When and where do you do your best thinking?

In the bathroom? While running? Just before bed, or first thing in the morning? On the bus?

Why do you think that is?

– – – – –

There’s a fine line between thinking, worrying, brooding and obsessing. Since I do all of these, I should ponder this a bit. Hmm.

When I lay in bed in the morning reviewing the various injustices of life, the friends who’ve fallen out of touch and whom I miss very much, adding in the bills I haven’t paid, generally contemplating my failures and shortcomings, then proceed to beat myself up — followed by a brief foray into self-pity? How do I define that? Is it worrying, brooding, thinking or obsessing? All of the above?

When I stare at a laptop that isn’t working and I can’t (apparently) fix … the one on which I’m planning to reinstall the OS while wondering if it will totally trash the machine? Is that thinking? Worrying? Obsessing? Does it matter?

Creative thinking, the stuff that produces something new, has no particular time. It can be the offshoot of a conversation with my husband or online. Frequently, something I read in a book turns on the light bulb in the brain. Often I discover what I want to write about on my site while commenting on someone else’s.

I’m not sure my brain ever goes to sleep. I have weird dreams that can be difficult to shake even after I wake. And even though I don’t always remember the dreams, I wake up already fully engulfed in brooding, worry, obsession or thinking about something — apparently triggered by the dream I’ve forgotten.

What is the best thinking? I don’t know. Worrying and obsessing may not be the most healthy processes, but they can be surprisingly productive despite their bad reputation.

I guess this means I have no idea when or where my best thinking gets done. If I were to take a guess, I’d say it’s while I sleep.

I know when my best writing gets done. That’s easy. I have creative spurts in the morning after I pour my first cup of coffee and again after dinner, around eight or nine at night. I may get an idea anytime, but I’m most likely to put it down on virtual paper early in the day or when I’ve got my feet up at night.

So much for a simple answer to a straightforward question.

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Categories: Humor, Life

Tags: Daily Prompt: Simply the Best, obsessing, pondering, thinking, worrying