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I heard it from Pooh, Winnie the Pooh.

"Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?" the little bear said.

Well, Pooh, maybe that's not such a bad thing. At least every once in a while.

I have noticed, thus far in life, that my mind does some of its best work at rest, or perhaps at play. We vastly under-estimate our mind's ability to figure things out on its own, without any intentional help from those things teachers used to call "our thinking caps."

Teachers, in my day, seemed to disapprove of letting the mind wander from the lessons at hand. But it seems to me that some of history's greatest thinkers were little more than extravagant day-dreamers who dared to work on their dreamings.

Consider how Michelangelo described one of his works: "I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free."

Now that's a day-dreamer.

"You get ideas from daydreaming," said Neil Gaiman. "You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we're doing it."

If I ever had one of those "thinking caps," that our teaches were always telling us to put on, I misplaced it long ago. It's probably gone to the same place where one sock out of each matching pair ends up after we put them both in the dryer.

But while that thinking cap is long gone, I have something even better - a thinking place. Actually, I have several, but thinking places are best kept confidential. Suffice it to say that a good thinking place should have at least one of the following elements: a hot, sandy beach; a long walking trail off the beaten path, wildflower trails are way better than miles of concrete; and just about any old barn will do wonderfully as a thinking place.

I worry about people who do their thinking in air conditioned buildings; behind the towering "in-basket" of a desk; or anywhere in Washington, D.C. And I especially worry when we let these folks do our thinking for us.

I read an AP story about the resignation of Sarah Palin earlier this week and was amused by the writer of that story, who said a little town on the Bering Sea, with only unpaved streets, was an "unlikely stop" for Palin's final days in office as governor of Alaska.

But big city reporters will never get Palin. Most of them don't realize that there are still towns in this country with unpaved streets. And they certainly have no desire to visit those places.

I grew up on gravel. I get Palin. I have no idea what she's up to next, but I don't blame her a bit either way.

Harry Truman, I'll bet, would have understood Palin, and he wouldn't have blamed her either.

Sometimes you just need to go where no one knows your name. Or, if they do, they couldn't care less.

I did like the quote from one man who came out to see Palin on what he thought about her decision: ''No matter what elected position you are in, you have to do what's best for you and your family. I respect that.''

Any one - man or woman - who puts his or her family first in any decision should be applauded. Frankly, there isn't enough of that anymore. I recall in the '70s the elders of my generation started calling us Baby Boomers the "Me Generation," and I think they got it right way back then. Sadly, things haven't gotten any better since.

Far too much me, and not enough we, that seems to be the world of today.

But we is so much more fun than me. Pooh knew as much as well.

"Some people care too much," Pooh said. "I think it's called love."

And what a lovely thought that is, not bad for just a little bear with only a little brain. My husband has told me often that "You can learn a lot from a dog," and I think it's basically the same thing.

Dogs know who they trust and who they don't trust; those are good things. Dogs are always happy to see their masters, and that's a good thing. And dogs never miss a chance to have their tummy rubbed - do I really need to say more?

I'm not sure if dogs have "thinking places," but if they did they would be quiet places, where no one could disturb their napping. Oh yes, even our napping has a purpose we need not know.

So I hope each one of you has a little thinking place of your own. If not, take a little more advice from Pooh Bear and go looking for one of your own some time soon.

"Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known," Pooh said.

Wow, "everything there is to be known." But maybe that's not really so much, for it is often the little things that are everything.

"Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day," Pooh bear said.

There are those who think with their heads, and those who think with their hearts. And I much prefer the company of the latter.