The easiest, low-tech way to capture your thoughts in the shower or bathtub is simply to write them down on the shower wall. Using something water soluble makes the memo easy to wash away later.
Of course, the easier to wash the words away, the easier it also is to accidentally lose your ideas from an errant splash. So find that spot on the shower stall where it stays relatively dry to make your note.
The idea here is to capture the main idea, not draft the next War and Peace. So you should be able to locate a small dry area for notetaking.
Besides jotting down inspired ideas, you can write other things on the bathtub wall as they come to mind:
- to do lists
- shopping lists
- honey-do lists (lists for your spouse)
- appointments
Often the act of writing it down is enough to cement it into your memory so that you won't forget. But if you do need to reference it, the words are right there on the shower wall once you are dry and dressed.
Admittedly, the bathtub markers and crayons are marketed for children. But if they work, who cares? They are designed to require a bit of elbow grease to wash off, so they are perfect for taking notes in the shower, especially if you are one who splashes.
The Vis-a-vis pens, although more grown up, are also very easily removed with small amounts of water. So an errant spray could easily erase your brilliant idea. On the plus side, they wash off super fast with just flowing water (or a damp wipe).
If you are keeping pens in the shower, keep the organized with a caddy. You have a pen cup on your desk, right? Well, you need one in the shower, too, if you get flashes of inspiration there.
Comments
KellyFeb 8, 2013
Jennifer LambertJan 3, 2013
RagtimelilJul 10, 2012
TolovajMay 27, 2012
Thanks!
Jerrico_UsherMay 17, 2012
Jerrico_UsherMay 17, 2012
Great article! I love the kids soap crayons idea!
I have actually put quite a lot of thought into this years ago when I was studying the brain and wanted to figure out this phenomenon so I could somehow duplicate it at my desk :)
What I came up with:
(You said):
"It is an interesting phenomenon. We often have moments of insight or creativity while showering. What is it about bathing that causes us to suddenly see solutions to previously perplexing problems or come up with a brilliant blog series idea?"
My Take (similar to yours)
I too have wondered this and came to the conclusion that it's the isolation from stimuli or rather the focusing of stimulus (vs. all the complexity that is outside that shower). It's also the fact that the water soothes you and makes you feel meditative, safe, isolated from any distractions.
Your movements are also constricted to a limited set and thus this limits the things you have to think ahead about (i.e. not tripping over the bump in the carpet or over a toy etc...).
In this state your mind is actually freed up and processing power is tripled! The same phenomenon happens at bed time- that period where your almost asleep but your brain is racing. Both scenarios take you into a "theta" brain state where creativity runs rampid (we dream in theta state).
One reason dreams are so vivid sometimes is that we truly have relaxed our body and reached a stage of sleep just beyond the Delta (deep dreamless sleep- or recuperative sleep) state and entering theta (closer to the waking state) super relaxed is what gives us those powerful and highly creative dreams!
Jerrico_UsherMay 17, 2012
The bottom line is the shower and going to bed, the darkness, the stillness, the meditative state of the body, all lead to the brain being able to relax it's thought stream away from, for lack of a better term, responsibility thinking, and into child like exhuberance thinking where there are no rules, no limitations, no stresses (if your stressing a lot you won't have a creative shower or theta experience before bed)- this is where creativity prospers and thrives. With all that garbage on the back burner now those thoughts that have been standing in line for days or months tend to "when the cats away the mouse is at play" so to speak!
When you leave the confines of the shower and re-enter the world of clutter (not mess so much as everything in the room that has associations of thought attached to it that muddy up the thinking) your mind clicks back into responsibility mode and all the things in the room tend to make you think about a gazillion things at once (by association and memory triggering) and all those great ideas you had in the shower start to get crowded out by other thoughts and "the inspiration is gone". cool huh?
That can be a wizzle all it's own :) (feel free to take all my words here if you want to create it- I got 30 in the oven no time to make new ones haha). Thanks for the stimulation!
Jerrico
Chihuahua0Mar 28, 2012
buttonheadMar 23, 2012
MeaganFeb 10, 2012
GuestJan 24, 2012
The only problem with my brain is that after I leave the shower, I'd forget I wrote them down in the first place :)
Great page - what a cool idea....
bhthanksJan 22, 2012
WiseFoolJan 14, 2012
Pinkchic18Jan 12, 2012
klairdJan 11, 2012
dustytoesJan 9, 2012
SamJan 7, 2012
wryliltJan 7, 2012
Digby_AdamsJan 6, 2012
ThePartyAnimalJan 6, 2012
Carrie - young living oil ladyJan 5, 2012
blessings!
MarieJan 5, 2012
TilenHrovaticJan 5, 2012
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LissieJan 5, 2012
GuestJan 5, 2012
cardeleanJan 5, 2012
ethelsmithJan 4, 2012