This week I am in Tahoe, our usual summer (and winter) escape plan, where Mary and I hike with the dog, swim in the lake, and barbeque on the deck. Tessa, our youngest, is off at arts camp, and Marisa, just graduated from high school, is at her summer job.

I look forward to these vacations for the obvious reasons: relaxation, the beauty of the Sierra Nevada, and a stack of books, topped by the new Harry Potter novel.

But I also look forward to the cleansing effect of the mountains on my thought process. It reboots my system. Often on a hike a moment of clarity or inspiration that has eluded me in the daily grind at home will come full-blown into my head. It could be a possible approach with a client, a new research interest, or an idea for how to manage an internal challenge.

I think the human brain must work in such a way that the raw resources for these inspirations are already present, but somehow the brain needs less, or different, stimuli, in order for them to take shape.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 26th, 2007 at 7:56 am and is filed under Assorted Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.