just curious: how do you think most often?

[deicruxified]

or... how does your ideas come? whichever is correct.

my enfp sister and i had a not-so-intellectual chat last midnight (our time) and we were talking about our current random thoughts. it's just her way of "chilling me out" since i came home very late from work (because of the storm and other complications like nonsensical over-time) and she doesn't want me to sleep with a "disturbed" mind as she would like to call it... awww how sweet...

well going back, i was wondering how ideas come into your mind. mine for instance, they are just blurry unknown thingies then my mind catches it by associating a word nearest to that idea. in most cases, i always have a difficult time "transcribing" my thoughts as they are something unexplainable. sometimes ideas came in images and symbols. my sister told me yesterday that her ideas always come in sentences as if someone talks to her (or probably she is a schizo nyahahahahaha joke)

[AresX9]

My ideas come to me as though a movie is being played inside my head, complete with full-fledged surround sound if required. If it's musical, I hear the song/riff being played by myself and see myself playing it.

[The Rose]

My thoughts are in words and sentences.

[Paul V]

Visions. I'm a very visual person. In my head, I can picture every idea, every plan, all fitting perfectly together.

The irony of all this is that I'm near-sighted.

[ShiningLight]

I think in patterns. My thoughts are usually very vague, and I can't assign any visuals or specific words to them. But my ideas are almost always linked to one another in some sort of pattern or logic.

[Rei]

Generally they're big huge blurs with occasional random words that don't really fit together into a sentence... but makes sense none-the-less.

A lot of the time it really screws me over when I try to teach someone how I solved a certain question. :irked:

[Meyer]

I think in a few ways I'm sure but the everpresent way is pictures and visions. Even things such as abstract ideas form pictures to me. I think that to anyone else alot of these pictures would be unintelligible but to me they have meaning. I guess that might make them symbols. If thats the case then mostly pictures and symbols with some language thrown in for translation.

[INTJgal]

I've had trouble labeling this myself.

1.I don't think in images.

2. My thoughts need to be "translated" to English. No, I am not bilingual.

3. Possibly I think in a non-sensory way?

I sort of feel like my ideas are bubbles that bump into each other, and create weird new ideas. However, sometimes a bubble on one end of my mind-space bumps into one that is on the total opposite end. It's like there is no physical distance between them.

Clearly I do not understand how my brain works. I've taken those "learning style" tests... I come up even on them all except visual is low. Although, I feel like my Imagination Vision is just fine, thankyouverymuch. I'm not good with integrating real sensory visual information into my thoughts unless it's consciously done.

[TruorTupnm]

I went with the music one because it is something that I ofttimes employ. Music is pretty much always going in my brain. I have conversations with myself. Nothing visual, except, for some reason, words. It used to be quite distracting, so I've cut back, but I'll visualize every word that everybody says, count the words, count the syllables, count the letters, edit things to obtain symmetry or something, my fingers and toes will always be moving, I've been caught doing it in my sleep. But I would most accurately say, "Auras. Vibes. Grand impressions. Difficult to describe." Also, Yay Megatron! :rolleyes:

[LSB]

I'm rarely able to visualize in my head, I mostly think as though I'm talking to myself which can lead to undesirable situations - either I get 'lost in space' thinking to myself (usually ending up with a dead gaze where that gaze is not supposed to be) or I end up actually talking to myself, out loud. :thumbsdown:

If I transit from speaking my native tongue to English for a longer stretch of time I end up 'thinking' in English as well.

[qwerty]

Interesting, I'm sure I've read somewhere that Autistic people are extremely visual and lack the words in their mind.

Myself it's hard to explain. The world in my head bares no relation to the world outside my head. No words no pictures just something that I can't describe because it has no physical properties.

[Nomad]

I've posted this elsewhere. I have no real awareness of "thinking" Concepts and ideas just come as gestalt, fully formed. I really don't like the classic SO question "What are you thinking?" I usually don't know what I'm thinking.

-Nomad

[The Many]

I think in many different ways, depending on the situation. Most usually, concerning everyday matters, I think in words. Then when I come to some critical understanding, I tend to think in strange, unworldly, multi-dimensional (way more than three dimensions) patterns; which I then set to words... This is how I usually think when brainstorming, for instance I am currently writing a play together with an ENFP, she almost can't understan the notes I make due to all the arrows I draw between the loose intuitive ideas.

