Future Guardian,
It turns out, it's just you and me today. Kev and Nic are off galavanting in Phoenix with other amazing people. I'm here, left to my own devices.
So actually ...
I guess that means I have the power.
I HAVE ALL THE POWER!
MUAUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHFHAHAHAHHAHAHaahh11!11
COUGH COUGH COUGH
Ahehm.
Anyway,
As I was writing today's article I realized I was actually just writing to myself.
So I thought ...
What if I make it a letter to myself and shared that with you?
And then I realized, because I had that idea, I had to do it.
You'll see why.
Dear Me,
You ever get this feeling ...
"Man ... I've got a really good idea."
I get that. I get that a lot.
I mean,
C'mon you know this.
You're reading one right now. I was busy writing this very article when I realized I was writing a bunch to myself so I thought "What if this was a letter to me?"
Of course now, You and I are much more inclined to let our ideas live, no matter how strange - as long as we're having a good time with them, am I right?
Anyway,
I used to just marinate in those ideas. I used to just think getting good ideas and thinking about them and not doing anything further was just part of life.
Sometimes I'd write them down.
Usually I'd think they were neat but, who's ever gonna do that?
Sometimes I would take those ideas and try them out. Most of the time I would just wonder ... is it really a good idea? And then do nothing with the idea because I couldn’t answer that question.
I see it differently now of course.
A good idea manifests more than just as an idea now ... it's got form, texture, color ... ENERGY.
I can feel an idea come to me like it's pushing against a wall.
Like it wants to get out and be in the world.
The idea just very, so quietly, screams at me "do it."
And it's because of one simple line.
Sometimes that's a subtle line in sand.
Sometimes a scratch on the rock.
Sometimes a crack in the road.
Sometimes a ripped chasm between two points I must cross.
But always,
ALWAYS it's a point where I am here now, and the path I am walking travels over the line.
Ideas are worthless. Information is worthless. Knowledge is worthless.
Until you do the thing.
Here's another interesting aspect to this dynamic. I can often tell when an idea is incomplete. When an idea isn't quite right. When my idea if implemented in the form of that idea would probably not be successful.
I can tell because our subconscious minds are processing information at incomprehensible levels. There's shit happening behind the scenes which I can't even know is happening but which is giving me understanding in a form of communication I can't even see.
But I know.
And yet.
It's taken me all these years. All these words. All of this revisiting, re-walking through the river to recognize ...
So much of the time the missing piece, the further clarity and understanding I want or need on the idea, that I'm waiting for before I maybe or maybe don't execute on the idea - so much of the time that missing piece can ONLY come from the action of doing the idea.
That's the tipping point.
Where the line lies.
Where you have gathered enough information, enough knowledge, enough clarity, enough understanding, enough knowing about where you are going and why you want to get there, and enough knowing about what the next step is ...
That the only thing that really actually makes sense in the next step is to put the idea into action.
Even if it's a broken idea.
Even if I think "this idea is not completely correct."
Because the missing piece of the information is ALL the understanding and clarity which can only be achieved by Engaging the Field1 with The Idea.
There's magic in The Field.
Like real honest to god magic - shit that cannot be explained except by witnessing the parts of ourselves which are incomprehensibly skilled and powerful at processing data more than we can ever know, that’s sifting through all the data which is only possible to achieve by being in The Field with The Idea, and is telling us missing pieces which are vital for moving forward.
And I can hear you there,
Picking through my words ... thinking "well, what even makes an idea worthy of action?"
After all, surely not every idea is "worth" doing?
WELL my friend.
Let me take that very simple bait, which I the writer certainly didn't place there just for the purpose of continuing this thought.
What the hell even is an idea?
I'm not interested in digging into dictionary definitions of the word. There's definition and then there's contextual understanding in which we all use the concept.
There's the "idea" of what an idea is.
Hang on ...
... I need to wait and see if that broke reality ...
...
Nope,
We're good.
Ok, let's continue.
Is an idea imagined fact?
Like, is it just something that you come up with in your head?
What would that look like?
"I think the color blue is actually not blue it is actually something called perpplecskenat."
I mean, that's complete nonsense, but isn't that completely made up detail a made up idea?
Maybe it can be.
But maybe that silly example is more made up fact, and less idea.
A simple thought.
After all,
There's nothing surrounding it.
I just ... imagined that the color blue wasn't the color blue, or at least wasn't called the color blue.
Again, nonsense.
Because an idea is something more. An idea has context and motion.
When I think of the concept of an idea I think of imagined creation. But to me it almost always has a sense of movement and of potential.
What if?
What if creates ideas.
What if I did XYZ.
Based on the information I know about coffee ... what if I brewed my cup this morning with milk instead of water?
That sounds like an idea! Brew coffee with milk instead of water.
(News flash, it's f$#king gross don't do that)
But let's think further. Because in that case it was the idea to do something. The idea to create something. The idea that something new could exist.
The idea that I could have a different experience.
The idea that I could achieve a new outcome.
"I have an idea!" to me always elicits the thought that someone has thought of something new, someone has thought of something to do, someone has imagined the possibility of a thing.
"I have an idea! What if ..."
Idea to me has motion.
Idea to me is effectively hypothesis.
Based on this information I have, what if I do xyz?
It doesn't have to be rigidly scientific.
I have an idea - What if in the D&D campaign I'm writing and running, suddenly all magic power is lost across the realm and everyone is stuck with their hands and their tools?
That's an idea. That might be a hell of an idea.
Where does THAT idea come from?
The information: Everything I know about the D&D campaign, the world, the story ...
The direction I want to go: and a desire to mix things up in a way that forces my players to think completely differently and solve a problem unconventionally.
What the hell am I doing talking so much about the concept of idea?
Because
An idea COMPELS the maker of the idea to enact it into The Field ... otherwise, the idea is only imagination.
By it's very existence, Idea creates the potential for action to be taken, and therefore forces you to confront your inaction over The Idea.
I am now someone who is NOT making a D&D campaign where all the magic has disappeared.
The Field only exists because of The Idea to engage in it. But by having The Idea, you compel yourself to a place where the only sensible step forward is to go completely to the other side of The Idea which is Engaging that Idea into Reality.
Why is that the only sensible step forward?
Because the only way you can come to The Idea to do the thing in the first place, is if YOUR path in life takes you to that line in the sand.
The other option is to reject the idea.
You can walk away from it.
Most people do.
But you rob yourself of the gift The Idea presents, the gift of understanding of yourself that is only possible in the balance between The Idea and The Field.
That's what I hope to reveal to you today.
Along with the danger most people face ...