Have you ever had an amazing thought, revelation, or inspiration, but it evaporated into oblivion? Yep, it happens to all of us. But if our mind is working like it’s supposed to, why can’t we remember a simple thought? Quite simply, it’s because so many other things are happening.
You might have heard that we have an average of 60,000-70,000 thoughts being processed through our brain every day, but the real number is probably closer to around 6,500. Nevertheless, at 6,500 thoughts in an 18-hour day, assuming we sleep 6 hours, that is around 360 thoughts an hour. Our mind gets crowded!
I’m not necessarily a creative person, but when an idea does bubble up out of the hidden recesses of my brain, I’ve learned to immediately reach for a pen & paper! Why? Far too many ideas have escaped from my mind and into the stratosphere simply because I didn’t capture them on paper. My dad said quite often, “Paper has a longer memory than you do, so write it down.”
Please, do not assume that you’ll remember the idea later, because, as dad reasoned, more often than not you will forget. It’s understood that of all the thoughts that flit through your mind, you won’t write about all of them, but the ideas you keep can pay great benefits.
I have a folder in my computer labeled “IDEAS” and I visit it often. Ensconced within are Word files with one idea written in each file, and each file is identified with a word or phrase to remind me of what’s written inside. Having been a writer for several decades, writing about anything and everything, this process has served me well. A number of those ideas have patiently waited in the bowels of my computer for years before I resuscitated them, such as what I’m writing about at this moment.
So, let me encourage you once more: Capture your thoughts. Some will become encouragements to individuals, some will become blogs, and some will become books.
Capture your thoughts when they bubble up to the surface of your mind, and …
Write Creatively
P & L Publishing 