Then on the other hand, when I concentrate on some task I can think different ways - for instance, when I write music I "picture" the music inside my mind (I'm synaesthetic to boot, so I "see" music in coloured patterns), and when I was concentrating on this play I could see it progressing and playing itself up before my mind's eye.

I appear to be a versatile thinker.

[rwyatt365]

I put "visual" here because when I'm trying to solve something, the solution comes as a visual. I have trouble getting information from words alone, if I see a picture, then I understand immediately.
I've posted this elsewhere. I have no real awareness of "thinking" Concepts and ideas just come as gestalt, fully formed. I really don't like the classic SO question "What are you thinking?" I usually don't know what I'm thinking.

-Nomad

However, like Nomad, I hate the "What are you thinking" too. More often than not I'm not "thinking" anything at all!

[INTJgal]

Interesting, I'm sure I've read somewhere that Autistic people are extremely visual and lack the words in their mind.

Myself it's hard to explain. The world in my head bares no relation to the world outside my head. No words no pictures just something that I can't describe because it has no physical properties.

non-sensical.

literally--no senses. Exactly.

[Bossy Mom]

Visions. I always have a movie running in my mind. I am primarily a novel reader, and they are also movies running in my mind. When I want to get even, I have movie shorts of various methods to do it and also probable endings (which never turn out well), so I never get even.

Today is Black Friday and I am visualizing the lack of parking at the stores and the hordes of people in line.

[Ijz]

Interesting question deicrux.

It really depends on the situation and task at hand. If it has to do with programming I can sometimes visualize it but most of the abstract stuff I cannot put into words or visions. In most other situations I'm very language oriented. Not as much on the sounds but on the words. In NLP terms I would classify myself as "Auditory Digital".

[dnatalia]

I've posted this elsewhere. I have no real awareness of "thinking" Concepts and ideas just come as gestalt, fully formed. I really don't like the classic SO question "What are you thinking?" I usually don't know what I'm thinking.

-Nomad

I've actually thought about this question a lot because I am bilingual (English/German) and I've come to the conclusion that it's kind of like Nomad described. I find that when I have an idea it requires translation into language. Most of the time, those ideas can be fairly easily put into English words. But sometimes, the German word will pop in and I won't be able to think of the English word for the life of me. This leads me to believe that we do not think in words, but in concepts.

[thegnat]

I said I thought in language - however I think in pictures when listening to people speak, when reading text, etc. When I think on my own...it's more language type though. I'm not sure if that's because - I haven't fully formed the thought and I'm kind of going through it analytically and have only the *idea* of it and not the "reality" as a picture may represent.

[OneBadMother]

Always in words. I have a difficult time visualizing, and have to get things down on paper. I also sometimes have difficulty visualizing numbers, so I have to calculate a lot of things on paper.

I can remember, however, in a slightly wider range that encompasses sound. I don't think in voice, but I remember it, or at least the general quality of it.

[Hypomanic]

I think in words... visualizing sentences, et cetera.

[Emma]

Thinking in words, having full conversations filled with non linear thoughts with myself.

[GOD]

My creative process (I mean intellectual creativity) generally has a sequence that occurs.

1) I consciously decide to focus on a path of thought. (Problem solving or observational etc)

2) I assess the framework and parameters that it will generally fall into or need to meet.

3) Then I think for periods of time, my mind also thinks about numerous other topics under thought.

4) Then my subconscious starts to work on the topic. At various points and these are indeterminate it throws up connections with other informational pieces that exist in my subconscious. (This is the most powerful part)

5) That at various points I pull the whole framework into my consciousness and observe it from various angles. I effectively attenuate logical extensions that lack the required level of logical consistency.

6) My subconscious then works more (cycles between 3 & 5) on the topic until I consciously decide not to revisit it over an extended period of time. However this does not preclude it reappearing when solving a connective thought/problem/observation arises.

[Ijz]

My creative process (I mean intellectual creativity) generally has a sequence that occurs.

1) I consciously decide to focus on a path of thought. (Problem solving or observational etc)

2) I assess the framework and parameters that it will generally fall into or need to meet.

3) Then I think for periods of time, my mind also thinks about numerous other topics under thought.

4) Then my subconscious starts to work on the topic. At various points and these are indeterminate it throws up connections with other informational pieces that exist in my subconscious. (This is the most powerful part)

5) That at various points I pull the whole framework into my consciousness and observe it from various angles. I effectively attenuate logical extensions that lack the required level of logical consistency.

