Life-Changing Ideas: Chapter 2

Current Thoughts

Let’s get right into it. Here is chapter 2 of Five Life-Changing Ideas.

When you were a child, you may have had a hobby of collecting coins, stamps or butterflies. Many kids start a collection but few keep it going. The trick to maintaining a successful collection is to enjoy the process of collecting and have enough space to store it.

The nice thing about ideas is that they are fun to find and easy to store.

They take up no room at all. You already have hundreds of ideas and more come each day.

Everywhere you turn you’ll find new ideas that sound good to you. TV and movies are full of dialogue and clever phrases. Newspapers and billboards often have catch words and the radio is a great place to find jingles. Also, books, magazines and talking with your friends are good sources. There is no lack of ideas.

The first step is to begin collecting ideas.

Ideas are fleeting, so keep a pad of paper or a notebook handy to jot down your inspirations.

You might want to try keeping a diary or journal. It’s nice to have one place to keep all of the thoughts you stumble across.

The object is to find as many ideas, sayings, slogans, affirmations, jokes, quotes, lyrics, and jingles as possible. Don’t analyze them or throw them out. Just collect them.

Start now.

Try answering these prompts:

What did they say on the news that caught your attention? Is there a type of story that you find particularly fascinating?

What was the last joke you heard that made you laugh?

What in general makes you laugh?

Try to tie these items to your life.

What did the news and jokes have in common?

Were they opposites of each other (violence and laughter)?

Did they have something in common (stories about people like you, people you dislike, people you know)?

Now focus your attention directly on your life.

What’s the best part of your life?

Don’t discard negative thoughts. Turn them around.

If you hate something, what’s the opposite of it?

If you’re angry, what rule did the other person break?

What rule do you wish they followed?

Try reversing this one:

What’s the thing that you worry about the most?

How about these:

What responsibilities do you have?

What pressures do you have pressing on you?

What is driving you to act and feel the way you do?

What cues or situations set you off?

What is the primary emotion you feel?

Which emotion would others say you usually feel?

Summary

Look over all of your current thoughts. See if your notes summarize how you’re thinking, feeling and acting now.

Add anything that comes to mind. In the space below, jot down words or phrases that will remind you of where you currently are in your thinking.

Life-Changing Ideas Home Page

Current Thoughts

The nice thing about ideas is that they are fun to find and easy to store.

The first step is to begin collecting ideas.

Start now.

Summary

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