Think

A thinking tree in the trillium woods

Think…to reason about or reflect on; ponder
to call to mind, to remember
to conceive ideas, draw inferences, use judgment
to use imagination, to invent

Mary, at Mary’s View was recently nominated for a Thinking Blogger Award. She in turn nominated five other blogs, including this one, and I am supposed to nominate five more.

I write about many topics and am an expert on few, if any of them. There are great birding and nature bloggers who are the best of teachers. Others have a gift for literature, poetry and writing and can express themselves beautifully with words. There are exceptional photography blogs and compassionate medical blogs that I enjoy as well. I avoid political and religious rantings and whiny, self-centred bloggers. All the blogs I read make me think, or I would not return to them again. It is interesting to see ideas passed around and how one person’s post will inspire someone else to think in a new direction.

We all share common, ordinary experiences and this is what keeps us reading what others write. People like Mary celebrate the little things of life that bring us joy and pleasure.

When my daughter was in nursing school, she had to write a “reflection” after each clinical session and hand it in to her instructor. While she found it a chore, it did help consolidate the learning and emotional experiences of the day. The blogs I enjoy do that well. They share a new discovery, some beauty, some emotion and humanity that I can relate to, perhaps with laughter or with tears.

I have struggled to try and nominate five new thinkers. All the blogs in my sidebar are thinking blogs and I will pass on the tagging for now. (Mary said that was OK!) My Google Reader is my first stop when I turn on my computer. I look forward to reading what each of you write. You are all far more interesting and informative than the news!

I would like to introduce a newer member of the the blogosphere, Ruth Johnson (RuthieJ) of Rochester, MN who writes about her life, dogs, birds and her 5 acre backyard in Nature Knitter. I enjoyed discovering and reading her blog this week. She drinks tea and thinks rhubarb cake a la mode is a good breakfast. I can identify with that, even if this Ruth does not share her tatooed biker woman status!