Just Ideas

For some reason, my favorite magazines have decided to change their taglines all at once. Ode, which used to be “for intelligent optimists,” which is what made me subscribe in the first place, is now “to people, to passion, to possibilities.” (Please be sure to check out their Readers Blog, where I am a regular charter member contributor.)

Utne used to be “understanding the next evolution,” which is a very clever use of their name. Now it’s “Don’t Be Afraid! They’re just ideas.” I laughed when I read it. Just ideas!?!?! Oh, that’s all.

Dear one, nothing but nothing starts without an idea first. I read an article in Guideposts about a stay-at-home mom who wanted to have her own business. She started with an idea to make pillows filled with corn that could be hot or cold. They’re called Wuvits and she’s now got a multimillion-dollar business. First, an idea.

I think ideas are why I write “Seeds” and why I’ve written them for nine years and why I see no reason to stop writing them. The “Seeds” I write are all about ideas. Because you never know. One small idea seed in front of the right person at the right moment could change the world.

One of my favorites, Ralph Waldo Emerson, wrote,

Nothing can withstand an idea whose time has come.

Nothing. No thing. First, an idea. In an individual. Who is energized by it. Takes the idea and acts on it. Tells others. The world is transformed. Sounds like a short, simple formula. Not so much. But it doesn’t matter.

This summer I’ve been given some quiet time to reflect on the past almost fifty years of my life. The things that have taken me the farthest in these fifty years have been ideas. Don’t be afraid, dear one. We’ve all got them.