Am I thinking too much about all that is happening …?

…or just doing it the wrong way.

What is actually taking place when we think — are there moving parts, and how do they come together to arrive at a conclusion?

We take thinking for granted. Like breathing, it’s automatic. No switches, logins or passwords to dicker with. We don’t actively start the process by loading the hopper with information, setting the gauges to “a thorough review” and then pushing the red button to begin. We just, well, think.

There are no pauses. No, moments of reflection before we decide to go through with it. Because going through with it is painless. It’s senseless, in that we don’t feel anything when we think. And if we do feel anything — it’s from too much thinking, apparently.

All this thinking is giving me a headache.

But is that even possible? Do the gray cells ram into one another — as a means of cognitive interaction -so much so, that they come away battered and bruised?

Or is it all metaphors? Our way of putting into perspective a process that we really know so little about. And when we do think; when the gears have stopped whirring, and the information has been thoroughly processed, what is actually the end result? Where is the neural equivalent of a printed card with the answer on it?

But the point here is that humans are obsessed with the process. We are always doing it, even when we profess to not be.

We are asked as question: Tap water or sparkling — by the waiter and have to think about it. Why? Isn’t the answer the same as it was last time? Shouldn’t that response already be on file and ready to repeat?

So, why do we enjoying thinking so much, that we insist on doing it before making any meaningful decision and then surround ourselves with sayings that make us feel more comfortable about doing it?

I need to think about it for a while

– Why? What are we really doing up there, that seems to be such a mystery? After 20–40–60 years, haven’t we gotten the hang of it yet?

Let me sleep (think) on it and I’ll get back to you

– Really? What happens when we sleep that will aid the process and help us come to a conclusion about something that is obviously troubling us? Do we set the program — check the data and then push start? Confident, that in the morning the answer will be waiting for us when we awake?

I don’t know … I haven’t thought about it at all yet

– So, we’re saying, that without thinking, there’s no way of knowing? By now, don’t we actually know a great many things?

According to everything I have read over the past 65 years, the mind — that apparatus that helps us decide what car to buy, what man to marry and what not to buy her on Valentine’s Day — is housed someone in the brain. Is there a sub-let situation happening here? Not to make light of an important subject, but where exactly is the mind? If it’s IN the brain, can we see a separate image of it during a Cat-scan?

And when we think — when information from right now, intimately engages with information from last year, where does this actually take place? And if I was able to look closely enough, will I be able to see the memories of my daughters being born inside a cell, somewhere up there?

The world around us, provides us with an endless array of things to think about. To worry about. We are constantly under assault as we struggle to make sense of what is happening and why.

Is someone trying to tell us something?

Is there something we should have done differently?

Our minds are on high alert, and if yours is anything like mine, it has been running pretty much 24/7 over the past month or so. Constantly churning through gigabytes of information; trying to sort out and categorize what is happening, so that it begins to make sense.

All this thinking. All this input from around the world — annotated, criticized and analyzed, over and over, has forced me to step back and look at the process taking place. Is what has worked successfully in the past, capable of providing me with correct answers today, given all that has changed?

How do I think about all of this? Literally, how do I effectively process what is happening?

And my answer is — I don’t.

That is to say, I don’t take it upon myself to do it all. I trust. I engage. I listen to those around me that make sense. I tap into a universe of ideas and viewpoints and do my best to bring it all together into something meaningful.

We are connected. I push — and somewhere, somehow — someone is moved.

This thought brings me solace. It helps me to cope with all that is happening. Helps me to feel not alone.

Thinking — is what we do. How we do it, well, that needs further discussion. But that we can do it and do it well, is a given.

If thinking is what we do — then it’s what we should continue to do, as well as we can and with all of us in mind.

Collectively, we will get through this. And not simply to the other side. But to a place that is incrementally better than where we started.