Reconnect with your mind by connecting with this simple tool.
Feeling either overwhelmed by or disconnected from your thoughts?
Here’s something that might help: endeavor to discover your favorite make and model of pen.
And I’m not talking about a few scribbles on scratch paper in the aisle of an office supply store. That’s not a proper field test. No — because, like most, you may not know what you like in a pen just yet. We need to work backward.
Start by creating two columns on a sheet of paper.
On the left side, list off your pen pet peeves.
Uncomfortable.
Requires too much pressure.
The ink is too light.
The ink bleeds through the page.
Feels too cheap.
Too expensive to bring along.
On the right side column, write the opposite of the pet peeves.
Comfortable.
Writes fluidly.
The ink is dark and visible.
The ink doesn’t bleed through.
It feels expensive in the hand while remaining cheap enough that you’re not afraid of losing it or hesitating in giving it to someone.
The right side column now lists your standards for the pen you most want to have on hand. You’re ready to investigate which pens possess your standards of excellence. Perform the research necessary to send you to the local office supply store.
Once you have your list of finalists, buy one of each of them.
Begin and end each day spending time with a blank page and one of your finalist pens. Pour out any thoughts onto the paper. If you have any noteworthy (or not-so-noteworthy) thoughts, before you recite them to a fellow earthling or jettison them into the ether of social media, take hold of the day’s finalist pen and inscribe it on the page with care and intentionality. Close your eyes and take a moderate breath to reset. Open your eyes and read what you wrote with the day’s finalist. Then write your thoughts about those thoughts.
After about a week, you should know the make and model of your favorite pen. You’ll know you’ve found “the one” by the sensation you’ll feel upon seeing it sitting on your desk or poking out of the top of your pocket — the urge to spend quality time with it. Time logging thoughts and thoughts about thoughts.
You’ll take this pen with you into the wild of life. You’ll capture thoughts and meta-thoughts with its buttery motion. You’ll let strangers borrow it in a pinch.
And they’ll say, “Hey, that’s a nice pen.”
And you’ll say, “Ain’t it, though? That’s my favorite model. You know what? Keep it. Enjoy.”
And you’ll make their day for reasons far beyond the pen.
