Fri 03 May 2002 10:43
I'm back, and the intervening hours have not been terribly instructive.
Wandered around westmount which was interesting.
There is a greenhouse adjoining the library, and upon entering it and smelling something nice, its purpose and the foresight of constructing it were immediately apparent.
Upon returning home, the women of the apt. were watching tv, which pretty much sucked the time from 8 to 11pm. I protested that friends' didn't look like it was in NYC (it wouldn't be that quiet, nor would you find that many white people all in one place). And in other ways expressed my dissatisfaction with the TV situation.
A more elightened me might have grabbed some food and headed back to the library, but the tv qualified as a cultural experience which I wasn't immediately prepared to turn my back on.
Eating wise, eating too many breads and cereals, because they are here, but not a big deal.
Stacy was home yesterday, but I didn't want to deal with giving it to her then (though it would not have been a big deal...).
And finally gave it to her in person this morning (after running--did not want to do it before). No ea on it.
It is snowing and howling wind here.
She was very friendly and said, thank you! this week has been difficult, and last night too (apparently he came back? I didn't notice, my sister says the police were here again).
Oh me. Just as foolish a kid as the next person. But if you take it as art, you feel free to work with intuition, and not have to wait to feel right to act. Its not over yet, as she said she'd read it and it sounds like, talk to me about it.
I did say I hoped it'd be the last word.
Part of me hopes that, but another part of me knows it is good to make connections. But I only wish to spend a lot of effort on connections which for some reason call out to me to be made (Joanna). This was a case in which I felt I should do something, not nothing. I've done something, and now I feel like doing nothing, and going back into my peaceful self.
Of course, she is friendly, and has a nice smile, and no doubt if I saw her on the street I would be happy to talk with her.
I suppose the time will come when I hear something like I heard weds night, and do nothing, because, as telling fellow newyorquenos to pick up their trash, while it should be done, it is not something I wish to bear the costs of doing every time I see someone use the street/subway system as their garbage heap.
But in this circumstance, I knew getting in to the mess (creating a mess myself) could be personally helpful.
I don't think I will ever act solely on what should be done, because there are endless amounts that should be done, and instead continue to work with what I wish to/feel compelled to do.

Congratulations on carrying through with that plan! On one hand I know I shouldn't think of it as a big deal, on the other, I'm happy there is still fear, anticipation, anxiety involved in this sort of thing--to be smoothly, evenly cool about everything seems to me to be a certain kind of death. I'm sure I've said that before.


[briefly investigating some curiosity-provoking intra-nasal dried mucus/hair formations]

Now, Ed De Bono's
Six thinking hats.
very quickly please. There is something else I really should be getting to

staying here is getting a bit much, but, only one more full day.

There are six hats, six colors. The idea is to have everyone (or one's self) cycle through each of the six hats together. Everyone thinks one way for a time, then another way. In that way there is not argument, but momentum building, and each individual must challenge him/herself to approach the issue under consideration from each perspective.

the book is clear and concise

providing context and purpose for the abstractions it describes.
p13
White Hat White is neutral and objective. The white hat is concerned with objective facts and figures.

Red Hat The red hat gives the emotional view.

Black Hat The black hat is cautious and careful. It points out the weaknesses in an idea.

Yellow Hat The yellow hat is optimistic and covers hope and positive thinking.

Green Hat The green hat indicates creativity and new ideas.

Blue Hat The blue hat is concerned with control, the organization of the thinking process, and the use of the other hats.

Use of hat abstraction:
...I think we need some green hat thinking here.
as opposed to:
...We need some creativity here.
...Don't be so negative.

"yes. That's fine black hat thinking. Now let's try the yellow hat."

p18
there is now a precise way to ask for a particular mode of thinking.

p19
Only a short time is needed to get the red hat feeling from each of those present since there should not be explanations or qualifications. The expression of feeling should be brisk and definite.

blue hat- use at beginning and end of session.

p20
The first blue hat indicates

why we are here,
what we are thinking about,
the definition of the situation (or problem),
alternative definitions
what we want to achieve,
where we want to end up,
the background to the thinking, and
a plan for the sequence of hats to be used.

The final blue hat indicates

what we have achieved,
outcome,
conclusion,
design,
solution, and
next steps.

p21
red hat an opportunity to get those feelings out in the open right at the beginning.
or not-- e.g. boss feelings, no feelings.

beautiful!

taught to SA Peace Accord Committees.

red hat after final blue hat to reflect on thinking performance.

group situations: hats much more effective than argument or free discussion

p22 hats may be used by an individual thinking on his or her own.
and in reports or other communications.
report: all "caution" aspects can be put forward without causing offense.

giving time to think:
...we are now switching to the yellow hat. I want yo to spend two minutes thinking on your own before we open the discussion.

..spend some more time thinking on your own.

..I would like some yellow hat from you, Henrietta [sounds like class, but a bit better]

p26
white hat:
What information do we have?
What information do we need?
What information is missing?
What questions do we need to ask?
How are we going to get the information we need?

a very important part of the white hat is to define the information that is missing and needed. defines the questions that should be asked, lays out the means for obtaining the info.

p27
Computers are not yet emotional (though we shall probably have to make them emotional if they are to think intelligently).

