“Noodling” is one of those words that seems like a throwaway until you actually look under the hood, and then it turns out to be a whole little universe of wonder.

I was noodling the other day, jotting down random thoughts for a blog post, no plan, just following one idea into the next, when the word itself stopped me. Noodling. I looked it up, expecting not much. And bingo! I found a big surprise.

Noodling, it turns out, is also a method of catching catfish barehanded. You wade into murky water, wiggling your fingers like bait, waiting for a fish to clamp down so you can haul it out by hand.

It’s also what musicians do when they pick up an instrument with no song in mind, just wandering through notes to see where they land.

It’s an aimless activity such as sorting through a coin jar or a junk drawer, no purpose beyond the sorting itself.

And it’s what I was doing with my writing. Turning ideas over with no destination, trusting that something would surface.

Four meanings. One word. Catfish, guitar, coin jar, blank page. Somehow they all rhyme. Each one is a version of reaching into the unknown without a plan, trusting your hands and your mind to find something worth pulling up.

This is why I love looking up words I think I already know.

Language is denser than we give it credit for. We use words on autopilot, certain we’ve got them figured out, and then one afternoon a word cracks open and shows you three or more rooms you never knew were there.

So, try it. Pick a word today (any word) and go noodling in it.

Thanks – Michael (he, him)

Please share this Daily.
This also matters – Recycle Yourself.

#2377