We are so used to thinking in a certain way that addressing what happens to us otherwise is complex and almost impossible for us. The thing is, our way of thinking is often more of an obstacle than a way to make things easier. With the intention that this does not become a custom, we want to introduce you to a new way to solve problems and challenges: lateral thinking or lateral thinking.
The term “side thinking” was created by the psychologist Edward de Bono to present an alternative way of thinking that consists of escaping the logical and linear reasoning that we normally use, to seek creative and original solutions to any problem or situation.
- In this article we will reflect on lateral thinking.
- The logic of mental patterns.
- And propose a series of puzzles that you will have to solve Are you up to the challenge?.
“You see things and you say ” Why? But I dream of things that never existed and I say why don’t you ???- George Bernard Shaw-
We are used to logical reasoning, accustomed to thinking linearly and solving problems sequentially, taking small steps until we find the answer. From a young time they teach us that life is made up of complex puzzles that we must solve using our full potential in a world full of mazes.
Of course, life is not easy, and the ways of our minds are, in most cases, an enigma, which we must learn to decipher or sometimes stop trying. We are people accustomed to seeking an explanation of everything around us.
In fact, when we face a situation where we don’t have enough information, we ourselves supplement the missing data based on how we understand the world and the learning we have built through our experiences.
The truth is that this linear way of thinking can sometimes cause us problems because we cannot see beyond, no one told us that there were more paths than the one in a straight line, no one said that we could travel everywhere and that if we did, we would stimulate our minds.
As we see, logic tells us that from one step we move on to the next, completing the steps and moving towards the solution, however, in lateral thinking, we must abandon the process of logical thinking to solve riddles that are simpler than they seem.
With this new kind of thinking, instead of thinking in stages, we should think, as the name suggests, on the side, not all solutions are as difficult as we think, that is, we think a lot about what exists and little about what might exist Let’s try it!
Here’s a game to encourage your intelligence and creativity in problem solving and to implement side thinking. Just read the instructions and get down to business:
“A man lives on the tenth floor of a building. Every day, take the elevator to the ground floor to work or buy. When he returns, he always takes the elevator to the seventh floor and climbs the stairs of the remaining three floors. to his tenth apartment, why are you doing this?
“A man died on the ground. Next to him is a closed package. There’s no other being on the ground, how did he die?”
One tip: the man knew he was going to die as he approached the site
“Antony and Cleopatra are found dead on the ground in a city in Egypt. Near them are broken glass. The only witness is the guard dog. There are no marks on their bodies and they were not poisoned. How did they die?
“There are 100 inhabitants on an island. They all have blue or brown eyes. Everyone sees the color of other people’s eyes, but not theirs. They can’t talk about it and there are no mirrors. There is a law that states that if someone discovers that they have blue eyes, they must leave the island at 8 a. m. the next morning. All the inhabitants of the island have the same reasoning skills and they all know how to apply impeccable logic.
One day a person arrives to visit the island, when he looks at all the inhabitants he says, without pointing to anyone in particular: “It is good to be able to see at least one blue-eyed person after so much time at sea!””. What impact did this comment have on the inhabitants of the island?
“A monk leaves his monastery at dawn towards the top of a mountain, where he arrives after walking for several hours. He stays there to rest and sleep and leaves the top of the mountain the next morning at the same time to return to the monastery. .
It may not have taken the same time on the round trip, just as it is likely that his speed was not constant, not counting when and how many times he stopped to rest: the monk passed a certain point of the road at exactly the same time, but with a day difference. For what?
The man is a dwarf. Unable to press the button on the tenth floor of the elevator, he chose to press the seventh and then continued up the stairs. No problem getting off as the ground floor button is at the bottom of the panel.
Anténio and Cleopatra are colorful fish that lived in an aquarium, which was broken by the dog.
All the blue-eyed people left the island
If there was only one blue-eyed person, I’d know that the remaining 99% would have brown eyes, then he’d leave.
If there were two blue-eyed people (A) and (B), the first would think that the speaker was referring to the second and that there was only one person with blue eyes, the second would think the same as the first. the first sees that the second did not leave the island on the first day, I gather that he also has blue eyes, so both must leave on the second day.
The same would happen if there were three people (A), (B) and (C) with blue eyes. The first would see that the other two did not leave the island and that, therefore, he also had blue eyes and therefore all three would have to leave on the third day; after the first saw that the other two did not leave on the second day.
And so on until all the blue-eyed inhabitants are gone, no matter how many.
To respond to this conundrum, imagine that we have two monks leaving at the same time from the two opposite points. If you follow the same path, will you necessarily meet at some point?It’s clearer now, isn’t it?
Everything is much easier than we think, the question is not to fall into the traps of our thoughts and start creating new perspectives, for this side reflection can help us dare to think differently!