If you are like me, there are a lot of thoughts bouncing around inside your head all day long.
Some of them are pretty creative. Few are deep. Some are reflections of the past or regrets. Others are just random, funny thoughts. I wouldn’t mind keeping those around once in a while to distract from the crazy of life.
Most thoughts are fleeting, but others I would like to develop and see if something bigger will come of these individual thought nuggets. I had never organized these golden idea droplets into a common space, they were all haphazardly written in various places or lost in the abyss of the day-to-day.
I felt that this collection of thoughts was not just a ‘brain dump page’. If you are not familiar with the term, brain dump can also be known as a ‘mental download’ or a variety of other terms. I’ve called it a ‘brain dump’ because I imagine my brain’s contents being spilled on a page by a dump truck. No organization, no common themes, just all the thoughts being dumped on the page for sorting later – or not.
A brain dump is great for when there are just too many thoughts to process.
I use a brain dump page for when I can’t sleep at night because the thoughts are running in every direction and won’t slow down. In this case, I record every thought that comes into my head until I cannot find another thought to think and my brain is able to {finally} rest.
Why this collection is not a brain-dump:
To be honest, I rarely revisit a brain dump page because its contents are mostly worries and irrational, unfounded thoughts that I can’t seem to let go usually as I am trying to calm my mind down before I go to sleep or when I am trying to work on a project and I am completely distracted. I want to keep my best ideas here. These ideas are more than fleeting. These ideas are pure inspiration that just need more coaxing to become valuable pearls.
The Random Thoughts & Great Ideas Page is not a brain dump. It’s themed with specifically chosen ideas to enhance future creativity and brainstorming.
I wanted a collective place to store these great ideas so I could expand or explore it further when I had more time or could find a connection between other thoughts.
Instead of all the thoughts jumbled together from one session, I am compiling all my great thoughts on this page. I may pull ideas from my braindumps, but it will be selected ideas jotted in this collection instead of all thoughts thrown together.
Make Pretty Designs & Use Them Too
After creating this page I had the initial fear of writing on it. I liked the artwork! This fear was quickly overcome as I have learned in the past: I value the page far more for the content AND the creative backdrop than I value just the creative background. Reviewing my past journals, I enjoy the drawings, doodles, and painting. But when I couple those with relevant feelings or thoughts, the recollection and overall meaning of the drawing meant more than just the artwork by itself.
Reviewing my past journals, I enjoy the drawings, doodles, and painting. But when I couple those with relevant feelings or thoughts, the page meant more than just the artwork by itself.
I cannot wait to see what comes of this page when I fill it with my Random Thoughts and Great Ideas. I may just find ‘my next big thing’ ascribed to its dotted page.
How do you track your ideas and random thoughts? Leave me a comment below.
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How I created the page
I outlined the light bulb lightly with a pencil. Using Tombow dual brush pens #055 (yellow) I filled in heavily around the outside. The gray area (you could call it gray matter if you like) I used a Papermate flair to create the outline. Using a water brush pen, I blended the colors outward until achieving the desired effect. Water brush pens are (similar to a paintbrush, but it holds water inside the pen instead of dipping in a cup of water – if you don’t have these, you can just as easily use a paintbrush and water).
I found that using the Tombow Markers with the water pens did not make the page wrinkle as much as when I used watercolor paint on the page. A nice perk.
Find other Idea Organization Spreads here!
Want to know what supplies I used? I’ll tell you.
