Elections 2012: Yes on Bath Crayons

Where do ideas come from?

If you ask Paul Graham of Y Combinator, a company which provides seed funding to startups in the Bay Area, he would say…

From Conversations

According to Graham, ideas get developed in the process of explaining them to the right kind of person.  Graham puts his money where his mouth is by investing in start-ups only when there is more than one founder; moreover he looks for those founders to be close friends.

My experience: If not for a conversation with my sister (mentioned in my post Advice From the People We Love to Hate), I would not have done the Xactly Administrators Course and been able to launch a new career doing Xactly Implementations, Team Leading and Unit Testing.

Time to think about your experience…What are some of the ideas and decisions you have made which you can trace to a conversation?

Where do ideas come from?

From Taking a Partially-Developed Idea And Adding Magic To It

Before there was the I-Phone, there was Palm Treo.  What Steve Jobs did was take the smart phone and make it irresistible. Also, couldn’t we describe Facebook in the same way - Harvard Connection layered with Zuckerberg’s genius and vision to become totally addictive?

My experience: I mentioned the Fiesta ad campaign in my post How to Feel Good About Yourself When the Chips are Down. The idea of associating different colors with different days of the week actually came from another copywriter. I just took this idea and dressed it up to charm and delight.

How about your experience? What are the times where you took the skeleton of an idea and ran with it?  Have you done this many times without even realizing it? For example, if your prized home project is 2 parts architect or contractor (the boring parts) and 1 part you (the magical part), good for you. You are a mini Zuckerberg, a mini Jobs in my book.

Where do ideas come from?

From Dreams

Here’s something you may not have known about the Beatles song Yesterday. The tune came to Paul McCartney in a dream; when he woke up, he rushed to the piano so he wouldn’t lose it. A new golf swing appeared to Jack Nicklaus in a dream.

My Connected Minds post lists some of my middle-of-the-night brainwaves.

Has anything significant appeared to you in a dream?

Where do ideas come from?

From Getting In The Shower

Archimedes is only the most famous person to get a flash of inspiration in the bath-tub. When the "where do you get your best ideas?" question is asked, 1 out of 2 people will answer ”in the shower”, the white noise and lack of distractions having something to do with it. While driving, walking, riding the train or bus and doing the dishes are other popular responses. Composer Steve Reich would ride the subway round New York whenever he was stuck. Harry Potter was conceived by J K Rowling on a train from Manchester to London.

My shower moment: I was a Commissions Analyst at Extreme Networks and being unable to process Canada and South America orders because the system was designed to accept only 5 digit zip codes, I was in the shower when I got the idea to create fake 5 digit zip codes, a cheat solution which worked. Yeah! By the way, if you are curious about what else I did as a Commissions Analyst, you should read my post My Day Job. Xactly. More or Less.

Your experience: What flashes of inspiration have you had in the shower, while driving, or while being on a bus, train or plane? Have you ever had to think of a workaround to achieve something like I did with the fake zip codes?

Where do ideas come from?

From Exercise

According to Emerson, Thoreau wrote “in proportion to the length of his daily walks”. And Einstein is reported to have said “I thought of the theory of relativity when riding my bike”.

My experience: While meditating is one way for me to get my creative brain working, I also get great ideas when I am at the gym or out walking.  I am a firm believer in watching what you eat and getting regular exercise, and have published several health related posts on this blog, including:

• 4 Healthy Eating Ideas I learned from My Friend Julia
• Raising the Bar  
• Secrets of the Super Models

My preferred gym equipment is a stationary bike, because I can read a book while I pedal.

Your experience: Does exercise have creative value for you?

Where do ideas come from?

From Curiosity

Christopher Columbus discovered America because of curiosity. 

Better to have a hungry mind than a hungry body – If you have more food on the table than you can eat, you just become unhealthy.  Knowledge, on the other hand leads to questions which leads to answers and insights which leads to competence which leads to confidence which leads to knowledge in a virtuous cycle.

Curiosity is behind more than 50% of the posts on Minoo Jha Life Strategies. If not for being curious, I may not have found out what Lakshmi Mittal and I have in common  (Which by the way, is the same thing my daughter and J.K. Rowling have in common). And I also might not have found out what my daughter’s classmates order when they go to Starbucks.

Your experience: Has curiosity led you down some enchanted paths? Is it behind “the greatest book you ever read”, or “the greatest recipe you ever found” or “the greatest change in your life?”

Where do ideas come from?

From Mixed Emotions

Mixed emotions are behind some of the greatest poems and emotive prose. Laundry Day, Letters to Lucas and Flying Lessons are three pieces of writing authored by Cindy Pinkston which have as their source, mixed emotions.

