"We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us." Churchill said this in a speech in 1943. Experts can tell us just what our buildings do and architects can design buildings to do things differently, maybe not just differently, but better.
Information architecture is a new and growing field where various sorts of people look at information systems, software, web pages and their design to see if better layouts and better connections can assist in better thinking and better communication. But all of us build mental structures and rebuild them all the time, maybe even in our sleep. We might call this activity "word architecture" but a more common name is "self talk". We could call ourselves "thought architects."
There have been times when a computer program was not behaving the way I wanted but I could not figure out why. Talking to myself in clear sentences that could each be check for accuracy and intent was a process that helped find the reasons the program wasn't working. It often helped. With even more obstinately uncooperative programs, it was necessary to explain step by step what the program was doing to an intelligent listener, such as my wife.
Quite a while ago, I found the book "What to Say when You Talk to Your Self" by Dr. Shad Helmstetter. I have the book on my Kindle but I haven't gotten to it yet. (Knowing me, I may never get to it. It can help to just remember the book and its title and to think about self talk without actually reading the book. I have limited years left, you know.) More recently, reading and thinking have made clear that what I say to myself, what I think all amounts to practice and drill. So, if I find that the house, garden and layout of my inner space is cramping my life or misleading me, I may have to call on my inner word/thought architect to redesign messages sent to myself.
Checking my email too often is a physical act that I can spot and criticize and redesign if I want. Thinking I am a couch potato slug because I didn't exercise yesterday is a much faster, more subtle act but it too trains me in both lethargy (what a great word!) and self dislike. It is the sort of act that can slip past my awareness but still train me more and more deeply into being what I don't want.
It can be tiring work to stay alert to the way I have my mind designed and consider redesigning it. Sometimes, a joke, a story, a poem, a quotation or even a tune can be more helpful in guiding me into being a bit different than a straightforward admonition such as "Be prepared." But hard work or easy, it can be fun to explore what it is my head and consider re-design possibilities.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
