I think, therefore I think I am.

How do you think? Odd question, perhaps. I don't mean how do you think, as in what synapses are used and how the brain functions. I mean, what do your thoughts look like? Are they musical, colorful, completely abstract, surreal, in words, etc?

I think in pictures, with words thrown in from time to time, swirling backwards down the drain like water in the southern hemisphere. The words are usually in a serif font and mirrored. I'm not sure why, but maybe it has to do with the fact that I can read mirror image text easily and write it as well. I don't know what this means other than my talents are wasting away.

My thoughts are pictures, very distinct, mobile pictures. The thoughts freeze in place, but then move on and walk out of the frame of my mind, as if I have a movie camera up there watching inside my head. Scenes take place, finish, and step offstage. Thoughts that I have a hard time recalling are backstage, lurking behind the curtains. I can feel them there, but I can't see them well enough to figure out what they are. I am almost in my own head, seeing the thoughts pan out, and moving around to find answers when my view is obstructed.

Sometimes my thoughts are mixed with sound. Often I hear narration to my current thoughts while I...think. What's odd is that the voice is not mine, at least not recognizably so. I can recall voice pitch and intonation quite as well, so memories include both moving pictures and sound.

I wonder if the way we think has to do with how we learn best? I learn best by doing. Experience learning. I must wrap my own two hands around a problem in order to figure it out and fully comprehend it. Otherwise, I might only see the answer and the route to get to the answer. I'm a sponge, but I have to sit in the pan of water for a while.


image by charles lloyd