Making it visual

I'm struck again by the great power in this really simple act of making the topic of discussion into a visual artefact - into a thing we can discuss. Sometimes it seems like such a straightforward thing. But then again, we can fumble around for hours with a 'meeting' and not get far.

I think it is that we (that is we people in general) often mistake ourselves and have a bit of an over-inflated sense of our abilities. We are so good at thinking in so many ways, but so limited in other respects. We can only handle a few things at a time. Maybe 7, maybe 5. I think I can do 3. When I can be comfortable with that simple human limitation, I can be happier about writing it down, getting it external, to help me out.

And how about the way in which we write things down? Often we get caught up in the 'right' way to write. Rules and forms of writing are vital (more of that another time) but often they tie us to something that doesn't help with what we are doing - conversing, discussing, working things out. We can make our own forms for understanding.