[afterthefact]

I've always been fascinated by the fact that our brain works by creating actually conections between nerves and that the more a specific pattern is repeated, to stronger these connections become. Needless to say though, I have a very limited understanding of all this.

Ever since I learned this years ago, I've always made an effort to do as little as possible to create the brain patterns in my way of thinking and every day life. Obviously there will be some, and you need to have some. I couldn't type this right now if I hadn't developed the pathways in my brain that allow me to remember typing, spelling, etc.

But I see a lot of people around me who have such strong patterns and thought paths developed that they can't think any way else. For example, in the middle of the warehouse at work we have had a large collection of stuff that had piled up over years. This meant that for anybody to go from the sales office to our shipping office, or vice versa, you had to walk a path that ran along the wall. Earlier this week, the warehouse staff completely cleaned this area out, and now you can walk straight from our do to the sales door. Yet, many people still walk around the area where the stuff used to be!

Now, I've had to walk around this stuff just as much as anybody else, so it would seem as though we should have the same patterns in our mind as far as walking from office to office, therefore indicating that either we would all keep walking the old path, or we would all walk the new, straight path. Yet, while I still walk straight through, they walk around.

So... why? Is it because I have worked on thinking laterally and made an effort to create less firm paths in my mind? I didn't make an effort in this particular instance. Did my efforts over time teach my mind not to create patterns so quickly, while others' minds have learned to do the opposite?