Ways of Thinking

I just started hearing the phrase "blue sky thinking," although apparently it has been around for awhile. We are being encouraged to get out of our day-to-day rut, think creatively, and imagine that perhaps not even the sky is the limit.

On the other hand, I have been a believer in Anne Lamott's "Bird By Bird" thinking ever since I read her book by that name. The book's title comes from Lamott's father's advice to her brother, who having procrastinated was then melting down the night before his school report about birds was due. "Bird by bird, Buddy," Lamott's father said, "just take it bird by bird."

Another related bit of great advice from this book "about writing and life" is Lamott's helpful admission (and suggestion) that "the only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts."

Since hearing about "blue sky thinking" a few weeks ago, I have been playing with the metaphor. Here's my current try: A lot of the time we are dealing with clouds and even rain, not blue skies. The challenge is: to deal with the reality of the rain (an umbrella might be useful!) and still realize that there are blue skies above the rain clouds ...