I read a book by Gladwell called Blink which outlines a concept he calls "thin slicing". According to the book researchers suggest that people can form accurate impressions from mere glimpses of behavior, as Gladwell puts it, the kind of thinking that happens in a blink of an eye. What caught my attention is the fact that this concept could be applied easily to dating and relationships. Speed dating, by the way, was created based on this concept.
The author resists the use of the word "intuition" because for him intuition lacks rationality. I would say, what happens in those first seconds when we meet someone for the first time it is a combination of both, rational thought and a gut feeling too. I'm a strong believer that we all have inside of us a sort of compass that always points us toward the right direction but that many of us either consciously or unconsciously decides to ignore.
Now that I'm looking for love in cyberspace, in a virtual world, I can't help but to think that we are putting thin slicing to the test as we browse through pics of strangers, catchy user-names, and try to decide whether we want to pursue a particular individual based only on a picture or a profile which as we all know could be or not written by that person to begin with...many variables to consider, many unknowns, right?
Still here we are, hopeful and optimistic, more beautifully human than ever, opening up to the endless possibilities that might arise from such gut reactions or rational thoughts, bravely believing that we will find that person, wherever this person might be...cause baby, there ain't no mountain high enough...to keep me from getting to you :)
On a side note, I'm interested in art and painting and all this writing about quick thinking and first impressions got me thinking about Paris, middle of the 19th century when Impressionism was born...what a time! I would give anything to be transported there, I still hear my art teacher telling me that a quick painted oil sketch most accurately records a landscape's appearance. I truly believe that..I should stop right about here otherwise I will start with time travel and quantum mechanics...
So...which direction is your compass pointing at right now?
