A Reverse Thinking Cap


This is so typical of the what goes on in my brain during most of my waking hours. Sometimes I wonder whether it is a gift or a curse that I can juggle a gazillion of things happening all at the same time. I can imagine the  countless neurons that are firing simultaneously so that I can think about how we can recycle left-overs for dinner while I rehearse in my mind the questions I intend to ask after my lecture in my next class.  How is it possible that I can draft an official sounding letter in the same mental slate where I create a picture of myself in the outfit I will wear to a project proposal presentation?  Should I consider myself fortunate that I can predict how my family's plans will turn out depending on whether they listened to my advice or not?  Should  I just shut up when I can clearly see that the purple throw pillows definitely don't go with those curtains' sickly shade of green and getting that new brand of shampoo, while giving you soft-to-touch and dazzling hair, would wreak havoc on our grocery budget? Do I get up to turn down the volume of the TV so I can tune out from that ridiculous show which is just not doing anything to help me when I'm thinking about what I should be doing the rest of my life!

Oh yes, it can be confusing. Not to mention, exhausting! But that is what we women were programmed to do. The books say that men are wired differently and can only focus on one thing at a time (maybe this doesn't cover multiple romantic affairs... but I digress!) while women are capable of attending to several stimuli needing our attention.  Much like having multiple tabs open on our computer and working through them in no time at all!

I remember when I was a child, I watched this cartoon where one of the characters would put on this hat when he needed to come up with inspiring ideas or solutions to problems.  He called it a "Thinking Cap." Maybe someone should invent a "Reverse Thinking Cap" where one could put it on so that you could give your brain a rest from all these thoughts. I bet that it will be a hit among us women! What bliss to escape from all that brain activity, even for a while! But then again, would you like it if the world stopped spinning when we all had our caps on?


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