Have you ever struggled through something, feeling like a fish out of water for most of it, just to find out in the end that being a part of it was the best decision you ever made? This is how I describe my CCT experience. Through this practitioner’s narrative, I journey through my childhood struggles with cluttered thinking to my adult pursuit to “think better”. Finding validation for my intelligence improved my confidence levels and my overall quality of life. Much of my internal feeling of validation came through understanding my thinking styles from multiple intelligence theories. Through this understanding I have been able to shift away from seeing what is wrong with my thinking to making the most with what is right about my thinking. My strongest aptitude areas are interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence while my weakest areas are in logical/mathematical and verbal/linguistic intelligence. This new awareness changed the way I value myself and also gives me a new appreciation for the thinking and communication styles of others. The second part of this hybrid synthesis project is a sourcebook containing critical and creative thinking tools - My CCT Guidebook. The handbook is my endeavor to retain and use some of the tools and knowledge I have been exposed to through CCT and to support my thinking after I have left the program. My CCT Guidebook is a collection of information – concepts, thinking tools, graphic organizers and strategies - that impacted me or helped transform my thinking. It is meant to be a reminder of information and processes I have already learned and will assist in keeping the critical and creative spirit alive within me.
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