Ask Questions

We like to have answers. You can learn a lot about what and how you think by asking questions of others because:

• the answers will give you insight into what you are really asking, especially if not answered
• you may gain knowledge you didn't previously possess
• new information may open the door to new areas of thought
• if the answer is an opinion, you can compare it to what you believe
• the question you ask may lead you to what you what you really want to know

Thinkers try on new ideas like a compulsive shopper. When they fit, they can make for an entirely new presentation of your core ideas. Sometimes they don't suit one model of thought, but coordinate beautifully with another. Other times they won't fit and you are required to discard them. This seems simple and obvious, but requires practice to assure emotional baggage doesn't color or distract from what you believe to be true.

Practice asking questions for insight and the integration of new information rather than confirmation and validation. In taking yourself and your personal needs out of the questions, you are better able to focus on the ideas and the mental processing that goes with understanding those ideas.

Thinking and Feeling

Too often, thinking becomes emotional. Maybe a thought triggers old baggage. Perhaps embracing new knowledge threatens the way you see reality. The greater your resistance, the more volatile the reaction. Being open-minded is a lofty goal, but you are an emotional being.

When confronted with information that provokes an emotional reaction you have any number of choices including:

• hold onto what you know with righteous indignation and shut down your thinking
• let go (if you can) and see what happens
• distract yourself from this particular line of thinking and return when you are ready
• work through your feelings until the path is clear to move your thinking forward
• do something physical to help work through your feelings
• fight the emotional battle within yourself to allow better thinking

You will make different choices depending on the thoughts and feelings you experience. You may even cycle through many of the choices listed above or find choices of your own. Part of thinking is developing emotional intelligence, a personal process only you can design.

Opinions & Creative Thinking

Take a stand. What harm could it do? Generate discussion? Create conflict? Maybe you will learn you are mistaken? All of the above? These are good things for both the creative and critical thinker. Why?

• generating discussion opens doors to new information and pushes the limits of what you think you know
• conflict that isn't personal is an opportunity to contrast ideas and/or find ideas that embrace opposing ones
• learning to be mistaken and move on is a lifelong lesson that will haunt you unless you practice

Part of critical thinking, learning and embracing new knowledge requires overcoming resistance. You want to be right, right now, but sometimes you're not only wrong, the scaffolding of your arguments are faulty or your story is inauthentic. To others, a shift in thinking may not seem as big of a deal as it is to you. When you can set your ego aside and let go, your thinking and writing will be clearer, sounder and far more creative. 

Bringing the Brain Together

The model of left brain/right brain that evolved in the 1960's now makes for a terrific metaphor: The idea was that the left hemisphere holds the logic of the critical thinker, the right hemisphere holds the imagination of the creative thinker, and for each of us, one side is more dominant than the other.

We now know that certain cognitive functions and other specific brain activities may be located in a particular part of the brain but it is their interaction that maximizes thinking. In other words, thinking requires skills in critical analysis as well as creativity. When the synapses fire between the areas of the brain, thought happen.

Writing requires both critical and creative thinking skills. Your challenge is determining how to use your skills effectively. Do you think about the beginning and end before filling in the middle? Do you know the middle before deciding upon your thesis and conclusion? Do you spew words before refining? Do you outline before proceeding?

Draw upon different sides of your brain, especially when stuck. You may surprise yourself. 

Creative and Critical Thinking

• If you can't think, you can't write.
• If you don't think before you write, you could end up spewing verbiage that remains an unfinished draft that doesn't captivate readers or audience.
• If you don't develop critical thinking skills, your expressions could wander around aimlessly and lack depth.
• Without creative thinking skills, your writing unique writing voice will not be expressed.

Developing your creative and critical thinking skills will enhance your writing before you put words on the page. Consider outlining, mapping or even making notes before you begin, even if you find a need to veer in a different direction.

The map is not the territory.

Incorporating New Ideas

Thinking and writing are work -- fun, but still work. Sometimes you have to switch gears because you discover a new idea or concept that reshapes your original intention. Other times the feedback from others forces you to rethink your intention or how you can best fulfill your intention.

Change is hard and changing your mind is even harder. When you are writing or thinking about what you're writing, you may need to take time to let your thinking change to incorporate new ideas, include new information or assimilate feedback. You may even surprise yourself when you succeed.

Let your work evolve. This may mean discarding large chunks of what you have written. No, you didn't waste time writing what you discarded and yes, you just might use it elsewhere.

BE NOT AFRAID or be afraid and do it anyway.

Truthseeking

Whether you are writing fiction or nonfiction, you need to write what is true. You want your reader or audience to feel the truth in whatever you are writing. Even the most exotic fantasy or science fiction is rooted in a truth that resonates.

Truth isn't only about facts and evidence. Truth requires a willingness to be vulnerable to the feelings it provokes. As a writer, when you show the value of seeking truth, you take your reader or audience with you so that they also want to seek truth.

Beware of "truthiness" -- truth laced with fallacies. Honesty is challenging but worth the effort.