel, just possibly, you are walking down the street naked, exposing too much of your heart and your mind, and what exists on the inside, showing too much of yourself...That is the moment, you might be starting to get it right. --Neil Gaiman \u00a0 I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3953,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=3953","url_meta":{"origin":1929,"position":2},"title":"Automatic writing?","author":"Michelle","date":"February 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"What goes up must come down Spinning wheel got to go round --Blood, Sweat and Tears\/Spinning Wheel Recently I was trying to describe how my brain works to someone whose brain is apparently much tidier than mine. My thought processes, I am sure you have noticed, are pretty disordered. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3401,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=3401","url_meta":{"origin":1929,"position":3},"title":"I’d go the whole wide world","author":"Michelle","date":"January 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"N\u2019oublie pas qu\u2019avant toi Y\u2019en a d\u2019autres que toi Et qu\u2019apr\u00e8s toi, crois-moi Y\u2019en aura, y\u2019en aura --Rachid Taha\/Tekitoi*** She'll be the one that you'll wish you'd held onto She'll be the one but it's too late for you to She'll be the one who knows all your history She'll\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6814,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=6814","url_meta":{"origin":1929,"position":4},"title":"The futility of positive thinking","author":"Michelle","date":"July 29, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"So I wanted to go back to this. I mentioned it in passing, but it's a bit stuck in my brain gears. Remember Dostoyevsky's polar bear from the other day? I wondered if trying not to think negative thoughts works in much the same way as not thinking about polar\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6046,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=6046","url_meta":{"origin":1929,"position":5},"title":"Don’t just stand there, make something!","author":"Michelle","date":"June 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Any time in my life when I have spare time, and things on my mind, I can use a distraction. Not so much an external stimulus type of distraction like seeing friends, but something to keep my mind focused on something other than the inside of my own brain. 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