For tens of thousands of years, human beings lived as hunter-gatherers.

A person living in this world likely  had an intimate awareness and understanding of their immediate environment and that environment was stored as a visual-spatial ‘map’ in the person’s visual cortex.

Since there were no maps and no writing, Visual-spatial acuity and visual (eidetic memory) were the dominant forms of thinking.

Also, life as such rarely changed in this world excepting in relatively  predictable ways if that person was attuned to the cycles and patterns of this world.

In this world, there was no reading, no writing, no spelling or mathematics, no cramming our heads full of meaningless, useless, or abstract information.

In this world everything was what it what. There was no symbolism, no sarcasm, and no need to decode or decipher anything like letters or numbers.

This world was made up of patterns—the patterns of nature. There were weather patterns, animal behavior patterns, and the patterns of plants and insects.

Pattern recognition was perhaps the most important skill a human being could possess for tens of thousands of years.

Fast forward and we see the hunter-gatherer transition to a more agrarian lifestyle. And for the next several thousand years, most human beings settled into a lifestyle farming and raising animals.

Even in this new era, the vast majority of human beings relied on the same basic abilities—visual-spatial acuity, eidetic memory, and excellent pattern recognition.

Even as recent as 100 years ago, the majority of the world’s population including 90% of Americans, lived and worked on either farms or ranches.

For 99% of human history, the dominant abilities required for survival were visual-spatial acuity, eidetic memory, and excellent pattern recognition.

During this entire period, learning one’s craft was natural and experiential. Formal education was non-existent and there was little need for processing and decoding symbolic information.

Life as such, remained largely the same, not only throughout a person’s life but from generation to generation.

For specific techniques on dealing with Changes and Transitions, click here.