6) My subconscious then works more (cycles between 3 & 5) on the topic until I consciously decide not to revisit it over an extended period of time. However this does not preclude it reappearing when solving a connective thought/problem/observation arises.

Fascinating, I have a similar view on my thought processes alltough it still seems to blurry for me to put it into concrete words. You talk about " subconscious cycles" which baffles me a bit. Are these cycles consciously triggered? If not, how do you know of these "cycles" as you call them?

[Myrak]

I'm not exactly sure how I think, though I have pondered it. Seems to be a mix between visuals and words. I've been told I am a very visual learner and I would probably agree in the majority of cases, however there are situations which don't warrant visuals (programming), which are more word-orientated... but I think I just end up visualising the words :S

So... my brain ends up working like a Windows 98 rotating text screensaver? heh.

[GOD]

Fascinating, I have a similar view on my thought processes alltough it still seems to blurry for me to put it into concrete words. You talk about " subconscious cycles" which baffles me a bit. Are these cycles consciously triggered? If not, how do you know of these "cycles" as you call them?

Basically what happens is that a connective piece of data just appears in my consciousness and it fits with the topic. Sometimes it’s very quick and other times its weeks/months etc.

To me, it’s a sub coconsciousness (or a sub state of conscious) that is slowly grinds through all my known data and eventually throws up a result. This is what true intuition is to me.

As an example. I was trying to find out more about my mothers death to bowel cancer... I saw how online the body processes food. Then I saw that the lower intestine excretes a substance that breaks down solid fats. Then instantly it appeared in my mind that 1) It would use this to break down animal fats in food and 2) That like the effects of marijuana it’s likely that pesticides would be stored in Animal fats.

Hence, just perhaps bowel cancer is related to the build up of farm pesticides in the fat of cattle. It causes bowel cancer at the site of release into the body.

Often I wonder if its right that I focus my thoughts on business rather than scientific endeavor… funnily enough my unique intuition is very good for highly creative things. I think true INTJs are both artist and scientist. Left and Right brain with rapid parallel processing.

[cielo market]

I always liked the idea of a bunch of mini me's running around inside my head connecting millions of neurons to each other, like an operator's massive HQ.

[BloozeGit]

I just finished an assignment that I really dreaded and that was partially out of my field of knowledge (I'm a mech engr and this assignment had a fair bit of signal processing, digital audio etc). I'm not usually a "words" person and I had to plow through a whole lot of papers. Finding key phrases/paras that seem to be saying the same thing in different words led me to the big picture, from which I was able to zoom in on what I was looking for. Right in time for the deadline tomorrow morning *phew*.

When it comes to thinking/learning I tend to be more visual. Wordy/abstract concepts go down a lot easier when I can sort of find a physical correlation or significance.

[logos]

When I read the subject, I didn't expect to see as much variety in the answers as I do.

I voted "language" but I'm not sure how to classify it entirely. When I am thinking in general (considering moral/ethical/philosophical questions, actively or passively) it is in the form of debate. An intuitive dialog between two halves of a whole. I have attributed these to the left and right side of the brain after an intriguing discussion I had with a friend of mine. The dialog is not truly in language, but the outcome is easily translated.

When considering a series of events to predict or change the outcome, I generally choose to focus for a moment and actively visualize all outcomes of a particular scenario by simultaneously following all perceived possible cause/effect paths.

My emotional state is experienced more as a sound - It is constantly there so I don't really notice it, unless it changes, which is rare. The changes feel like a uniform shift in polarity in an electromagnetic field. I don't really have the words to elaborate on that so I shall have to hope the idea comes across.

I once explained to an INFP friend that they way I feel emotions are as the grain in a block of wood. When I feel a certain way, the grain faces in a corresponding direction, but I'm still just a block of wood. Depending on the direction of the grain, some areas may be easier to strike a damaging blow to that block, but I endeavor to maintain a shape that is strong regardless of which way the grain goes.

[Bonnie]

My ideas come to me as though a movie is being played inside my head, complete with full-fledged surround sound if required. If it's musical, I hear the song/riff being played by myself and see myself playing it.

I get this too. It bugs me, because I have a habit of running my life in my head like a TV soap, with 3rd person commentary about myself and everything. I find it hard to switch off, as it messes up present and future social situations as a result of fantasising, unnecessary speculation and over analysing.

