Thinking is Linking and The PATH Model

No thought exists in a vacuum – thoughts exist within a network of linkages and associations – thinking is linking. And questions focus our thinking.

Studies show that the environment around us – what we see, what we hear when asked a question, what we read and talk about, all influence what we think and feel. And what we focus our thinking on, changes the linking in our brain…  So, people’s perception of anything changes, based on what they experience before that thing: Is something BIG or small, is it EASY or difficult… well, IT DEPENDS on WHAT WE ARE COMPARING IT TO. The scientific term for this kind of association is PERCEPTUAL CONTRAST

The concept was first illustrated in the 17th century by a Scientist (John Locke) using three buckets of water: the middle bucket would be filled with room temperature water (neither hot nor cold) the bucket on the left filled with ice water and the bucket on the right with hot water. Placing your left hand in the ice and your right hand in the hot and holding them there, you would get used to what you are feeling.

Taking both hands out and placing them in the middle “room temperature” bucket, changes your experience…  the hand that was in the ice experiences the room temperature as warm. the hand that was in the hot experiences the room temperature as cool.

The middle bucket did not change. What changed was your perception based on what you experienced PREVIOUSLY. 

We can PURPOSEFULLY direct attention and increase engagement by PREPARE(ing)  an environment where success can happen, and ASK(ing) questions which TASK the brain to focus on one thing and HOLD its attention…In other words, we can be intentional about the questions we ask  to trigger different associations in other people’s brains. We’re not telling them what to think,  we’re asking them what to think about… What we present first changes the way people experience what we present to them next.. 

09 [Growth outro] “Understanding a Principle (like Perceptual Contrast) and making a Promise to Be Principled are two separate things.”  to increase engagement BE PREPARED, and BE MINDFUL… because our POSITIVE INTENT matters.. Questions Prompt Thinking.”