I fancy myself as a bit of an enlightened person, and spend a lot of time on my own thinking. Running ideas through my head and working out conclusions, or simply letting my imagination run wild. This works pretty well for creativity, and is where most of my blog posts come from. I enjoy it so much that I’m convinced boredom should be a skill learnt in school.

Whilst walking the dog, running, or after everyone else has gone to sleep I often just sit alone with my thoughts and ideas. Sounds weird doesn’t it, but during one such period of silence I was thinking about my thoughts and decisions on the Magic Keyboard and the criticism faced. It’s great to test technology and see where it fits into your life, I quite often make room in order to fit them in, but it’s just as valid to decide they are simply not for you.

So when I came across a post by Tim Nuhumk on the Magic Keyboard I was surprised how many words went half way towards apologising for his thoughts, and I would presume there may have been a worry about some backlash against him. I love Tim, and all of his writing, but his thoughts expressed in his posts are not him as a person.

How many times do you hold ideas and beliefs so rigidly that they become part of your being. Defending them with the same visceral energy that could be called fight or flight. This is not the case with Tim’s post above, this was purely where the idea sprung from whilst thinking about Apple related topics. Infact I am certainly guilty of this more often than not. Just because someone is testing or even better breaking down your ideas, does not mean they are breaking down you. You are not your thoughts, beliefs or ideas.

An idea becomes stronger when you hold it up to be tested. When pressure is applied and the idea resists is when they grow, develop and improve. If they do indeed break, that’s perfectly ok. You do not need to hold your ideas so close and tenderly as if they are glass, because then they will surely break.

If others test your ideas and beliefs they are not testing you as a person. It’s perfectly ok to have apposing views and still like the other person — in fact some of my closest friends are so close because they give me different ideas and apposing view points. Make your circle as diverse and as interesting as possible and you will be a better person because of it. Separate yourself from your ideas and you will feel much better.