[stasis]

I would say that I experience an equal division between clear visualization, which is usually associative in nature, and an internal monologue in words. Together, these constitute the majority of my thoughts. The words have a sort of 'sound' in the same respect that recalling a song has 'sound'. The rest is occupied by an abstract function of some kind, which is completely disjoint and therefore difficult to describe. I might characterize it as yielding gestalt of some sort.

And I never think in 'symbolic logic'.

[banzai]

Visual systems, classifications, etc.

If you were to break down any device of modern engineering and see how each of the pieces relate to each other, you'd see what I see in my head when I am fitting things together mentally. It is easy for me to alter things because I see the entire puzzle all at once.

Although I don't consider myself creative in the overt sense... I accomplish this by subconsciously searching for what I would consider a superb solution from an external point of view. I think... if I were to see a problem and then a creative answer, it would probably look like this. Now I have a problem without a creative answer, let's mull up some groundwork to surprise my overt thought process with and let it finish up the details.

[Lucid]

I would say that I experience an equal division between clear visualization, which is usually associative in nature, and an internal monologue in words. Together, these constitute the majority of my thoughts. The words have a sort of 'sound' in the same respect that recalling a song has 'sound'. The rest is occupied by an abstract function of some kind, which is completely disjoint and therefore difficult to describe. I might characterize it as yielding gestalt of some sort.

And I never think in 'symbolic logic'.

seconded. I usually think verbally in some kind of mental shorthand supplemented with associative images. My inner monologue rarely contains complete sentences.

[Cuivienen]

I do most of my thinking either in concepts ("random unknown thingies") or visually and only really think in words when I am either reading or writing s.th. and words are necessary for a good "translation" of words -> concepts or the other way around. Usually when I`m talking to someone I go directly from the concepts in my head to the spoken word without the extra step of using words in my thoughts.

I noticed that my mind is often working on different levels at the same time making connections, testing or proving concepts/theories. If I did the same thought processes and had to think them in words, it would take much, much longer to get the same results (if it is even possible do so with words).

An interesting "thinking"-related fact which very much applies to me is this one I found a while ago:

Q: Why can’t my INTJ remember anything?

A: This is normal. Most of us INTJs are very forgetful. We have too much going on in our heads at any time to remember a lot of new stuff. Also, we zone out and go into autopilot mode quite frequently. We often won’t remember where we put our car keys because we weren’t “there” when we did it.



This happens to me frequently; it is always annoying when I notice that once again I locked my keys into my locker, forgot where I parked my car or got lost because I "zoned out" when I was told the itinerary (sadly, all those things happened to me within the last two weeks). I also usually don`t remember faces of people I don`t have much to do with, f.e. yearmates I theoretically see often, but don`t talk to much.


About the visual thinking, when I am learning new words or names f.e. in a lecture, I always have to find out how they are spelled so I can remember them: When I do think in words and phrases I always "see" them before my inner eye; the same applies when I am solving math problems, then I "see" the equations and rearrange the numbers.

Also when I see any kind of pattern (the colour and arrangement of bricks/cracks in a wall, bathroom tiles, patterns printed on fabric) I often rearrange those tiles/bricks/cracks in my mind so that the pattern "makes sense"/is harmonious. This happens especially often when I am bored. :huh:

[deicruxified]

And I never think in 'symbolic logic'.
during my advanced logic classes days, i actually dreamed of symbollic logic thingies and it freaked me out.

[Lucid]

during my advanced logic classes days, i actually dreamed of symbollic logic thingies and it freaked me out.

That happened to me while I was taking advanced logic. It was a nightmare.

[INTJoe]

Hmmm, I think most of my deep thinking is visual, and then I put words to what I see. I explain to myself, using language, what I am envisioning.

Like when I just kick back and try to think about how an economy works. I'll "see" the flow of money, and how it affects people and things. Then I'll put words to it, and try to explain the theory to people around me.

[Ribcakes]

i tend to work a lot with math chemistry and computer programy stuff so my thoughts tend to come in pictures of the symbols that are used in those areas.

i just see them rearranging themselves and working

[Decano]

I think with words and sentences, sometimes paragraphs. I'm usually thinking in a way that seems like I'm talking with myself, like "Why am I doing this?" But I actually see the words in my mind as if reading from a page of a book. And I've often caught myself thinking in a third-person narrative type style. (i.e. As I'm walking down the hall, I begin pondering the origin of the modern schooling system...)

