First thought, best thought – is that true?
First thought, best thought – Zen saying
Following on from my post yesterday about letting go. I thought I’d share this Zen saying I came across. And, I have to say I’m not sure whether I entirely subscribe to this one.
What is true is that sometimes we think too much, perhaps again aiming for perfection in an idea before we let it into the world, and let we miss the boat. Or have you had the experience of thinking you should say something to a friend and then held back for fear of rejection but then subsequently regretted it?
Your first thought may not be your best thought but what I do believe is that when you pay attention to your thoughts and capture ideas when they are in infant form they often grow in to much more valuable ideas. From time to time I remember this and honour my ideas, particularly for business, by putting them in a special notebook (Jean’s Great Big Book of Ideas – since you ask!). What I find when I do this is that I tend to get a rush of new ideas and out of them will come a gem that can be developed beyond the ideas stage.
If I ignore my ideas or think to myself that I will remember them – I DON’T and I regret it.
So, my take away from this post is to capture your ideas, however silly, in some way. As well as my notebook I also am a great fan of Mindmaps and often use themin my journal as well. Mindmaps I find are particularly good for developing ideas.
How do you capture your ideas?