My tribute to Steve Jobs was also written with mixed emotions – it celebrates his contributions to the world while mourning his loss; and my post “How I Lost A Thousand Dollars on Donuts” is a bittersweet post about getting an award for losing a chunk of money.

What poems, letters, stories, reflective prose or other ideas have come out of mixed emotions for you?

Where do ideas come from?

From Pain

Have you read Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes?  A biographical novel about McCourt's painful childhood?  Some of the best novels, articles, essays and this TED presentation came into being because of a brave soul picking up the courage to talk about a painful past. By sharing, they have been able to let go of a painful secret and also help others who are suffering.

My post “If Life is So Good, Why Do I Feel So Sad?” belongs in this category. Read it and you will know why it took me courage to write.

What painful experiences in your life have you been courageous enough to express through your writing or art?

Where do ideas come from?

From Love

And then there’s love.  Without love, there would be no Taj Mahal, no music industry and no Hallmark cards. There are too many  contenders for best love song and I know each human being will have their favorite, so I will just pick a popular current one –“ I won’t give up” by Jason Mraz.

I have not contributed anything to the love genre on my blog, but when I was younger, when love would make me glad, mad or sad, I would rush to get a pen and paper to express what I felt.

Your turn: What poems, songs, letters, stories, articles, lyrics and works of art have you contributed to the literature and artifacts of love?

Where do ideas come from?

From Serendipity

How did Play-doh go from a wallpaper cleaner to a kid's modelling compound? Serendipity.  A Cincinatti, Ohio classroom began to use it that way, so the manufacturer stripped out the cleaner from the product and relaunched it. Serendipity is also the Post-it Notes story.

If we define serendipity as “getting an idea when we are not actually searching for one”, my Connected Minds post qualifies since it came to me just by reading a comment on my What’s Next For You post;  The Porki and Bonkers Tradition, similarly unplanned, was inspired by hearing something at a family wedding.

What are some of your ideas you can attribute to serendipity?

Where do ideas come from?

From Funny Recollections or Reflections

Guest poster Ajay has written some great posts on my blog based on humorous recollections - Magical Wodehouse and A Short Stint in Advertising.

Other examples from my blog which can be traced to remembering, thinking about (or reading) funny material are:

• How to Cause Atmost Confusion at the Scripps Spelling Bee  
• How to Say Goodbye-Part3 
• How to go from Madonna to Lilly to Myrtle In A Single Evening and Even Have a Sex Change
• The Nightdress Brigade

What humorous recollections and reflections have found their way into your writing, your speeches and your other communications?

Where do ideas come from?

From Wanting to Express Your Admiration

People who are asked to write a tribute will often find the right words. My daughter when she was only 11 years old, found the words to write a tribute to our neighbor Aunty Valorie who played a big part in our lives before she died.  In my post How to Say Goodbye, you can link to one of the best tributes to Steve Jobs, the one by his sister. Some of the most memorable songs are also tributes – Candle in the Wind, a tribute to Marilyn Monroe written by Elton John; and American Pie, a tribute to Buddy Holly written by Don McClean.

On this blog, I have expressed my admiration for some exemplary people we can all learn from in “Lessons From My Personal Heroes” and “How to Let Nothing Come Between You and a Fulfilling Life”.

What is the best tribute you have written or spoken? Would you care to share it on my blog? Even if it's short, send it over. I can always combine it with other tributes and publish them as a piece.

Where do ideas come from?

From Wanting to Celebrate

Celebrations bring out our best.  And some of the best ideas can be found in graduation and wedding speeches.  Will Ferrell’s Harvard 2003 speech, for instance. Or this wedding toast from a brother to his sister.

My post No Need for 23andMe is a celebration of my family’s writing talents and my post She Victories celebrates a victory for women.

What are some of the great ideas you’ve had which came out of a desire to celebrate something?

Where do ideas come from?

Whether it’s from conversations or serendipity, from suffering or celebration, from exercise or curiosity, from finding things funny or mixed emotions, from dreams or from love, here’s to more of them.

From you.

From me.

And from the other 7 billion people on this planet.

P.S. I hope you got a kick out of this walk down creativity lane with me. Thanks for coming along.

P.S. 2:  The title of this post was inspired by the 11 proposition measures on the 2012 November California ballot and all the ads on TV urging us to vote “Yes on this “or “Yes on that”, “No on this” or “No on that”.  In researching this post, I learned that some people keep bath crayons in the shower so they can jot down ideas as they get them. Smart.  Bath Crayons should be on the Ballot.  After all, we really do need creative solutions to all the economic and social problems the world faces today. 

P.S. 3: Paul Graham (who is mentioned in this post) has given the world some great essays.  If you want to read two of my favorites, What I Wish I Had Known in High School and Why Nerds Are Unpopular, you can do so here and here.

P.S. 4: Want to know about the propositions on the 2012 California ballot? Here’s a quick primer.