[Caramel]

Mostly words, but very visual too. The way Stasis describes it is very accurate.

It depends a lot on what I'm thinking about though. When I'm bored (drifting off with my mind), I do the same as Decano does, thinking in entire sentences, making up stories in my head, its like writing a book without paper. Sometimes I drift off so far that I actually 'live' in side my head at that point and then think of something funny and start laughing for real...

EDIT: spelling. :thinking:

[edalz]

I want to say it's like a movie that's out of focus, but that's not quite right. I'm not seeing things on a screen, but I'm experiencing my thoughts from my own point of view, like I'm physically in the space in my mind. The entire scene remains sort of blurry until I choose to focus on something specific. I never think in text. My inner monologue is entirely auditory, although I often think in terms of concepts without words at all.

[Booko]

It depends on the subject matter.

If I'm planning, it's totally in words...usually written on a list or spoken to the nearest cat.

If I'm doing a garden design, it just kinds pops into my head, more visually than anything. If I'm pruning it's more like I "feel" it. Pruning done right feels like doing tai chi right. Hm, kinesthetic thinking. Well, I suppose that's what athletes do too.

When I was programming, thinking was all in symbols. APL is an odd language. Someone mentioned seeing symbolic logic in their dreams -- it doesn't look that much different.

For the most part, Chemistry I think about symbolically. In some subjects it gets more visual, when you get into subjects like symmetry and isomerism, for example. In some ways it's visual. If you say "methyl group" to me I see a methyl group as it would be on part of a molecule. I have to translate that to CH3 to write it down on paper anywhere.

Music can come in several ways. I see it mostly symbolically if I'm composing or arranging something, as one would in any music theory class. (You don't have to hear it to do it.) If I'm working on a piece for performance, I hear it obviously. At odd times. In the shower, while cooking, while not really quite watching the news.

If I'm reading, again it depends on the subject matter. Most of my studies lately end up with thinking in words. The recent subject matter (cancer prevention) is all facts, figures, and history. When I move on to other subjects that involve plenty of diagrams, I expect it will be visual and symbolic. I think about accupressure points visually, for example. I only translate them symbolically if I have to record them somewhere.

[Caramel]

It depends on the subject matter.
If you say "methyl group" to me I see a methyl group as it would be on part of a molecule. I have to translate that to CH3 to write it down on paper anywhere.


For real? When someone would say 'methyl group' to me, I see it as CH3 in structural formula in my head. In fact, when I was reading the word in your post, I saw 'CH3' in my head. :blank:

[Rohsiph]

Like The Many and Booko, among others I may have missed, I suppose I'm a pretty versatile thinker--

I'll usually have a running monologue/dialogue going in my head, whether it's myself bouncing ideas around in my own voice, or, often after talking to anyone I respect, imagining them responding to my thoughts in their voice.

I'll often also have a song looping in the background--occasionally fragments of songs I haven't heard in a long time, sometimes even "playing back" wrong in some parts. The "I've had this song stuck in my head" thing is commonly a truth for me.

I can call up images to different degrees of clarity . . . but I've noticed that I never actually *see* them with my eyes, unless I'm actively dreaming. Yet, there can be an extreme vividness such that I'll occasionally feel deja-vu in rare circumstances that I visit a place that appears like one I've basically imagined in this way.

When working on different kinds of art, I'll have different processes running through my mind . . .

but I think the general tendency is that there are almost always at least two things consciously going on at once (most often: words and music) in my head.

[Antares]

I mostly think in words and sentences, but I also think in pictures and music, and ironically my spatial skills are horrible.

[quentin]

I'm a writer. I think in words.

About the short term memory problem: I really hate it when I'm on the internet and I want to research some topic that just crossed the radar of my thoughts. But the problem is that there are usually at least 3 or 4 subjects I want to look up when I surf the net. So I look up the first subject in Wikipedia or Google, and by the time I'm finished reading about it, I've forgotten the other stuff I planned to look up. I should write it all down like a grocery list.

[Pinkie]

I think in words, but I also see the words that I'm thinking. They're always white on a black background. It's like having my own PowerPoint going on in the front of my head.

[Sevs]

I really don't know my thoughts are a mixture of english german images patterns and sometimes even code (as in programming). I think if anyone could see them they would be damaged for life :-p

[Kfbr]

I'd have to say a mix of sound and language.. there's almost always a song going on in my head in addition to the pictures and words running through my mind.

