January 7, 2013 Carole Levy

Good ideas stick


Dear Friends,

 In 2013, Little Carotte will be different. I don’t know yet how nor when, but change will occur for sure! Thank you for following my blog, commenting and sharing. It really makes a difference for me to know that my words and drawings resonate. So keep going! I wish you a great year, full of creative thoughts and good ideas… See below.

With love,

Carole

 

“My good ideas often come to me when I’m walking in the hills behind my house.

good ideas-page1bis

At first, I started to walk with a pen and a notebook to write my good ideas down. But I noticed that stopping during my walk to write would also stop the spontaneous flow of creativity.

Therefore I developed the habit of repeating my thoughts out loud, over and over, with the rational that it’s a healthy way to exercise my aging brain and that, when good ideas are really good, they stick.

good ideas-page2bis

Well, good ideas stick but not ALL of them. On the path of developing my right brain function, perhaps I still don’t have enough faith in my higher muse and I still want to control the outcome too much. So I went back to the pen and the notebook…

good ideas-page3bis

But tell me, how do YOUR good ideas emerge or fall? What’s your creative mode? I’d love to read your good ideas about the subject…”

 

 

Comments (9)

  1. This is a wonderful depiction of the angst surrounding the spark that ignites the creative process. i struggle with this exact thing when i’m in a dance class – i get a christmas list of ideas about the metaphysics of relationship, nonverbal dynamics, somatics of politics…etc etc, when i’m in motion, which can be hazardous – not just for me, but the other dancers! Maybe i should hike instead! : )

    I also recieve / generate ideas when I dream. I had a dream in 1994 that inspired me to write a thesis exploring the nature of wholistic experience through the lens of quantum physics (theory of). honestly, i had no choice, because the idea kept knocking on my conscience. this idea would not let me go…and still has not, to this day. so, on the other hand, as much as i yearn for a notepad in dance class, i’ve learned that the ideas that are meant to be born will find you and ask you to do the work. and they won’t let you go until you say “Ok, ok – I will express you, darn it!!”

    • Carole Levy

      For sure, motion stimulates creativity! And you’re a dancer and an artist… Dream is a different story for me. But I’d love how you express that ideas that are meant to be born find you… You can’t invent something like “wholistic experience and quantum physics?!!”

  2. Carole! I must say that your cartoon felt like i was reading a story about myself–in those same woods with those same epiphanies and needing a pen, then my phone, then….
    one day, i forgot to run with my phone, and a song came to me that i had to write down. So, i used the beat of my feet to keep repeating the lyrics and remind myself of the the tune…and worried i would forget it. I didn’t. But, i learned that it is way better to leave the idea trapping phone/pen/notebook at home too. If the muse has an important enough idea, it will come back if we are open, don’t you think?
    I can so relate!

    • Carole Levy

      Yes, it’s another great way to put it: if the muse has an important enough idea, it will come back! I’d love to see you on the hills!

  3. I have so many times cursed myself for forgetting the pad and paper on my walks… So I stopped walking!!! Not sure that is the solution…
    My favorite muse moment was at the end of a yoga class, in “corpse pose”. All of a sudden a whole page unfolded in my mind about a chapter I was writing about my mother and grand-mother, about the moment my mother passed away. Word for word. I freaked out I would forget, so I ran in my car at 8 PM as soon as I could leave the class and wrote it all then in the dark parking lot of the yoga class. I’m sorry to day but I don’t trust it’ll come back if it’s important. My muse is still shy…

  4. Robin P.

    My muse, if I have one, seems to enjoy coffee shops. Things zing into my brain when I’m sitting with a book, a notepad and a good cup of coffee (good music helps, too!). I struggle with setting my ideas into action, but perhaps that’s a topic for another comic strip 🙂
    Alas, your final frame really sums up our society right now!

Comments are closed.

FREE DOWNLOAD

Please enter your name and e-mail and click the Submit button to receive your download of the Bumpy Road Workbook. This will also automatically add you to my newsletter mailing list.

Thank you for subscribing.

Something went wrong.