I’ve done a lot of reading and writing in my life, but not enough thinking. That may sound strange, because we usually associate reading and writing with thinking – but I’m beginning to realize that that’s not always true. I know for a fact that I can read and write without doing much thinking. I can sit with a book and read page after page without really engaging my mind, and I can write sentence after sentence in a completely unthinking manner. I guess it’s called “going through the motions” – doing an activity with almost no participation by the brain. As a refreshing change, lately I’ve spent more time just thinking. I’ve sat in my apartment with no book or pencil, just thinking, just working on one idea, just carefully following a thought wherever it leads me. It’s a refreshing and inspiring way to spend a few minutes – no reading, no writing, no multi-tasking, just thinking. And it hasn’t been easy! Actually, I’ve always found thinking to be hard work, maybe the hardest I’ve ever done. There’s something about pure, steadfast thinking that has made me resist it, avoid it, steer clear of it if at all possible. Over the years, I would do almost anything to evade the necessity for concentrated thinking. Recently, though, I’ve become as much a thinker as a doer, and I’m glad of it. Perhaps in the future I can put a deep, sturdy foundation of thinking under every action I perform.