On Closing The Mental Gaps

I've never really explored the art of writing until this year. As an Engineer, the letters I write on paper are usually to represent variables, not words. But I've been liking it so far and I can already start to tell a few ways in which this creative expression has slightly altered my day-to-day experience.

I've been starting to think more clearly.

I had already heard of this benefit before but I didn't really grasp what it meant until recently. It's very subtle, which is why it's hard to notice, but the mind makes leaps whenever you're missing pieces of information in your thinking. If you're trying to connect two separate ideas but don't know how, your mind sort of constructs an imaginary idea bridge for you. Most of the time, you don't notice this happening as you're too busy thinking.

I guess it's a way for you to freely daydream and think without much energy expenditure?

On the other hand, when you sit down to communicate an idea or a story, you really can't make these hurdles. You'd look like a fool otherwise!

As a result, I'm starting to notice these "mental gaps" more often and making a gentle effort in trying to fill them in as I think.

Weirdly, it gives me peace of mind.

I'll surely cover some other areas in which writing has been beneficial for me but I wanted to emphasize clarity today and explore this angle of it.

Thought can be very unstructured and abstract without self-awareness. Clarity is the antidote.