I have no idea … #38 #cong18

Paul O'Mahony

Synopsis:

In the beginning…
I’m up to my eyes, emptying ideas out of my sack of distractions. Travelling to Cong in the spirit of a leaky bucket. Trusting you to offer me too many ideas for my own good.

If you have a feather of an idea, let it blow in the breeze as you shoot. Be light-hearted, leave your brain at home, let your imagination out of prison.

Neither of us are a figment not a segment of the ONE GRAND IDEA. Before our idea were our feelings. Contrary to every idea we’ve ever shared, the idea is secondary. Our emotional health is primary.

4 Key Takeaways:

  1. Keep your ideas short – in case they take too long to express.
  2. Kill your favourite ideas – that way lies salvation.
  3. The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of bad ideas.
  4. Stop thinking ideas – start feeling ideas.

About Paul O'Mahony:

Mature man living in Cork since 2005. Son of bookshop owner, grew up in Limerick, university in Dublin, 30 years in UK. Grandfather. Member of Toastmasters International.
Poet since 1995. Blogger since 2005. Big communicator via Internet. Huge into “social audio” – uses Anchor, Limor, Audioboom, Periscope, Twitter… Profession: marketing.
Loves: talking, opera, golf, black sole & tuna, gin, apples, cooking, ironing, writing, CongRegation, Eoin, Chicago, Italy
Motto: MAKING MEANING NOT WAR

Contacting Paul O'Mahony:

You can contact Paul by email , follow him on Twitter and see his work on Paul O’Mahony (personal site) and Show and Tell Communications  (business site)

By Paul O’Mahony.

“If at first, the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.” – Albert Einstein

I hope to hear a lot of absurd ideas at Cong – not just during huddles – because I think every idea is a disguised hope.

“An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.” – Oscar Wilde

All my life I’ve lived dangerously, on the edge of owning an idea – even my conception was dangerous.

“Ideas won’t keep. Something must be done about them.” – Alfred North Whitehead

There’s nothing like stale ideas to keep publishers & booksellers going. I was born among stale ideas & ate plenty of bread & butter pudding.

“A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a quip and worried to death by a frown on the right man’s brow.” – Ovid

I only spawn crude ideas – crudités become me.  I hope I won’t yawn at Cong.

“No grand idea was ever born in a conference, but a lot of foolish ideas have died there.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

Birth is overrated.

“An idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before it will explain itself.” – Charles Dickens

I’d like to talk with people who speak to themselves.

“Everyone is in love with their own ideas.” – Carl Jung

I only rent ideas, don’t believe in owning them. I love women.

“Why is it I always get my best ideas while shaving?” – Albert Einstein

My most satisfying ideations come when I’m shaving away superfluous verbiage.

“One’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

I’m always in two minds – a eclectic Taoist.

“A mediocre idea that generates enthusiasm will go further than a great idea that inspires no one.” – Mary Kay Ash

To go further than Cong is unnecessary – it may be attractive but it’s not essential for my wellbeing.

“We often refuse to accept an idea merely because the tone of voice in which it has been expressed is unsympathetic to us.”- Friedrich Nietzsche

Atonality matters.

“Once upon a time I had an idea. It lived with a wicked stepfather in a crooked house full of children who screamed for attention.” – Paul O’Mahony

You have to put your children to bed – or out to grass. Your best poems have to be buried like acorns – those that rot turn to ballast.

IDEAS ARE HAPPENINGS – here’s evidence: