I think inspiration can be one of those things that comes into a person's head, and yet we really don't understand how it happens. For this reason, there's a tendency to think that "not thinking" too much allows inspiration in. My own experience is that a great deal of thinking often leads to inspiration. But you have to know how to work your brain to allow it to happen. It cannot be forced, but you have to be open to it when it comes and then be willing to jump on that inspiration right then and there and turn it into something real.
In my everyday life as a mechanical design engineer over the last 42 years, I have been confronted with many problems that needed to be solved, and I spent a great deal of time thinking and trying on ideas and then twisting and inverting those ideas to try to come up with really good, cost-effective answers. Many times those ideas came to fruition in the form of inspiration after weeks or months or even years of thinking, often when waking in the night at 3 AM with the idea right there for me to grab hold of and use the next day at work.
- Glenn
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