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Non-linear thinking

Non-linear thinking

Hello dear strangers,

I was having a discussion with (OMG, everytime I press @ and try to go back to the letters it adds a space... Om Om Om.) last night and woke up with some thoughts I'd like to share.

My neurospicyness is diagnosed as ADHD which is a terrible label for what my experience of it has been but that's another story. Since my diagnosis I have come to understand that I don't think about the world like a normie does (love you normies). My thinking is not linear it is non-linear.

The lazy way to explain that is that it is circular thinking, that we dance around a topic, scoping it out from all angles before finally getting to the point. What it actually is... take a relationship between two people. Person A and person B. Linear thinking draws a straight line between A and B it says that's it and moves on. A non-linear thinker sees A and B draws that line and then sees AB (i.e. the relationship) as a third point to be included and draws a triangle. A linear thinker looks at the triangle and needs to be sat down like a baby and be walked through a long tedious learning curve to get to this conclusion.

A non-linear thinker sees more of the big picture which makes pattern recognition much easier. It may seem like we are pulling information out of thin air, which can be unsettling to people. This is what makes us so creative and "out of the box' thinkers. The person who invented the wheel definitely had ADHD, lol.

Ok, background done, the thought I woke up with this morning.

People talk about spiralling out of control but nobody ever mentions spiralling into control.

It doesn't have to be that we start from a point in time and go upwards into a spiral. We can be at the open end (top) of a spiral and identify that point at the bottom is what we want and work our way towards it in a circular downward motion.

For me that looks like.

Do a big, nasty, messy lap of that distant point. Take a break, process and recharge. When reinvigorated do another lap, this one is smaller less nasty, less messy because we have some (not much but some) understanding of what is going on and (like the frog that gets boiled alive because he can't feel the smallest incremental increases in temprature) we have been slightly desensitised by our previous experience. Complete that second tighter lap and pause, process, reinvigorated.

And repeat.

Each time this process occurs the circle gets tighter, knowledge increases, fear decrease. Until, finally one day you hit your mark, wondering what all the fuss was about.

You have successfully spiraled into your dream state (and then start looking for something else to stress about. And the process starts again).

This thought is literally 4 hours old so please do critic it as harsh as you feel comfortable doing.

Thank you all.

22 replies

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In response to: Non-linear thinking

Re: Non-linear thinking

@Appleblossom I'm stealing zigzagger. Thanks 🙂

In response to: Re: Non-linear thinking

Re: Non-linear thinking

@i8myego

@MatchaToad @Dimity

Apparently there is a song on the topic - Straight LInes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47P3bzefCVI

Anyway, Who walks in straight lines all the time?

I included it in my piece today ...

In response to: Re: Non-linear thinking

Re: Non-linear thinking

@Appleblossom by Daniel John's? It is on my play list. For some strange reason I find comfort in it because of his failure to walk that line since releasing the song.

I may have a failure fetish hahaha.

To be fair, everyone who succeeds does so in the same handful of ways. Every failure has it's own distinct narrative. Successful people are boring.

In response to: Non-linear thinking

Re: Non-linear thinking

@MatchaToad

One last observation.

I would not look at, "running out of credits" as a harsh reality.

I would say it is helpful. If I run out of credits I was either chasing the wrong end point or I was doing the work in an unaligned way.

Either way the spiral dissipating is a time saver and allows critical resources to be redirected to more fruitful endeavours.

And, if I decided to retry with the same end point in mind at a later date. All the useful information gained on the first go around is going to make the start feel like a slippery slide. And getting started is usually the hard part.

In response to: Re: Non-linear thinking

Re: Non-linear thinking

@i8myego


That is a profound shift in perspective. You’ve turned "running out of credits" from a game-over screen into a system failsafe 💚

If the spiral dissipates, it’s not a failure of will; it’s an internal audit telling you the ROI (Return on Interest) isn't there. It’s actually a very "lean" way of operating. Why spend 100% of your energy on a 10% result?


I love the imagery of the slippery slide effect. It suggests that even when a spiral "fails," the path you cleared during those "messy laps" doesn't just disappear. You’ve already done the heavy lifting of mapping the terrain. When you come back to it later with fresh dopamine, you aren't starting at zero; you’re actually starting with a pre-greased track, essentially.


You’ve essentially described a natural selection of sorts for our ideas. The best ones, the ones that are truly aligned with who we are, will have enough momentum to tighten that spiral until they hit the mark. The ones that don't belong simply evaporate to make room for something better.

It’s been a privilege "spiralling" through these thoughts with you. You’ve given me (and I’m sure others reading this) a much kinder lens through which to view our own "unfinished" projects! 💚

In response to: Re: Non-linear thinking

Re: Non-linear thinking

@i8myego

tho sometimes I like to go straightish.... curvy... maybe... as the crow flies

failure??... I am not sure what success and failure even mean

I used to live in Merewhether ... Daniel Johns territory... but before he was born

my son liked him.

In response to: Re: Non-linear thinking

Re: Non-linear thinking

@Appleblossom

"failure??... I am not sure what success and failure even mean"

That is very healthy.

Can I ask about your son?

I have no context but given where we are, I don't want to assume anything.

In response to: Re: Non-linear thinking

Re: Non-linear thinking

He is a musician on a DSP with MH involvement, but I am not impressed by the way they have handled things. I dont like talking too much about him, cos of privacy.. thhings got very complicated for him. He moved out before Covid and was at Australian Instutue of Music but Covid mucked that up big time and he ended back living with me. I come from a family of 3 generations lots MH involvement (plus ex husband). I went into an orphanage after Merewhether when I was 6... so it is a significant place for us. I had a rich brother and a poor brother and sister who all went into "care" at the same time... but they all died young... we were split up from newcastle when we went into state system .......parents had significant trauma ... anyway I see my son's struggles... in context...I did my best to love him ... he has love in him.

. ... not many straight lines...my son is trying to do the right thing in his way ... there is high function in the family too ...

@i8myego

In response to: Re: Non-linear thinking

Re: Non-linear thinking

@Appleblossom

Thank you so much. That is just one raw deal after another. I appreciate that you can contextualise it. And that you see the love.

Being a parent is the toughest job in the world. It becomes 10x harder when generational trauma is involved and 10x again when MH is involved.

Sending you love.

In response to: Re: Non-linear thinking

Re: Non-linear thinking

Thank you very much @i8myego

mostly I do a step at a time... including sideways...

and paddling like mad to keep head above water... maybe that is staying in the same place....

I can get nerdily literal at times...lol

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