More details with for and against arguments can be found at this link, with translations in Spanish, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Khmer, Korean and Thai.

P.S.5:  Surprised I have a political side? Read my post You Aced the SAT, How About the LAT?  and you will learn why it's the fate of all Lobonagar denizens to be involved in politics.  When you are watching Big Bang Theory or Modern Family, we are watching the Presidential debates and C-Span. Aiyayayay!

P.S. 6: On the subject of debates, I watched the Independent Parties Debate and it was very refreshing; I think Jill Stein, Virgil Goode, Rocky Anderson and Gary Johnson all have bath crayons.

P.S.7: As always, thanks for reading and have a great day.  One last thought - if you could send a message to everybody to vote yes on something, what would that something be? Have fun pondering that one.

Connected Minds

How It All Started

2 years ago, I read a book.

It was called How God Changes Your Brain

It was written by a neuroscientist and a therapist who had been studying the effects of spiritual activity on the brain.

The research studies and the authors’ conclusions led me to believe that if I prayed or meditated, I could change my brain and make a transformative change in my life.

The Man With The Memory Loss

The authors gave the example of a middle-aged man who came to them seeking help with memory loss.

They got him to meditate 12 minutes a day for 6 weeks.

After just those 6 weeks of meditation, he performed 50% better on memory tests.

Meditation had changed the neural connections in his brain.

Wow, if only I could change my brain

There would be so much to gain.

Perhaps I could pray or meditate away anger, judgmentalism, criticism, self-centeredness, anxiety, guilt and other bad mental habits?

I had to give it a try.

Meditation 101

There are many ways to meditate.

My brother-in-law Arun prefers Twin-Heart Meditation and for Candy Crowley, the mediator of the 2012 VP debate, it is some form of TM.

I used a technique right out of the book How God Changes Your Brain.

I set aside 12 minutes a day, during which I would

• Repeat a simple mantra
• Keep time with my fingers
• Focus my thoughts on what I wanted to change
• Ride a stationary bike at the apartment gym 

And so I began meditating.

From Small Beginnings

At first, 12 minutes was tough - I’d keep checking the time on my cell phone.

But after a week of keeping at it, I was able to go for 20 minutes.

20 minutes then became an hour.

Soon I found I could meditate at will.

I was meditating before going to bed…when I woke up in the morning…when I was stuck in traffic…when I was waiting at the end of a phone line.

And I abandoned the fingers and the mantra. I had learned to focus my mind without those.

Intrinsic Satisfaction

I discovered an intrinsic satisfaction in meditating itself.

I did not care if the meditation was succeeding or failing, if I was doing it right, or if indeed my mind was changing.

It just felt like the right thing to do – a worthwhile use of my time.

Harvesting the Fruits

And slowly, but surely, I began to harvest the fruits…

Peace

One of the first fruits was peace.

I began to feel more peaceful than I had ever felt before in my life.

Even if I got shook up by something, I found that all I had to do was meditate for 15 minutes and I would become peaceful again.

What Was Bad Was Now Good

Dark moments became light moments.

For example, if I woke up in the middle of the night, instead of worrying and getting anxious, I would have flashes of insight, inspirations for my writing and solutions to problems.

Living In the Moment

More and more, I found myself living, not in the past, nor in the future, but in the moment.

An unintended consequence of being fully present in the moment was I became a better listener – completely available to anyone who was speaking to me.

Calmness

My response to provocations and problems changed.  Where before I used to get riled, criticize, become defensive, blame, issue ultimatums, or adopt a stony silence, more and more, I was able to watch those negative emotions and words bubble up and then subside; they would come and go, and I was able to just observe them with compassion.

Acceptance and Patience

I learned to accept and move on from things I could not change.

I gave up being stuck on ideas, rules, and my own perfectionism, replacing expectations with expectancy.

In time, it would transform my relationship with my daughter as I went from Tiger Mom to Helicopter Mom to Hippie Mom – a change you can read about in my post It's Called Motherhood - 2.

Synchronicity

And whether because I was liberated from the self-centeredness and preoccupation that had previously characterized my consciousness - or whether because the universe is just plain darn magical - I started experiencing what one might call “marvelous consciousness coincidences”.

Such as getting a sudden flash of inspiration - only to discover that around the same time, I was having my flash of inspiration, someone connected to me was doing something amazingly closely related.

Here are 3 recent consciousness coincidences….

The 3 Benches Post

A few months ago, I woke up in the middle of the night with an idea for a blog post about 3 benches.

There was nothing I could think of that might have triggered the idea.

But it was a wonderfully original idea and I toyed with how to develop it all week long.

At the end of the week, I called my friend Nadya who lives in another state. We were neighbors once and remain close friends, keeping in touch through regular phone calls.

