I have noticed myself thinking in a more nonlinear fashion over the past 20 years. (Does that sound linear? ha) My confusion always comes when I am listening to sound-alike words like "meet" and "meat." I always jump to the wrong word and end up having to sort it out mentally, and by the time I do, the conversation has long since moved on. Is this nonlinear thinking? I must admit that it helps in writing poetry to have a "roving" vocabulary.
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I love this post but don't have much to offer you. A professor once told me that I am a recursive thinker, since I would reach conclusions in my essay that often worked, but I didn't trace my own thinking to those conclusions in a satisfactory manner.
I was researching another topic, when I decided to google linear vs. recursive thinking, which is how I found your post. I recognize everything you say and I feel like I have to keep my mouth shut a lot just so folks don't think I'm weird. In meetings I have all sorts of ideas, but since I cannot always track them in a linear fashion, I tend to keep my mouth shut and wait till I can painstakingly jot them out in an email (linear style) so that my colleagues can understand.
And that's not all bad, either. I think I am learning to be more linear in my thinking, which allows me to function better in society. I reckon that it doesn't threaten my creative side, but only enhances.
I love peanut butter and tofu. In fact, they go really well together. At Vietnamese restaurants, I love to get a plate of fried tofu with peanut sauce.
Thanks!
Kim
I love your way of looking at this Kim! I totally relate to this as well, but I have always just been frustrated by the fact that linear thinkers seem to shun the nonlinear jumps I accidentally and naturally make. I have learned to appear more linear in my thoughts so as to function better in society, but I never thought about the possibility of it helping my creative side... good stuff. Does anyone know where I can find more literature on nonlinear thinking like this? Thanks!