There are many things I just assumed were ‘normal’ in my brain, but a few are not so much.

So recently I’ve been thinking about the way my brain often processes a bunch of things to solve problems. And to me, it makes sense when represented by a magical cartoon cauldron.  

So into the pot, I throw in a bunch of ideas, problems, challenges, thoughts, or whatever it is I’m currently dealing with, give it a stir, and generally leave that bubbling away for a while (hours, days, weeks, or occasionally years).

Typically my brain is chanting up to four bars of a random song recently stuck in my head, whilst other thoughts are twisting and dancing around the pot in weird movements.

I’ll stir it with a giant spoon every now and then if I can find one, and try to breakdown the lumps of some ideas stuck unhelpfully together.  I’ll also be trying to fish out the long stray random hairs, plant matter, and random bits of plastic that somehow got blown into the pot from who knows where. 

I might occasionally be able to let it simmer and/or forget about it whilst getting distracted by something else. Other times the cauldron feels like some thoughts have combined exothermically and it’s now boiling out of control with no way to turn it down : I’m just doing my best to stop it sticking to the base, whilst trying not to get too scalded by hot splashes of the bubbling mess throwing thoughts around everywhere right in front of me.

Often there will be flavours and burnt on concepts left behind, that want to taint the whole pot.

Sometimes a single magical ingredient of an idea, instantly brings it all together. 

Other times it’ll take a few weird combinations of things to make it work. 

Sometimes the sludge needs to be left to cool a while, reheated, and cooled again a few more times before a solution is found.

There’s no rhyme nor reason why it does or doesn’t work on any given day. If it’s something similar to what I may have dealt with before, I might have a better idea of how to get there a little bit faster. But generally every pot is a unique set of available ingredients and intended outcomes. I can try to guide it all in the right direction by throwing in a bunch of things that may have helped in the past, and by trying to make the kitchen a good enough place to work without tripping over things in the process, and by hopefully remembering to put the lid on as it simmers.

But finally, when I’m lucky, often with what feels like a poof of smoke, a flood of light, and the sound of an angelic harmony, (and my body suddenly feels lighter), all the thoughts seem to suddenly merge and vanish in the pot, and out the gloop appears the often simple vial of a potion, that’s the solution I’ve been trying to find or make sense of : I get a full 3D moving render overlaying the physical space, of whatever physical thing it might be accordingly.

Those are the very good times.