“Where do you get your ideas?” someone asked me recently.

I have been asked this question before by people who say that my Facebook posts make them laugh.

I replied, “Bob’s Butcher Shop at Bay and Bloor.”

“No, seriously.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously.  Where do you get your ideas?”

“Everywhere.”

A puzzled expression met my truthful answer.

People who ask me, “Where do you get your ideas?” do not realize that ideas surround them.  Everything — EVERYTHING — is an idea.  All people need to do is to pick an idea from their surroundings and play with it.  They can play with the idea by mixing and matching it with the other ideas that surround them.  Or they can keep the idea by itself and twist it or turn it upside down or inside out or both upside down and inside out.  It is that simple.  No unique talent or esoteric knowledge or secret ceremonies are needed.

What is needed is a temporary suspension of judgment, to allow the ideas to flow, and an awareness that we are always surrounded by ideas.

Now, if you will excuse me, Bob’s Butcher Shop just called.  The ten pounds of ideas I ordered last week are ready for pickup.