PERSPECTIVE AND INSIGHT BY KAT HOLLERAN

Perspective and Insight

Notes from my Journal – Kat Holleran

Perspective and insight are one in the same, I think.

Perspective is gained when you have distance… distance, in most cases, is more about time than it is space. Already, just a few weeks ago, I have new perspective on a project that I didn’t have when I turned the project in. I see mistakes and things I forgot, as well as things I don’t like anymore.

Insight is based off of things that you can infer—it is the ability to put yourself into other people’s positions so that you can figure out how they will think and react. This has a lot to do with empathy, I think.

In terms of creative consulting or creating something for other people, being able to infer (using insight) what they would want/feel/do, helps us create “better.”

…

I sometimes wonder if too much insight makes us scared? Or more judgmental of ourselves? I change every day. My “new-brain” is always further ahead than my “before-brain.” I’m surrounded by so many stimuli, how could it not be?

Today, I was talking with someone about how people who live in small towns must feel a bit unsatisfied with their lives, and that I felt bad for them. This person pointed out that, probably, many people who live in small towns are totally satisfied with their life—especially if it’s all they’ve ever known. Not only did I feel like an asshole, but I realized that perhaps that different perspective (or maybe it would be a lack of perspective) creates bliss. Ignorance is bliss? If I didn’t have great empathetic capabilities or the ability to infer, I would probably be very satisfied with myself and my corner of the world.

Knowing what else is out there creates within me judgment instead of goals… what does this mean? How might I be able to change it?

The “then-brain” and the “now-brain” rely on each other. Together, they work to form conclusions that, without the process in between (the learning), we wouldn’t be able to come to. That growth—that distance, creates perspective. The space between the “then-brain” and the “now-brain” is where we find insight.