Linear Thinking

      You won't often see linear thinking discussed. People think in patterns that go day to day in a particular scrambled pattern or as a very logical pattern. Each person thinks along certain 'grids' that appear as avenues of thought. Linear thinking is a straight line type thought that goes from a to b with a nice tidy connection. The problem with linear thinking, though it is more logical, is that it tends to lock in thought. It is as if we are following a straight path and one step after another leads up directly ahead.

      Can we really change the way we think? We seldom stop and listen to our thoughts. We fly through words, thoughts, sentences, paragraphs, 'books' of words, and mostly they are in a long, long line of linear thinking. Those who are following a spiritual path will often meditate where the thinking is slowed down or space is emptied so that new thoughts and visions can appear. Still, in daily life, it is difficult to even consider a different way of thought.

      The question arises ....why should one think in other than a linear or line type thought? The answer is because it expands our thinking, it allows for information to come in, it actually creates new grids of thought patterns in our brain. Perhaps you feel overloaded in your thoughts, perhaps you feel your brain is stressed enough without trying to figure new ways of thinking. Still, it is somewhat of an exploration, a journey into exciting new avenues. How does one do this? The easiest way is to consider more than one answer to a question. It is to take an answer and allow the answer to expand to consider various possibilities and then follow those possibilities to a pieced together 'picture' to realize the best path. This sounds complicated when describing it, but in truth it is simply a matter of stretching thought, stretching the possilibities and then allowing the thought to circle back as if picking up new information and insight on its journey.

      Take a thought on a difficult question and stretch it to possiblities, then allow that thought to drift out there in your mind range and let it in effect absorb influences and answers that may be there waiting to be retrieved. It is often called insight. Not thinking in such a linear fashion will allow the development of the skill of 'catching' the insight as it forms a new possibility and filters into your conscious mind.

      Thought provoking as this may be, or confusing as it may be, think carefully on what you think, how you think for you are creating each day as you live your life. Think carefully.