What does it feel like when I think?

For #thoughtvectors (come play along)

When ideas are rolling, the synapses are firing, I feel pretty much like this scene from The Program. Not much is more fun. I’ve yet to put my head through a window but I’ve come close.

Now when I’m in a group with people who are feeding off one another’s thinking, it feels a bit more like the crowd getting hyphy in the video below. There’s spontaneous joy and even without planning things just work like they’re choreographed. It’s beautiful feeling to be thinking with a group. The fluidity and energy can’t be beat.

Strange connections are made. Patterns emerge that you might not expect, even though they’re your own ideas. Grues are avoided and the right paths are taken without hesitation.

It’s also strange how slippery thoughts can be. You think you’ve thought the thought and will be able to pull it back later (it is your head after all) but there’s nothing left but a vague feeling of lost opportunity.

Thinking can keep me up. Time will slip and my head will keep churning away. This tends to be tied to doing some kind of actual work, something that needs to be improved just a bit or isn’t working quite right. Just one more little adjustment and I’ll go to sleep. Promise.

There’s other kinds of thinking which puts me in a strangely calm state where I have to remind myself to look for, rather than at, cars when I cross the street. This tends to be tied to photography for me and trying to actually look at the things that surround me with a degree of appreciation and interest. I can end up in the same place with words, sometime unintentionally, when I wander down alternate paths of intent. That doesn’t help my already poor small talk skills.