Life can be exhausting, can’t it? It seems trickier all the time to experience true vitality and inspiration within the squeeze imposed on us by the thumb and forefinger of late-stage capitalism and inescapable technology. Moments of clarity are possible, however. You may have found yours through nature, therapy, or laughing with loved ones. Those glistening instances of motivational realization are what drive most creative folks to do the work we do.
All we need is time. A sliver, a slice, or a heaping helping – whatever we can carve out for ourselves. Time in any quantity affords us the opportunity to have ideas.
An idea is a miracle. A great idea can release us from the vice of our contemporary woes, momentarily allowing us to run freely across the landscape of our hopes and dreams. An exceptionally great idea might even offer permanent release, allowing us to view ourselves as autonomous beings capable of accomplishing anything we can dream up. But, where do our ideas come from? And more importantly, how do we find them?
I’ve noticed that it’s often after experiencing duress that I find myself confronted with a particularly helpful idea. Decompressing after a stressful day at work, trying to stay awake during a late-night stretch of driving, or recovering from an illness often conjures that most elusive of human experiences: quiet awareness. Silence. Stillness. Finding yourself in bumper-to-bumper traffic, or a hospital waiting room, or your willful toddler’s bed just after they’ve finally fallen asleep, an idea will come.
The question is, are you paying attention?
Wait for them. Watch for them. Use whatever time you have to catch those ideas as they swim on by.
Visionary filmmaker David Lynch famously stated that “ideas are like fish. If you want to catch little fish, you stay in the shallow water. But if you want to catch big fish, you have to go deeper.” You may be content to catch little fish that swim by you every day; most of us are. But it’s the big ones — the life-changing, breath-catching, do-I-dare? ideas — that nourish a vibrantly creative existence.
