Tag Archives: Idea

There’s A Light

When was the last time you marched into the dark with only the soft glow of an idea you strongly believed in?

light in the darkness jonathan hilton
Are Your Ideas In the Darkness?

There are times in everyone’s life when they feel like they are all by themselves, with only their beliefs to guide them.  These times are opportunities to define your life, what your principles are, and how you will share this with the world. Will you continue to think as you always have? Or will you move in the direction of change and growth? That is a test that life likes to give us from time to time, and we must find the lesson and maintain our humanity and compassion in the process. There is no question difficult times are tough to endure but they bring with them an opportunity.  One way or another these moments will come to define your life, providing you with depth in the way you view life and your place in it.  You will have the chance to become more understanding of the plight of others in the world or you can build bitterness around your own situation.  The decision is truly yours. What light do you bring into the world?  One of illumination or destruction?

The Dark Side

walking into the darkness
Fear-based thought will lead you to the darkness.

When difficult times arrive, you may forget the soft glow of the idea you strongly believe in, you can lose your positive attitude. This experience can cause disillusion, anger, hatred, and, most of all, self-pity. Why is everyone against me? If they were real friends, they would support me no matter what. Poor me! These are natural emotions and thoughts, but that is all that they are.  We are not our thoughts or emotions. In this case, they are all caused by the actions and opinions of others.  The danger is that once you start down the path of self-pity and anger, you are in danger of staying there for a long time, if not forever.

All of these are fear-based emotions and thoughts, which can have no other destination than to make you unhappy, angry, and scared.  There is no way that you can embrace the good in something and grow if you spend all of your time, though, and effort in self-pity and anger. These emotions can become pervasive in all aspects of your life, and relationships end; you will find that you look at everything with a veil of suspicion, and it will become nearly impossible to be truly happy.  This change can be caused by any tragedy in your life, losing a job, character assassinations, the death of a loved one, or any of the significant obstacles of life.  Fortunately, this is not permanent or fatal unless you want it to be.

The Light

When you carry the light of an idea into the darkness, you will always have a choice, for

walking in the light
Thoughts and actions based on love will bring you to light no matter where you are

every adverse reaction above, there is a positive choice available to you.  This choice is the path of growth because these decisions come from love.  Compassion, understanding, kindness, and forgiveness are all examples of this type of reaction.  It is pretty easy to display these characteristics when times are good and everything is going your way, but quite a different story when facing challenges.  You get laid off from your job unexpectedly, how do you react? It would be understandable if you were angry and felt it was unfair and wished terrible things on all of those responsible, but what will that accomplish when you look at it?

You will allow the things that happened to you to define you and all of your actions.  Or you can accept that it happened and look for the positive. This optimism may be the push you needed to finally follow your dream and become a doctor or an engineer or whatever you have always wanted to do.  Difficult times and opportunities often walk hand in hand if you keep your eyes open.  Forgive those that you feel wronged you, accept what has happened, and move forward with courage. I can’t tell you for sure, but open your eyes and embrace the changes, and you may find yourself significantly happier than when you began this journey.

So if you feel like you are marching into the dark with only the soft glow of an idea you strongly believe in, make that idea one that honors you and leads to a more significant light in the world. If it creates love, it will do that. If it starts with fear, it will most likely lead to misery and pain. Look for the light in the situations you face, and even the worst things can ultimately positively impact you and the world.  There is no way to change the past and what has happened. You have one hundred percent control over how you react to them.

Into the light

 

My Deep Thought Notebook

by Jonathan Hilton

My current colorful, deep thought notebook!
My current colorful, deep thought notebook!

I am not sure what other people do with their thoughts. I mean the one’s that make you adjust in your seat and know that there is power boiling there.

The potential seed that could grow into some potentially awesome writing, or a gadget the world has never seen before and may never experience if I don’t record it quickly and accurately.  I often get hit with ideas from sources I experience every day and spend my time trying to record them in my almost magical, brightly colored, deep thought notebook.

Why I carry My Notebook

I have been carrying around a notebook for most of the past two years to catch these wonderful thoughts before they can escape me.  I call it my notebook of deep thoughts and ideas. More of a hopeful title than descriptive because it captures all ideas both good and bad.

As a learner throughout life, writing things down allowed me to internalize them, ingest them and work them around inside which allows me to decide if the idea is a good one or if it needs a bit more work. My notebook allows me to place an idea off to the side, safe and sound. Then return to it in the future and find my subconscious has found the value of that writing.

Looking for a "great Idea" in my notebook. Find them all the time
Looking for a “great Idea” in my notebook. Find them all the time

Some are from reading I do, and note taking of unique points and thought provoking phrases that highlight a feeling or spark a unique thought.  Some come from the great blogs I read online. I fill my notebook with quotes and descriptions that are just inspiring.  Like a blog I read yesterday for the first time. There were so many great writings, I filled up many pages, with quotes like:“In your shadow, I became a child.  In your light, I became a bird, and learned how to fly.” – Purnimodo

This quote and many others,  I place into the book and refer back to as often as I have to, in order to let it spawn a great expression of my own.  These are easy to do, because the words speak a story.  In a few short words, a story is spawned in my mind.  It is then just a matter of letting it flow out through my fingers onto the keyboard.

Some times during meditation, I think of those words and they allow me to encompass and cover the entire world.

Get Yourself a Thought Book

I highly suggest that you have a thought collection process for all great ideas that come your way, be they deal with spiritual things, action plans or just great information about life.  I am sure that people look at my colorful notebook and have pangs of jealousy, but they are going to have to find their own.

The great thing is that the actual book, means nothing without some substantial substance located on the pages inside. Any old notebook can provide any person with a vehicle to catch their ideas and manufacture them into greatness.  Mine cost a dollar but I have made it priceless.