Sunday Scribblings-I Have An Idea!

"I have a great idea!"

This was my six year old son's favorite expression, and it occasionally struck fear in my heart. Brian was (and still is) an extremely imaginative, creative person, and his ideas as a child often centered around complicated scenarios of movie making, audio recording, story writing, play acting - all things that involved me as one of the pricipal actors, announcers, writers, and dramatists. Growing up as an only child (in a neighborhood where the next youngest person was 25 years old!) meant that I was usually his number one choice of playmate. Don't get me wrong - I wouldn't trade those times for a zillion dollars. However, I admit to occasionally getting weary of making up new stories about Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny.

But, those ideas were so exciting to him -he'd come bounding out of his room, bursting with enthusiasm, talking a mile a minute about this great adventure "the bears" would have, or this drawing he wanted to make, so he absolutely had to have a new posterboard right this minute, or a scene in a movie that required smoke effects, so could he borrow the vaporizer...

Ideas should be exciting like that! As adults, we rarely have the opportunity to get excited about ideas, and if we do, we sometimes feel uncomfortable sharing it. That's one of the things I love about this whole blogging community. It's all about sharing excitement, wonder, and enthusiasm. Just last week, I wrote a post entitled "I'm Excited." During the time I was in Florida, I was able to give my mind and body a chance to relax, so I got a lot of "great ideas" about creative things I wanted to do. Right away, I wanted to share them with all my blog buddies, because I knew you would all encourage me to complete them.

Sometimes our own ideas make us fearful. Once we get past the first flush of enthusiasm, we begin to think in our practical, adult manner about the time, or the cost, or the effort involved in carrying out this project. Not to mention those niggling doubts about our ability to do it well enough. How many times have you rejected an idea for a creative project or activity because your inner critic whispers "you'll never be any good at that!" If only we could retain the innocent enthusiasm of children, for whom everything is possible.

With the hectic pace of daily life and the demands on our time, we become so entrenched in our routine that we rarely have the time for new ideas to develop. I'm hoping this year to allow myself time to cultivate new ideas, and then act on them. If I get discouraged, I can always remember the bright eyed sparkle in my son's blue eyes as he came running up to me calling out "I've got a great idea!"

here are more great ideas