Where do ideas come from? What is an idea?
Not the constant internal radio program of any and everything nonsense, distraction, unfocused noise, but inspirational, solution oriented, excited to be alive ideas? I sit at the keyboard wondering what am I going to write? How do I know what I think till I hear, or read, what I have to say?
I stimulate myself with readings, meditation, or working in the garden. By recalling what happened during the week, sometimes a muse will set up a beacon guiding me towards an idea. Often it is more than one idea. I like to blend those to see the inter- connectedness of all things. It becomes a game to see how these
fits with that, or not. I like big broad strokes. I would rather go horizontal than the ever-popular half an inch wide, a mile deep.
Being an expert in one area feels limiting and boring, the ‘just one thing’ idea. Creativity and limits is an idea that excite me, inspire and will be solution oriented.
Working on Curing Seriousitis™ I have a chapter on The Third Force, an antithesis of the Binary system. The third force is that life is not an either, or situation. The binary or digital world is a yes, no world of black or white, right and wrong, democrat or republican. A very limiting world, but within the concept of limits, is unlimited, and a favorite of many the No Limits Practice.
Limits consist of rules and regulations, standard practices, and useful hints. There are those who play well with others, and those on the edge of how far you can go, where you cross the line and step out of the box. It is mainstream wisdom that says you must know the rule before you can break them. A musical jam
session is experts who know good music practices and trust that the session will create new ways of playing.
In the world of ideas, when I know how far I can go, the continuum of upper and lower limits, a cornucopia of ideas appears available, like the notes the jammers can play.
Within my world of ideas, the notes I can play are questions.
How does this work?
What if I do this?
What about that?
What is next?
If I went even further what would happen, the good, the bad, the ugly?
There is an exercise called Zen writing, where you put the pen to paper and just write, no judgement, no limits to ideas, no need for transitions, the purpose just let the ideas flow. Sometimes it is a mental dump and feels good to just throw up. Other times it taps a source. A muse steps in and shines the words and ideas with
brilliance, inspiring and answering your questions.
Ideas come from everywhere. It is rare when they stop.
For best usage of ideas flow from limits to unlimited. Give creativity a chance to show up. A new experience, an original thought, an insight, even a cure for Seriousitis
