We assume that linear thinking means concentration. Actually, thinking requires no more concentration than vision does; both simply respond organically, without effort like breathing. In fact, I am convinced that we can gain the highest most complex levels of thinking, feeling and seeing by simply allowing our thoughts to flow openly, evenly, instinctively like either breathing, seeing or thinking. This kind of thinking or knowing, characterizes artistic creativity and genius in all ways. That being the case, why should anyone assume that organic, holistic, right-brain activity is any less intelligent than the narrower, less-informing linear or left-brain activity? Evidently, it is because left-brain dominant people rarely, if ever, experience that kind of thinking and therefore don’t have a basis for it. Type E’s do, because it’s closer to the way they think and some may even have experiences of this kind tucked away in their memory banks. It’s happened for me and I’ve seen it happen for others. They merely need to make the connections as I did.

When thinking openly and instinctively, we leave behind our fixed beliefs and judgments as we venture our on a troubled sea of infinite possibilities, as if we had no memory - - - no mind. This kind of knowing is easy, effortless, and, as I said before, organic; it flows like vision. The problem is we are so accepting of the limits of the linear mind that we don’t realize how much it restricts total awareness. On the other hand, the awareness we experience in association with holistic thinking is the gateway to creativity and genius and if done without expectation can, as I said before, be easy, effortless and limitless. It’s like having access to the infinite knowledge of the whole human experience. Talking about the parameters of the linear-mind, in the Bible belt, this gift is likely to be seen as access to the infinite mind of god and never questioned. The only things they seem to question are “Science and Evolution.”

Holistic thinking entertains in a single operation the organic processes of breathing, feeling and seeing. We think effortlessly whenever we enter this state of awareness. To do that, we must be relaxed and fully present. It’s not easy for everyone but it’s doable.

Forty some odd years ago, I was fortunate to have spent eight years of my troubled young adult life in the care of Doctor Albert Ellis, second most influential psychologist of all time and working out of a limited budget. So to get the best bang for my buck, I had to get creative and I did. At that time I stumbled on the Marino Institute on the upper west side of Manhattan and spent a lot of Friday evening’s learning psychodrama from Professor Marino himself. I learned to use psychodrama, among other ways, as a creative tool to visualize Dr. Ellis whenever I needed to and there were many times when I needed to. I did that simply by inventing him in a cold dark television tube. I looked at my reflection in the tube and saw him whenever I needed to. I already knew the answers to my questions because I had been well-trained in REBT by Doctor Ellis. I was the only one in the world that I know of who had an Albert Ellis clone like Aladdin had a gene in an old oil lamp This development accelerated my healing and saved me a lot of money. After a while all I needed was group sessions. I will always be grateful to Dr. Ellis, Dr. Marino and of course Alex Giorgio for the recognition of my gifts.

Another open mind-knowing event was drawing or diagramming resistant problems on paper looking for breakthroughs. I used symbols to represent my goals, as well as the fears that blocked them. The problem was laid out, with pencil and paper, like a trail or journey. The goal was identified by a heart and the fears by roadblocks. I would absorb the drawing with all of its parts in my mind and lift it like a thing above my head, so I had to look up to see it. I did that because if my eyes connected with someone else’s, I could easily be distracted. When it was in place, with my eyes wide open, I would rotate it slowly describing what I was looking at. Questions and answers flooded easily into my mind as I move the process forward. It never failed me and to this day it doesn’t. It’s a way of being that has evolved over the years. It works for me, excites me and that’s enough for me.

In recent years, I realized that with what I had learned, I could teach intuition and creativity. Intuition is nothing more than asking ourselves the right questions. Different questions call for different answers. In explaining to my therapy group how I came up with information that didn’t come from recognizable sources, so important to the linear mind, that Dr. Ellis once said, “Stanley, thinks backwards”. He referred to this simply as a communication problem, because most people don’t understand where my information comes from.

The school system, in which I failed terribly, rewards hard work, long hours and perspiration. Balanced type E’s like me, draw upon challenge, passion and inspiration and spend most of their lives out of the box - - - searching. Sometimes, overwhelmed by passion we can’t even find the box. In my earliest encounters with Alex Giorgio, I came to know this problem as a gift and along with intuition, fearlessness and most especially a heightened sense of ordinariness, which is what I consider my greatest gift. I stay comfortably committed and open to learning from failure. My greatest successes come from what I learned from failure. If we survive risks with passion, they lead ultimately to success. I owe a great deal to Alex. One of my greatest pleasures is sharing my journey with him. He’s very appreciative and always knows where I am and where I’m heading.
We are a great team together, complimenting each other in many ways and, we have created a great team for the typeE personality development and the best is yet to come.

Thanks Pal.