Ways to explore

If you get an idea or become interested in a person, you can check on the topic in several ways:

1. Kindle ebook downloads - if you see a book that interests you, you can add it to a list that Amazon keeps for you.  You can buy it instantly and read it right then on a smartphone or computer.  You can look up your local library online and ask them to hold it for you or borrow it from some place else.

2. Look up author and then subject in Google - What has this writer written about?  Sometimes the connections between people and topics or people and other people are surprising or inspiring.  

3. Look up author in Amazon, then subject - It is a little different when you look up an author in "Books" instead of the Kindle Store.  Books before 2008 are probably not available as ebooks.

4. Look up author in YouTube, then subject - authors and subjects are widely represented in YouTube.  Most subjects and many people have videos online that can be watched for free.

5. Try alternative search words.  Especially with subjects, topics and ideas, there are many ways to represent the idea in a few words

6. Schedule something or begin now - reading, writing or practicing

It can be helpful if you keep a notebook of ideas of interest.  Even if you are only 20 years old, you actually get more ideas, impressions, associations and questions per minute than you can notice or keep track of.  If something grips your attention or if it recurs, jot a note or two down.  You can keep notes on scrap paper or in the drafts section of your email.  If you have given yourself a Gmail address (free), you have access to Google Docs (free) and the software keeps documents automatically in Google Drive (free).  

If you are 50 years old or older, you get just as many ideas but in addition to the speed of delivery, you also have to contend with the speed of forgetting.  So, take the time to jot.

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Note: I am writing this on Feb. 3, 2018 but posting and emailing it out on Feb.4.  If you define winter as Dec. 21 to March 21, the midday of winter is Feb. 4.  So, good or bad, winter is fading.  It is often the last half of winter that gives us big, wet storms so don't put your mittens and earmuffs away yet.  But you might as well give a thought to winter giving way to spring because it is happening.