Thinking in space

Where do you get your ideas?

I am not asking where the ideas come from, when they get to you. I am rather wondering where you are when ideas, especially bright ones, come to you.

Personally, I often have ideas, or great thoughts (great imho), when I’m in the shower box. And don’t misunderstand me; I am not sitting in the shower box waiting for some great epiphany. It just so happens that I find my mind wondering more easily when I am showering.

This happened again this morning, as I showered before heading out for work! I am sure I had this great idea for a new post on the blog. But I lost it. I must have accidentally dropped it in the frenetic run to catch the rush hour’s bus. And I can’t seem to get it back, at least not at the moment.

This made me think. I feel that when I need to focus on something, to come up with a concrete plan, I do so more easily when in a box, a vacuum, a small room, a confined space. Just like a shower box. This somehow helps my mind wonder into introspection, coming up we new ideas or finding novel connections.

On the other hand, a large, open space seems to facilitate thinking in expansion. I am talking about a walk in a park (or, here in Sweden, maybe through a graveyard), the woods, or a mountain hike. Somehow, this helps focusing my mind too, turning concepts around in my head, seeing things from a different perspective.

In short, thinking in a restricted space helps me identifying new problems, or solutions to unsolved problems. While thinking in vast, open spaces often leads me to new solutions to problems I already found.

How does space affect the way you think? Especially its size. Do you experience it the same way I do? The opposite? Or something else entirely?

This post’s concept has been sitting in the draft folder for a couple of months. Which seems rather fitting with the idea I lost during the rush hour. Although it did come back to me, eventually. You can read that in the shortcuts and long journeys post.