[thinking, thoughts drifting back... thinking about expression of violent rage/screaming/shrieking/hitting/destroying, but not directed in a way that can harm others-- screaming, destroying, banging in the quarry, sinking in agony in the pool. There is a place for the violent expression of emotion.]

p27 so we badly need a switch that says: "Just the facts please--without the argument."

p28 An anti trust case against IBM dropped perhaps because IBM provided so many documents (~seven million) that no court could cope with the volume. A very young judge would have to make the case her whole career.

2002-05-03-1609
won't learn by not trying
still affected by my attempt to do some w/ respect to Stacy

Ed de Bono Six Thinking Hats 1999 back bay books

p33 life has to proceed. It is not possible to check out everything with the rigor demanded of a scientific experiment.

believed facts
checked facts
be absolutely clear that these are second-class facts.

p37 The point is that no one puts forward a ready-made idea [japanese meeting]

p41
Always true
usually true
Generally true
By and large
More often than not
About half the time
Often
Sometimes true
Occasionally true
Been known to happen
Never true
Cannot be true (contradictory)

Each chapter starts with questions... seems like _A pattern language_ C. alexander.

p44 who puts on the hat?
Put on your own hat.
Ask someone to put on the hat.
Ask everyone to put on the white hat.
Choose to anwer with the hat on.

--was there any other way than my way of expressing those thoughts to stacy?

p45 ...Let's start off by all putting on our white hats and telling what we know about juvenile crime.

summary
Imagine a computer that gives the facts and figures for which it is asked.

2002-05-03-2101
physical awesomeness
sexual aesthetics
possibilities of the body
bodies self-destroying
the contrast does not need to be that extreme
continuing ramifications of action
that action

Ed de Bono _Six Thinking Hats_ 1999

p47
Intuition is not necessarily always right.
Einstein's intuition was wrong in dismissing Heisenberg's uncertainty principle.

p48
There is no need to explain or justify the feelings. Indeed, that should never be permitted by the chairperson.

express the feelings as they exist at that moment.
it may be that in twenty minute's time the feelings will have changed.
Sometimes it is useful to have a red hat toward the beginning of the meeting to assess feelings, and then another red hat toward the end to see if the feelings have changed.

p48
it must be made very clear what the red hat is being applied to. Otherwise there is confusion.
The thinker is not permitted to change the idea.

"intellectual feelings" are perfectly valid:
...has potential
...very interesting
...very unusual

no "passing"
--undecided, confused, neutral

p52 Red Hat Thinking
The place of emotions in Thinking

Yet any good decision must be emotional in the end. When we have used thinking to make the map, our choice of route is determined by values and emotions.

p53 Every decision has a value base.
Red hat thinking encourages the search: "Just what are the emotions involved here?"

p56
The word intuition is used in two ways.

the sense of a sudden insight. Something which was perceived in one way is suddenly perceived in another. resulting in creativity, a scientific discovery or a mathematical leap forward.

the other use of the word
is the immediate apprehension or understanding of a situation.

It is the result of a complex judgement based on experience--a judgement that probably cannot be itemized or even expressed in words.
When you recogize a friend you do so immediately, as a complex judgement based on many factors.

It is this "complex" judgement type of intuition that I want to deal with here.

[giving examples of "red hat" phrase in use in business-speak phrases is powerful.

p59
...Give me a red hat on this new advertising campaign, will you?

[but will he succeed in getting the terminology in common use?]

p60
Red hats about meeting processes

...I want to make a red hat statement. I feel we are being bullied into an agreement we do not want.

p61 Views expressed under the red hat are less personal than views expressed without it, because it is recognized as being a formal idiom.

The very need to "put on" the red hat reduces the amount of bickering. No one can be bothered to put on the red hat every time he or she thinks there has been some slight.
And once the idiom is extablished, putting forward emotional views without its formality comes to seem crude.

Normally emotions take some time to well up and even longer to die down.
There is resentment and there is sulking. Offense is taken and offese is given.

In a sense the red hat allows someone to switch in and out of the emotion mode in a matter of moments. You put on the red hat and you take it off.
[is it so easy?]

Because red hat provides a definite channel for feelings and emotion, these no longer need to intrude at every point. Anyone who feels the need to be emotional has a defined way of doing so.

It is no longer necessary to try to guess the feelings of others. There is a means for asking them directly.

...I suspect you don't like me. I want a red hat answer.
...I suspect you'd love to spend the night with me. I want a red hat answer....I suspect you're in love with me. I want a red hat answer.
...I suspect you'd love to see me dead. "
...I suspect you're plotting to blow up the washington monument. I want a white hat answer.

People in love like to hear their partners spell out the word even when they do not doubt the substance.

p62
The idiom is used only when a feeling is expressed or asked for in a defined and formal manner.

..if you make any more red hat statements, I am going to remove your red hat out of reach.

[not really sure how he divides out chapters--I guess he has several main points he wants to make regarding each type of thinking and each main point makes a chapter under the type of thinking]

p63 to explore and even change emotions.

if we see something differently than we did before, our emotions may alter with the altered perception.


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