Psalehesost
The Living Force
I realized two days ago after doing the POTS the great problem that verbal thinking is for me. The bulk of mechanical thought-activity for me takes this form. Further, verbal thinking for me removes from thought its contents, such that there is barely more going on in the mind than a flow of words.
This is the root, I think, of the problem I've had doing the POTS - focusing on the words suppresses the content! I realized that the way thought usually goes for me is that words drive the thinking, very vague imagery and in turn meaning following as a byproduct. On the occasions that I think visually (and when doing the few things that by habit involves it), there is incomparably greater focus and meaning to my thought.
If I had discovered this earlier and so earlier begun to "fight" word-driven thinking, trying to engage visually, my ability to think clearly and focus might have been several times greater today. Visual thought seems to have a signal-to-noise ratio at least 10 times greater! It also seems much more mature and holistic, at least the way my mind works - habits and mechanical patterns enter heavily into verbal thought, but not so much in visual thought, which is more conscious.
After discovering this, I spent hours before going to sleep working on this, on focusing visually and trying to engage in visually-driven thought. At first it seemed very hard, as if I would need to build up a whole new "mental muscle" in place of my old - but it is more a lack of connection, I think. To some extent this has lessened, making the split "smaller" - words are more connected to meaning, and words follow more easily from visuals, but not as rigidly, and not imposing themselves as much as a contentless replacement, unless I forget to engage visually.
Part of the process I did was to focus in a way I cannot clearly describe (because describing mental doings is nearly impossible in words) in order to "free" and "get out" old imagery charged with emotion or identification that had been lying on the bottom of my mind, sometimes for a long time - it felt as if something "came out", and my mind became somewhat less restricted as a result. The divide between my mind and old emotions also became a bit lesser, and I could feel a bit better what I had felt in negatively emotionally charged events in the past.
Any ideas for furthering this work on rewiring my mind to be visually-driven?
This is the root, I think, of the problem I've had doing the POTS - focusing on the words suppresses the content! I realized that the way thought usually goes for me is that words drive the thinking, very vague imagery and in turn meaning following as a byproduct. On the occasions that I think visually (and when doing the few things that by habit involves it), there is incomparably greater focus and meaning to my thought.
If I had discovered this earlier and so earlier begun to "fight" word-driven thinking, trying to engage visually, my ability to think clearly and focus might have been several times greater today. Visual thought seems to have a signal-to-noise ratio at least 10 times greater! It also seems much more mature and holistic, at least the way my mind works - habits and mechanical patterns enter heavily into verbal thought, but not so much in visual thought, which is more conscious.
After discovering this, I spent hours before going to sleep working on this, on focusing visually and trying to engage in visually-driven thought. At first it seemed very hard, as if I would need to build up a whole new "mental muscle" in place of my old - but it is more a lack of connection, I think. To some extent this has lessened, making the split "smaller" - words are more connected to meaning, and words follow more easily from visuals, but not as rigidly, and not imposing themselves as much as a contentless replacement, unless I forget to engage visually.
Part of the process I did was to focus in a way I cannot clearly describe (because describing mental doings is nearly impossible in words) in order to "free" and "get out" old imagery charged with emotion or identification that had been lying on the bottom of my mind, sometimes for a long time - it felt as if something "came out", and my mind became somewhat less restricted as a result. The divide between my mind and old emotions also became a bit lesser, and I could feel a bit better what I had felt in negatively emotionally charged events in the past.
Any ideas for furthering this work on rewiring my mind to be visually-driven?