Thinking Alone

 

solitude

How well do you think when you are alone?  I know I don’t do my best – or even great – thinking on my own.  So I was delighted that recently at the UK Time to Think Collegiate meeting in London we gave time to thinking about how we think in solitude.  What makes it so different  to thinking with someone else?

The presence and effect of Attention from someone else seems obvious.  But what else? I realised with a shock that even though I’m  mindful of all the principles of the Thinking Environment® way of being, and use them as the ‘unwavering context’ for all of my work, I had never thought consciously to apply these to my own thinking when alone.  Of course I use the assumptions framework to work out ideas and decisions – but that’s not the same as thinking with Appreciation about myself and my ideas/ achievements as I start, or finish.  Or noticing how much I may block my own thinking by comparing my ideas to others, which is a kind of competition, directly related to Encouragement.  What an ‘aha’ moment!  How about Ease – internal rush? Information – what’s missing, what might I be ignoring/ denying at this moment? It’s such a good checklist to begin from, and I’m feeling excited about the possibilities.

How would it be if next time you think through something serious, you sat down with the 10 Components, and used them (or at least some of them) to prime your mindset,  inform and guide your own thinking?  Join me in this exciting thought experiment and please let me know how you get on, I would love to know.

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