Truly a cacophony that would drive men mad.

[lancelot]

I think visually, yet I recall words or ideas spoken by other people.

[ssfanatic]

Lol, no one said that they dont think.

[Richard0612]

I tend to think in small movie clips linked to one another when looking for reasons or outcomes, although I often talk to myself [either out loud or internally] when doing so. When planning what I am going to do, I think mainly in words. I'm not really sure why; the only thing that I am certain of is that I'm always thinking of at least a few dozen things at once!

[AgentofGaming]

I think in concepts. They are aren't words, pictures or symbols, but can be triggered by them.
It's kind of cool I can use them to store words and detailed pictures and remember the details if given the right keyword or image to represent it.
Kind of like a RAM and memory addresses...

Lol, no one said that they dont think.
Well... to be honest I thought about pressing it, but...
if I wanted to be funny I'd choose robot instead.

[Nyiah]

Somewhere between words/voices and visions, symbols. Sometimes I can't think of the word so I'll just picture it and then try to describe to people what I see in my head. Just like Pictionary!

[Antares]

Somewhere between words/voices and visions, symbols. Sometimes I can't think of the word so I'll just picture it and then try to describe to people what I see in my head. Just like Pictionary!

I actually imagine someone saying the words that I read and I have conversations with myself. For example, with a math problem:


But x=z!

So? Does that help?

It's painfully obvious. Are you stupid or what?

[Paul V]

I actually imagine someone saying the words that I read and I have conversations with myself. For example, with a math problem:


But x=z!

So? Does that help?

It's painfully obvious. Are you stupid or what?


I do that as well, with my many different personality figments. Sometimes it's simply hilarious, like your example.

[IFearAManOf1Book]

Really random things just speed through my brain, usually as written words, but sometimes it is more like a separate entity is speaking out loud in my head.

[lancelot]

"tend to think in small movie clips linked to one another when looking for reasons or outcomes, although I often talk to myself [either out loud or internally] when doing so. When planning what I am going to do, I think mainly in words. I'm not really sure why; the only thing that I am certain of is that I'm always thinking of at least a few dozen things at once!"

"I think in concepts. They are aren't words, pictures or symbols, but can be triggered by them."

I think in movie clips as well, and concepts.


....Audio sequential thinking? No, that's not for me, I swallow the universe.

......................Visual-Spatial thinking Rocks, Oh Yeah.............................

[PRBori]

Hmm... good question.

I tend to do a combination of the two, but I always have to noted down on papers. When I have to develop management plans, I have to think on the step-by-step process and who should be in charge of what, which tends to be in words. When I'm building my application, I have to think how my tables should connect and how I want a Form to look, and that's visual to some extend.

I do however always put my thoughts on paper, in particular I do a lot of powerpoint diagrams, print them and make sure they coordinate with what I have in mind for a process.

Kind of complicated to explain how I think. Kind of odd since my job involves so many things.

But I'm balanced brained, so I guess that's why I can do both, although I'm stronger on the visual aspects, maybe because I love that 7 piece chinese game "TANGOE" or "TANTAGRAM" so much and can't get over it...

[Solaris]

I said random unknown thingies. It really depends on the situation, and ranges from visual images, to word visualization, sometimes just random associations, to just "hearing" words, to something I don't fully understand. I think it was Nomad who said that things just come to him fully formed -- that happens to me fairly often as well...especially when I am speaking. I say so much that I have no idea where in my brain it originated...and the thing is, it's so insightful and useful, I wish I could tap into it more.

[DeadSpace]

Mix of visual concepts and words, parallel, multiple streams of both types. and fragments, mixed chunks, like my brain didn't feel like sorting so shoved 2 together to make it work. image concept+text. it's a mess in there :\

[Lagawrd]

I recieve thoughts in image format. This image fits in one specific part of my brain (In thoughts... no, not the tissue). It is then stored in an undusted library for later use. When I use it, I deduce as if it were a symbol but also as an image. The images have symbols for easy access. This is what happens when I think normally. Of course this changes due to special moments and specific occurrences.

When I am trying to slove something that requires flexing my mind, I tend to not know what I am thinking of. Picture this: You are walking in a brain highway filled with intersections and unknown roads. You know where you are going and you know the direction, but there are so many things in your way you cannot help but get lost. It is then that I have to rearrange the roads using imaging so they could still fulfill their duty logically but to not be in my way.

