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The brain is such a cool toy. While it could certainly be better at many things, overall, I'm quite happy with mine. I'm particularly grateful for the strange associations it makes that others don't seem to and it's ability to "fake it." I'm basically lazy, without the "fake it" trick, I would have actually had to study in school; I would have been doomed.
Part of my brain buffet is some mild dyslexia. Nothing major, never officially diagnosed, but certainly present. I read slowly, spell poorly, and occasionally loose the meaning of words entirely. Sometimes it's fun to loose a word, actually. It reminds me that words are strange arbitrary labels we use to try to pin down reality. Generally, it's not something I notice until faced with duality.
Taoism attempts to show the unity of all things by attacking the nature of opposites, represented by the familiar yin-yang symbol. Sometimes it seems my brain is hard wired to be befuddled by opposites. I recall a quote attributed to Freud, which I now can't find, where he laments that in spite of all his education and intellect, he still can't always recall which hand is which. I completely sympathize.
Today I had to navigate to a training center. I've been there many times, but I still had to reference the directions. The odd bend of my brain was made obvious to me as I silently chanted "south, then north" to myself. Curiously, visual maps are never an issue.
I realized that I was actually calling up a map in my mind to resolve the south north thing. It then occurred to me that when forced to discern the difference between east and west, I always conjure up a map of the US in my mind, complete with little lines for states and a directional key. There is a vague sense that west hovers on the Pacific side, East on the Atlantic.
After seeing my mental map, I lock down how the NEWS directions work. Then I figure where I am and where I'm going. Then I affix the direction "287N, 287N, 287N..." because otherwise it will slide into south at the last moment. Funny thing is, this process is a quick mental twitch; so habitual I rarely notice it. Just today it struck me.
Still, I feel it's kind of a price for the other things I'm happy about. A well known curse of the artist, the right brainers, is manic-depression in various degrees. I'm the other side of the coin; left brained and highly analytical. My inner artist in kind of short bus material. If there's one thing I excel at it's computer programming and anything else that uses that kind of thinking. Is the price of that an odd mental quirk? I suspect it is. I'm not complaining, just introspective.
Part of my brain buffet is some mild dyslexia. Nothing major, never officially diagnosed, but certainly present. I read slowly, spell poorly, and occasionally loose the meaning of words entirely. Sometimes it's fun to loose a word, actually. It reminds me that words are strange arbitrary labels we use to try to pin down reality. Generally, it's not something I notice until faced with duality.
Taoism attempts to show the unity of all things by attacking the nature of opposites, represented by the familiar yin-yang symbol. Sometimes it seems my brain is hard wired to be befuddled by opposites. I recall a quote attributed to Freud, which I now can't find, where he laments that in spite of all his education and intellect, he still can't always recall which hand is which. I completely sympathize.
Today I had to navigate to a training center. I've been there many times, but I still had to reference the directions. The odd bend of my brain was made obvious to me as I silently chanted "south, then north" to myself. Curiously, visual maps are never an issue.
I realized that I was actually calling up a map in my mind to resolve the south north thing. It then occurred to me that when forced to discern the difference between east and west, I always conjure up a map of the US in my mind, complete with little lines for states and a directional key. There is a vague sense that west hovers on the Pacific side, East on the Atlantic.
After seeing my mental map, I lock down how the NEWS directions work. Then I figure where I am and where I'm going. Then I affix the direction "287N, 287N, 287N..." because otherwise it will slide into south at the last moment. Funny thing is, this process is a quick mental twitch; so habitual I rarely notice it. Just today it struck me.
Still, I feel it's kind of a price for the other things I'm happy about. A well known curse of the artist, the right brainers, is manic-depression in various degrees. I'm the other side of the coin; left brained and highly analytical. My inner artist in kind of short bus material. If there's one thing I excel at it's computer programming and anything else that uses that kind of thinking. Is the price of that an odd mental quirk? I suspect it is. I'm not complaining, just introspective.