When she picked up and I said “Hi, Nadya, what are you up to?", you’ll never believe her reply ….

“Building a bench for my backyard”

Building a bench for her backyard? Nadya is not a carpenter or a professional furniture maker; she runs an assisted living facility. Occasionally, she will do house projects like replace her carpet.

But here I was listening to her tell me she had been building a bench all week in the very same week when I inexplicably get an out of the blue idea for a blog post involving 3 benches, an idea that I had been thinking about all week….wouldn’t you be stunned?

International Coffee Day

And then there was International Coffee Day.

This one involves Helen, whom I had to work closely with on my Dublin assignment. In fact, we were so joined at the hip, I used to joke to everyone we were Tweedledee and Tweedledum.

The marvelous coincidence happened during my last week at work.

The day was Thursday, September 27, 2012.

I had already written my “What’s Next for You?” post about my cousin Vinitha’s brave entrepreneurial plunge and had planned to publish it on Saturday, September 29.  

But on the evening of September 27, my eyes briefly lit on a Yahoo headline about Saturday, September 29 being International Coffee Day.

And for some reason, I woke up in the middle of the night that night and the makings of a coffee post came to my mind to publish on International Coffee Day.   

And for some reason again, it couldn’t wait till Friday evening, but I had to get up at 5 a.m. the next morning to research and finish this International Coffee Day post.

When I got into office, a farewell gift bag from Helen was waiting for me on my desk.

Inside was a card and a Starbucks coffee mug.

This meant that at the time my eyes fell on the Yahoo headline about International Coffee Day, Helen was probably at a Starbucks store shopping for a coffee mug for me. A few days earlier, she had said to me, “I want to buy a coffee mug for someone.  Where do you think I should get it from? “and I said “How about Starbucks?”.

And at the time, I was writing and researching the coffee post on the morning of Friday, September 28, Helen was probably gift-wrapping the coffee mug for me and writing out a card to go with it.

This is why The Unsocratic Coffee Quiz will forever be magical to me.

3 Words

Completing the hat-trick of “marvelous consciousness coincidences” is my 3 Words post, and more specifically the last line of it, which was – “As always thanks for reading and have an awesome, stupendous, amazing day”.

I added this line as an afterthought – just before I hit the publish button.

Then comes this comment from reader Aarathi about that line:

 “Landline was out of order for a week. Probably it was Divine intervention to keep me away from being online. While reading the post I was flabbergasted, because last week I was trying my best to substitute ‘excellent’ and played around with 'stupendous' and 'amazing’ the same words found in your post. Remember I was not even looking for them online”

Wouldn't you say the “marvelous consciousness coincidences” spigot is still on?

To think that this happened even with Aarathi being on the other side of the globe!

And with us having never met or spoken, but just because we share a special author-reader bond.

Wow!

It points to a greater interconnectedness between all our minds and souls than we assume.

But then, people have been getting excited about telepathic communication for a long time.

Mark Twain's telepathic experience

Mark Twain tells of a coincidence when he and his friend Wright came up with the exact same idea for a book at the exact same time. It you want to read about it, you can do so here.

Twain called it Mental Telegraphy, or distant communication between minds that are keyed to similar wavelengths.

Upton Sinclair's telepathic experience

And then there are the recordings of Upton Sinclair in his book Mental Radio - which documents the telepathic communication between him and his psychic wife.

Harold Sherman's telepathic experience

Finally, author Harold Sherman carried out a five and a half months telepathic experiment with his explorer friend Hubert Wilkins, while Hubert was in the Arctic and Sherman in New York. They each faithfully wrote diaries during that time. When they compared their entries after Hubert returned, they found them to be 75% synchronous – worthwhile material for a book which they published called Thoughts Through Space.

So there you have it.

P.S. 1: What are the favorite "marvelous consciousness coincidences" in your life?  If you can’t think of any, how about novels, tv episodes or movie scenes that come to mind? I would love to hear.

P.S. 2:  I was inspired to write this post after reading Aarathi’s comment on my post 3 Words. Thank you, Aarathi.

P.S. 3: I plan to publish the 3 Benches post as soon as that is ready.

P.S. 4: For one of my daughter’s AP Lit assignments, she was asked to request a few different people to give her a few words of advice for the future.  One of the pieces of advice I gave her was this: “Be imaginative.  Only in our imaginations is the world truly limitless - we can go anywhere and do anything.  Reality may catch up later, or not at all.". So even if it’s only in my imagination, I would like to believe that what occurred between Nadya and me, Helen and me and Aarathi and me (or Nadya and I, Helen and I and Aarathi and I if that’s the correct usage) was indeed a connecting of minds.

P.S. 5: As always, thanks for reading and have a great day! And keep an open mind to all the possibilities in your life, including the possibilities for "marvelous consciousness coincidences”.