We like to think our ideas are born in our brains, but that’s not where they come from.
Ideas don’t come from anywhere. Ideas are everywhere. They flit around like neutrinos on crack, bumping into each other, smashing together, breaking apart and fusing together again somewhere else.
Occasionally, particularly if we stay still for a moment, an idea will bump against our skull, worm it’s way into our thoughts; Be conceived.
The temptation is to hold on to that idea; To examine it, nurture it; To ruminate upon it until we’re ready to show the world.
That is a mistake. Ideas do not wish to be clung to. They want to be used.
The more ideas we covet without using, the fewer new ideas we receive.
We must open the gates and release our ideas into the world, with as little nurturing as possible.
They will come back. They will bring their friends.
And we will become a river of ideas.