I read a couple of great posts about how people use paper. Across on 43folders. wood.tang’s post about the backs of envelopes was inspired by Merlin’s post entitled Making friends with paper. (really great little video embedded in that post by the way). Both these guys are making the point that they still use paper preferentially for certain tasks despite being keen on technological solutions. They make the point that there’s something different about interaction with paper. Read the comments from people to both these posts – they are also very interesting and inspiring.
This fits with a point being made in a book I’m reading at the moment – it’s Andy Clark’s Being There. He describes a concept of the extended mind. What he shows is how our physical interaction with the environment allows us to develop and use cognitive functions that our brains either just couldn’t do alone, or certainly couldn’t do so well. One simple example he gives is doing a jigsaw. We pick up the pieces, twirl them round in our fingers, hover them over different spaces and our brains, which are good at pattern-spotting, work with these movements and actions and our hands and brains then work seamlessly to solve the puzzle.
I know that since I started doing the morning pages about a year ago my own creativity and productivity has gone through the roof. This blog here is a good example of that. Interestingly, I find I almost never ever go back to read anything I’ve written in those daily notebooks. That’s not how they work. It’s the act of writing longhand in a nice notebook which works with the brain to produce the end result – ideas, solutions, decisions etc etc.
How about you? What’s your relationship with paper these days?
Heroes Not Zombies 
Not so great…
I’ve been staring at the journal I’ve been meaning to write in for a few too many months. I’ve been planning in my mind when I’ve been meaning to write things down. I scribble notes on paper and stuff them in my pockets and don’t look at them again.
Yeah, me and paper could be a lot better friends but I never know what to say and paper just sits there and stares at me!
Ha! Nice post. I gotta agree with you. Technology tends to get us to lose touch. Interaction with our environment is crucial.
Tiger
i’m in love with all the connecting I’m able to do because of technology, but you’re totally right – some things just have to be done on paper, and for me there’s no explaining why, except that I just love the way it feels to see and touch the thoughts once they are written on paper. I write morning pages too, and it seems like it always clears the path for the day, rather than letting my jumbled mess of thoughts remain a knot in my way.
Thankyou brokenheartedseoul, you’re right, paper, blank, white, paper, the empty page, can be a touch intimidating, can’t it? Isn’t it interesting though that even when your journal intimidates you can still stuff your pockets with notes? I don’t think we need to look back at what we’ve written. Depends why you’re writing really. As I said, I never go back and read my morning pages, but, like Ester, I find they just work. As you so nicely put it, Ester, it clears the path for the day.
Oh, brokenheartedseoul, go see some of Ester’s art on her Daily Drawings blog (you’ll see the link in my blogroll) – I guarantee they’ll both inspire and soothe your broken hearted soul! (Are you, by the way? And what’s with the little “e” in there? What’s your connection with Seoul?)
Jigsaw puzzles are my favourite, there’s an online version I found lately – http://www.jspuzzles.com.