Something To Think About

Thinking and communicating are entirely different functions of the brain, so much so that we often have great ideas we can't seem to put into words, and attempt communication with no rational thought process whatever. The ideal, of course, is getting these two functions to work together, and it's better still when we can combine them with effective listening, which means actually thinking about whatever is said to us. Most people blurt out the first thought that pops into their head. Albert Einstein, one of the world's all-time great thinkers, was exactly the opposite. As a small child he was considered retarded because of his odd quirk of quietly repeating something to himself, testing it out, as it were, getting it right before directing it to others. Mathematics was the language with which he was most comfortable, because it allowed him to shape and refine his ideas before presenting them to the world. Frank Lloyd Wright's concepts for buildings often came to him in a flash, and then would be fully developed in his mind before being committed to paper. He thought about the iconic Fallingwater for months before picking up a pencil, and when he finally got around to drawing the plans he completed them within three hours. Perhaps it's a function of genius, the ability to shut up and think. It's a lesson the rest of the world would do well to learn.