"....we live in a world where we are taught from the start, that we are thinking creatures that feel. The truth is, we are feeling creatures that think..."
Jill Boyle Taylor (b.1959) neuroanatomist
In the process of my literature review on "visual thinking" I'm often distracted by trains of thought that are tangental to my main focus of inquiry. That's perfectly ok though, it just takes more time to get to the heart of the matter. I'm fascinated (as well as overwhelmed) by the amount of material developed on cognition and the creative ideation process. How do we solve problems? What's my process, what's yours? It's not a private affair any longer -- although we still have to do deep critical thinking on our own -- the real work happens outside of our heads. The work gets done in the room, with as many relevant stakeholders as possible and practical.
The thought process is shared, it's a distributed cognition that relies on the input of others as well as any artefacts we can get our hands on: the white boards, the sticky-notes, the idea sketches scrolled all over presentation pads.
It feels at once familiar and strange to me. This is how we used to "play" in early grade school. I think it still needs to be considered a type of "play". It may require rigorous attention to detail and process, especially when using cognitive tools to structure information and data. But aside from the brain work, we can't ignore the body work. What does the body know? Or the heart? How we feel informs what we think and do. The holistic approach to problem-solving is natural and so necessary when faced with the complexities of our time.