Generally my thoughts are unknown, my brain is used to characterizing them through these symbols just to make sense of everything before storing on seperate shelves of a grand library.

[errrzarrr]

Language. I do something like talking to myself or "saying" the ideas in my mind.

[Violet]

MIne is definitely a mix of words, pictures, forms, sounds, smells and intangibles. I get annoyed when asked to put something into words that I can just "see" and have been known to actually ramble off a bunch of nonsensical images "have you ever seen?...." "you know that smell?..." "do you know the color i'm talking about?" and then follow up with "can you see it?"

I am quite used to getting "the look".

[Solaris]

I remember when I was a kid, I used to picture the inside of my mind as a room filled with various file drawers. Even then, the room was a mess. In my mind, I would rummage through each drawer, looking for the one in which I had stored the desire piece of information. Eventually, I became more relational in my thinking, because it helped me remember which drawer I had stashed information in. So I use a combination of both now. Hmmm...that sounds messy, a compartmentalizing relational thinker.

[Violet]

I remember when I was a kid, I used to picture the inside of my mind as a room filled with various file drawers. Even then, the room was a mess. In my mind, I would rummage through each drawer, looking for the one in which I had stored the desire piece of information. Eventually, I became more relational in my thinking, because it helped me remember which drawer I had stashed information in. So I use a combination of both now. Hmmm...that sounds messy, a compartmentalizing relational thinker.

Funny, I actually have a similar system going on in my head, and it works.
I remember when I read Stephen King's "Dreamcatcher" , one of the characters was trapped in his mind by an alien (gotta read it to get it) and had a system like that, it made me smile that someone else viewed a person's mind as potentially being a large library of random files that only makes sense to that person.

[Desiderata]

Concepts and ideas just come as gestalt, fully formed.

Is anyone familiar with the theory of cognitive processes?

According to that, an INTJ has four main functions he utilizes to understand/react to the world or the self. The "Heroic" or primary function is introverted Intuition - and these descriptions sound like attempts to describe the elusive bloody thing.

How about: "Introverted Intuitions are not really ideas. They're like trains at the edge of articulated knowledge. You can't claim them or advocate them. You put on a hat, grab hold of a boxcar door, and see where they go."

[Nausved]

I sometimes think visually, sometimes linguistically, and sometimes conceptually.

But I always, always, always think spatially. Whenever I speak (even on the phone), I gesture. Specifically, I'm gesturing where, in three-dimensional space, all these images, words, and concepts exist within my mind. Orientation to the cardinal directions is of particular importance, to the point that I sometimes get confused if I don't know which direction I'm facing.

[lancelot]

"Orientation to the cardinal directions is of particular importance, to the point that I sometimes get confused if I don't which direction I'm facing."


......I am embarassed to say I used to get lost in shopping malls...........

[Nausved]

Hehehe, I sometimes get lost, too, and it's very befuddling; not only do I have a hard time finding my way when I'm lost, but my entire sense of self feels a bit out of whack.

The worst part is when I don't immediately recognize where I am when I wake up—not so much because it's unfamiliar, but because I can't find North. It can really throw me off.

[Solaris]

Funny, I actually have a similar system going on in my head, and it works.
I remember when I read Stephen King's "Dreamcatcher" , one of the characters was trapped in his mind by an alien (gotta read it to get it) and had a system like that, it made me smile that someone else viewed a person's mind as potentially being a large library of random files that only makes sense to that person.

I did read it, so I get it. I had forgotten about that, but I'm sure it struck me at the time. I dismissed King after he lamed out on The Dark Tower and wrote that abominable ending.

I think, over the years, the files became a self-referencing card catalog of sorts. I still stash things in files, but put labels on them, hoping the relations will help jog certain memories and locate stashed bits of information.

[Violet]

I did read it, so I get it. I had forgotten about that, but I'm sure it struck me at the time. I dismissed King after he lamed out on The Dark Tower and wrote that abominable ending.

I think, over the years, the files became a self-referencing card catalog of sorts. I still stash things in files, but put labels on them, hoping the relations will help jog certain memories and locate stashed bits of information.

I'm still a huge fan, what can I say.

I guess that's your J, I'm too lazy to even label the files in my head, but I can sense the direction to go, sometimes it just takes a while.

Huh, that sounds weird.