Tom Hogue  February 2016

So, have you ever found yourself in a place where you can suddenly see things in life more clearly?  Where the answers to some pretty complicated problems seem to magically appear?

Well as I've gotten older, I've come to realize that this special place for me is - the shower. Especially in the morning, after I've slept or dreamt about the challenges that currently face me.

I'm a pretty busy guy, running a business, and wearing many hats. I don't really work the standard 9-5 work shift, and am always plugged into work issues. My mind is on current clients needs, new clients I'd love to partner with, employee issues, payroll, marketing, on and on it goes. Not to mention family tasks and to-dos, car repairs, kid's grades, and karate. 

It seems there is an endless parade of thoughts and objectives for me to accomplish. And it's quite distracting. It’s challenging to focus on just one. The day passes at light speed.

A new day dawns. I wake up in the morning and shuffle to the bathroom, turn the shower water on to heat up, and brush my teeth. I quickly run the electric razor across my stubble, and then climb into the warm shower. 

After a few moments of thinking about absolutely nothing, simply washing my hair and feeling the water wash over me, it happens. Solutions to yesterday's challenges just magically pop into my brain. Thoughts, as if from someone or somewhere else. Problems I've stewed over for hours, days, or weeks are suddenly answered.

And the answers couldn't have come from me, could they? Some are so clear and from out of the blue. A solution I'd never have dreamt up myself. I just don't believe I'm that smart, lol.

Yet here they are. Answers. Brilliant ideas. I call them - shower thoughts.

I'm not entirely certain of why that is. Is it the purity of the water? The rhythm and soothing massage of the water on my scalp? The fact that I haven't turned my busy brain back on just yet? Are the thoughts from God, spirit guides, or those who have gone on before me that care to advise me?

I wonder if that's how other people have felt when amazing inventions are suddenly so clear to them. Or cures to diseases. Or songs and lyrics to musicians.

I suppose we should open up as vessels and accept / absorb what's happening around us. I just don't know.

But I do know I'm grateful for those moments. For those shower thoughts. Maybe I'll take showers more often. ;)