Problem with verbally-driven thinking and working on it

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?

Hi Psalehesost,

It is an interesting experience you're describing.

Psalehesost said:

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.

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As I see it, I think that you can be partly right. In a way, visual thinking might increase the signal to noise ratio, but that could also be due to it being an unfamiliar thinking method. Since you are less used to thinking visually, perhaps you haven't had the time to develop all the habits and patterns you've developed with your normal thinking method.
So you have this new thinking method, you need to spend more energy to make it work, and when it does work you'll probably see things differently then with your regular "verbal" thinking. This can perhaps lead to that enhanced sense of focus and meaning. I don't know it myself, just a thought.

A couple of years ago I took a course in NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming). I'm still not quite sure of what to think of NLP itself, but I'm mentioning it because during the course we've practiced a few things that might be relevant to your recent experience. One of the course premises was that our perceptions of environment and behaviours can be represented through the way we see, hear, feel, smell and taste. This would lead to 5 representational systems: Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic, Olfactory and Gustatory. Pretty much the 5 senses.
During the course we would often be asked to experience seeing a situation through the filter of each of these systems. It was quite enlightening, as we could clearly see amongst us students how different systems will be very strongly felt for some, but not for others.
Experiencing a situation in one's head without the use of words, but through these representational systems was quite a journey in itself! And I do agree with you, it brought more meaning to my experiences, in that I actually saw them under a completely different light. In my case, I took it to be a consequence of using new senses to help my thinking process which sort of rewired my brain.

Psalehesost said:

Any ideas for furthering this work on rewiring my mind to be visually-driven?

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Not sure if this is what you would be looking for, but in some of the exercises we did in the above mentioned course, we would be asked to pick a specific situation, either of a pleasant or unpleasant nature. With the help of a list ascribing different visual qualities, we would have to experience the situation (in our heads, of course) going through each of these qualities.
As an example we had: the angle through which you are seeing the scene, whether you see it bordered or panoramic, is it sketchy, moving or still, focused or unfocused, whether you're in the picture, size of the image, shape, is it 3d or flat, colour, is it close to you or distant, location in space (where do you see it), bright or dim.

There would be a whole other list for each of the other representational systems. All in all, I think it can be a very interesting exercise to not only enhance one's perceptions, but also discover somethings that are lingering in our subconscious and that we aren't aware of.

Visual thinking perhaps involves both the emotional and intellectual centers and so have a richer content than thinking with words only which may involve only the intellectual parts.
[quote author=Psalehesost]
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.
[/quote]
You may find some interesting thoughts on types of focus (or attention) and its effect on brain coherence in this thread.
I would think that word based thinking is more "narrow focused" compared to visual thinking which is more "diffuse focus". Diffuse focus attention style generally promotes more brain coherence than the narrow focus - which actually leads to more signal content and better signal to noise ratio.
[quote author=Psalehesost]
Any ideas for furthering this work on rewiring my mind to be visually-driven?
[/quote]
Perhaps trying to work towards a more diffuse focus style of attention would be helpful? Dr Fehmi suggests focusing on "object less imagery" like "focusing on the area between the eyes" as an example exercise which promoted brain synchrony in lab experiments. Trying to focus hard on particular words/objects could result in desynchronization in the brain and thus less signal to noise ratio.

Some further thoughts and observations:

Visual thinking can be "driven" in several ways, it seems. The way it often used to be, the same "part" of the mind that drove verbal thinking "grabbed hold" of the part that does visuals and forced it to work for it. This seems far less than optimal; I think, from observation, that it drains and imbalances the brain.

That part that did this is the same part that engages in anticipation, it seems. I think that way of visualizing is the more "left-brain" way of doing it. Likewise, I think it did the same to the verbal part, which in itself, working otherwise, does not give the same detrimental effects on focus and meaning.

In other words, the issue wasn't so much the part that in itself does verbal thought, but the part that used it, and sometimes similarly used the visual part.

Engaging in visual thinking "by itself", which is what I ended up trying to do, makes it free from anticipation and elements of "time". If you "picture" something related to time thinking in this way, you picture it alongside, or as part of the same picture as, things connected to now. I think this mode of thinking is more left-right balanced.

It is funny. It is said that "you cannot think about the way you think with the way you think". Well, here I have several ways of thinking that can think about each other!

obyvatel said:

Visual thinking perhaps involves both the emotional and intellectual centers and so have a richer content than thinking with words only which may involve only the intellectual parts.

Click to expand...

I think there is less of a "divide", and that content from the emotional center can be integrated more freely into such thought, though it is still driven by the intellectual center. Perhaps a difference in what part of the intellectual center, though - there are said to be three division of each center relating to attention, the lowest (mechanical) part being involved in mechanical (automatic) attention, the middle (emotional) part involved in things that attract attention, and the highest (intellectual) part involved in conscious attention. Perhaps it is engaging the intellectual part of the intellectual center?

obyvatel said:

Perhaps trying to work towards a more diffuse focus style of attention would be helpful? Dr Fehmi suggests focusing on "object less imagery" like "focusing on the area between the eyes" as an example exercise which promoted brain synchrony in lab experiments. Trying to focus hard on particular words/objects could result in desynchronization in the brain and thus less signal to noise ratio.

Click to expand...

That strikes me; this kind of visual thinking is more "diffuse" and "open" (it has images, but they are are more abstract or like scenery than concrete, limited objects), whereas the "other" kind of visual thinking I described first in this post is more "narrow" (focusing only on what "it wants" to focus on, seeing only what "it wants" to see).

So perhaps practicing this attention style will practice using the brain in this way...

Gertrudes said:

In a way, visual thinking might increase the signal to noise ratio, but that could also be due to it being an unfamiliar thinking method. Since you are less used to thinking visually, perhaps you haven't had the time to develop all the habits and patterns you've developed with your normal thinking method.
So you have this new thinking method, you need to spend more energy to make it work, and when it does work you'll probably see things differently then with your regular "verbal" thinking. This can perhaps lead to that enhanced sense of focus and meaning. I don't know it myself, just a thought.

Click to expand...

Could be, to some extent, though there is also that difference in focus that means, I think, that some of this difference will persist.

That exercise you describe could also be interesting; to try, I guess...