So I guess my file would be labeled not “ideas to try” but “ideas I have loved: a steamy memoir”.

Right now I’m loving the idea of trusting in life’s repetitiveness. And actually come to think of it, filing ideas away does facilitate running into them again.

OTOH, there’s a lot to be said for the more fun, less work approach of daydreaming. I think we may assimilate things differently (better?) without all the stress.

Whichever approach, I’m leaning toward friendliness and lightening up as key.

Then again, perhaps I should daydream about them, then just let them go. It seems like more fun, less work.

@Gina – Separated at birth, and reunited on the blog!

@Sarah, @JoVE – I wonder if, when the intention is there, we’re more alert to information related to it, and find it in multiple forms…so it can continue to shape us?

@Michelle – I too find that underlining and notetaking help me pay attention in a different way—I’m interacting with the material. Your observation has me asking myself whether I could interact even more by challenging what I want to remember, asking questions about it.

@Sharon – Love the possibility of just enjoying and fantasizing about ideas, without feeling compelled to act on them.

I think our good intentions are a lot like all the great ideas we generate. I used to become frazzled, thinking that I had to commit and act upon most of my good ideas. At some point I decided to just enjoy the good ideas and fantasize about seeing them to fruition, as I am something of a daydreamer. Then I could pick and choose the ideas or intentions to commit to, keeping in mind my goals. No clutter necessary.

Sometimes I’ll underline key bits in pencil as I go, and sometimes if I’m *really* feeling motivated I’ll take notes in an external notebook or journal as I read. I usually never go back to the underlinings or the notes, but somehow the extra time and attention that I spend in considering what’s important enough to underline or write out helps me absorb the material a little more deeply on the first read-through.

I don’t do this at ALL consistently, but at least it’s an idea I can toss out here…

Although I like your “I can trust” option, too. Trusting that while I may not get a permanent handle on it all (which is just my Inner Control Freak trying to have her way as usual), I will come across, remember, and use whatever information I need as I need it. Oh, how hard it is to trust and let go like that! But you’re right–I think it’s something worth striving for.

Gently. )

I like the “I could trust…” option. When I look back on some changes I’ve made I can’t really pinpoint how they came about. I think I come across ideas and they are in my head in a really amorphous way. And eventually things shift as a result of exposure to things. But I could get rid of the initial stimulus and still have the impact.

Sometimes the impact of new knowledge isn’t direct or immediate. That doesn’t mean it hasn’t had an impact. Just that the impact is hard to measure.