Sunday, September 19, 2010

Knotty Thoughts....

While I was at the LQS (Local Quilt Store) today, we got into a conversation about my Knotty Thoughts quilt (the one pictured on my blog page) and how I came up with the name for it.  For those of you that know me well, I am a thinker...well too be more exact and honest I am an OVER thinker. It is certainly a blessing and a curse to be this way and I sometimes wonder if I have been this way my whole life or its something that I have perfected over time?  Guess I should consult with the mom on this question.  Anyhow, while I was in the process of making this particular quilt, I had a lot on my mind and I was thinking about how my thoughts get all knotted up sometimes and wallah!  The name of this quilt was born.
Getting back to the over thinking though...now that I have brought it up.  It makes me wonder if this is part of having a creative mind or do I border on insanity?   I have lately taken to carrying around a small spiral with me to jot down ideas that I come up with when I am in one of these over thinking modes. I don't want to forget the ideas and at my age that tends to happen.  I will admit that I have even called myself on the phone to leave myself a message about a great idea that I have had just so I don't lose the thought. Or I have woken up in the middle of the night and jotted down something that has come to me.  Do you think this is bordering on insanity,  is anyone else doing this?  I guess I have just been too embarrassed to ask.
I guess the creative over thinking part of me has been okay with this process because it has only had positive results - great ideas have blossomed from it and to me that can only be a good thing.  It is the negative part of the over thinking that I find challenging and I am working on trying to avoid.  Things like wondering if I shouldn't have said or did something or over analyzing what someone said to the point where I make myself crazy wondering what they really meant.  I am trying so hard to just let these things go and my mantra to myself has been "Don't worry it away".  I guess the "it" is my sanity?   I think that understanding my weakness is a good step in the right direction, and also realizing that even though this is a weakness it is also a strength because I garner so much creative thinking from it.  I guess in the long run I am saying that I am accepting this as one of my personality traits, one that I realize has good and bad aspects but I will continue to work on the bad because the good overcomes it.  And I think that those that truly understand me and love me will be able to overlook this attribute as well and see me for the wonderful person that I really am...my faults and all. :)  

1 comment:

  1. Overthinking....I also do this about EVERYTHING! Much of the time, it feels like a curse. I'd love to be able to bounce through life, just sort of rolling with the flow, living for the moment. But instead I roll every single thought over and over in my head. I know for a fact that I've been this way my whole life, I can remember specific times and places where it held me back. But I also think that it has helped me quite a few times - where being cautious and thinking things through has probably kept me out of trouble! I think that being creative is a great way to sort of curb this habit in the right direction. Isn't it better to spend your energy thinking on something that is positive and inspiring? This is what saves my sanity :) I think carrying a spiral around with you is a great idea - I do that too! Actually, I have several notebooks - probably too many, scattered around in different places. I also like to use the voice recorder on my phone, and the "notes" application where I can keep track of my ideas or song lyrics that I think of. Before I stared doing this, I would find song lyrics scratched out on the back of receipts or other papers. Once I even had a song on the back of a Chinese takeout menu! If we could just learn how to make the worrying, overthinking part of our brains turn off so that we had that much more room for creative thinking, just think of all of the great things we would be able to do!

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