The Spectrum of Thinkers

I remember standing on the stoop of my friend's house when I was about ten years old.  I was glancing out sideways into the distance and thinking about something when I heard her ask me a question.  She said, "What are you looking at?"  I said, "I wasn't looking at anything, I was just thinking."  That is the first time I realized that not everyone thinks the same.

In my opinion, there are three categories of  "thinkers" and that those categories are overlapped in some cases to make a spectrum of thinkers.  The first category is "Practical Thinkers." These are the people who know what they have to do and they do what they have to do to accomplish an end.  The second category of thinkers is "Philosophical Thinkers."  They think about why they are doing something before they do it. Sometimes they get caught up in the "What does it mean?" and have trouble getting to actually doing it.  The third category is "Dreamers."  They rarely do what they need to do to accomplish something, they may not even think about what they need to do to reach an end, they simply dream about what they want and expect that it will happen if they "envision" it.

Now I may not be the first one to think of this, my philosophical education started and ended with Philosophy 101 a zillion years ago in college.  But it is what I've been "thinking" about today.  I would have to say that my feet are squarely planted in the category of "Philosophical Thinker" but I, thankfully, do have some "Practical Thinker" abilities that allow me to find a way to proceed.  Still, there is definitely a part of me that is a "Dreamer" and if it was left to the Dreamer in me, I would just write and never take the steps necessary to become a writer.

To take the idea of this spectrum of thinking a little further yet, I think that when it comes to people getting along with other people or even partnering up with someone in marriage or business, where each person is on the spectrum matters.  I have to thank my husband for being more of a "Practical Thinker" than I am. Without him, I would not have the luxury to be the "Philosophical Thinker" that I am.  On the other hand I have some really good friends who I consider to also be "Philosophical Thinkers."  I love spending time with them and talking to them, we can talk and talk and talk for hours about things and when we get together the next time, talk about the same things again and again.  I love that, really love that!  And I feel I am very fortunate to have these friends.  Finally, there are the "Dreamers" in my life.  I am drawn to them and I want to help them to stop "spinning their wheels" and find a way to actually get to what they want.  However, these relationships often end when I get frustrated and find that I cannot get them to move in a positive direction.

I am wondering now how much of this is genetic and how much is environmental?  Can we change who we are and how we think through our experiences?  Ah, there I go again, thinking about "What does it mean?"  What do you think?