70,001: how to have a new thought

I.


Our brain thinks between 50,000 to 70,000 thoughts per day.


Over 95% of these thoughts are the same from day to day. 


It is the epitome of: Wherever you go, there you are.


It's why changing our outer environment doesn't matter when our inner loop is traveling with us, adjusting the outer world to our expectations. 


II.


I have been thoroughly enjoying Maira Kalman's illustrations for The Elements of Style.
She takes their (there?  they're?) demonstration sentences and gives them a picture.


Example:
He noticed the large stain right in the center of the rug.



And


Rich, ornate prose is hard to digest, generally unwholesome, and sometimes nauseating.





(More here.)




III.

One of Kalman’s favorite expressions is “Wouldn’t it be great if,” and this open-ended way of thinking has long shaped her creative life. By asking herself this very question not too long ago, she came up with the idea for her fourth major project coming out in October: a musical production of The Elements of Style.  

--Catherine Hong, Mad About Maira

IV.


Wouldn't it be great to get 6% new thoughts each day, by starting a handful of thoughts with wouldn't it be great if...


I think it would be nice.




V.


Nice: A shaggy, all-purpose word.  To be used sparingly in formal composition.




I think it would be nice rather swell.