How Cursor and Obsidian Solved My Feeling of Losing Thoughts
I've always wanted a system that would solve that feeling of loss I get when I have a reflection, thought, or idea at any moment of the day, and I can't write it down to free my mind and focus on priorities. I want to be able to come back to that idea later, connect it and weave it together with ideas and thoughts I've had in the past.
I've read books, experimented with various systems. With Notion, I thought I had found an effective system, but no. Every time it required too much effort to keep everything organized, written well, and so on.
I want to put in the ideas, the content, the reflections. And I want, at least for now, someone else to handle writing them well and organizing them clearly for me and for others.
Here's what seems to be working and how I've set everything up.
The System
Obsidian synced between phone and desktop. This gives me the flexibility to capture thoughts wherever I am, whenever inspiration strikes.
The vault on my desktop serves as the content base for my repository where the Next.js code for this blog lives. This creates a seamless connection between my writing and the technical implementation.
Cursor with a series of rules that I refine over time. Among these rules, there's one that handles my notes and thoughts. When I'm in the mood or inspired, whether from PC or phone, I write and throw it all in there. I don't interrupt the flow. I don't lose the inspiration and the connection of thoughts. I free myself from it. I'm free. I haven't lost anything.
When I find myself in the moment to reorganize, I just tell Cursor to check what's in the notes folder, reorganize them appropriately into various articles or create new ones, and then clean up the notes folder. My review, approval, publish, and it's done. Efficient, clean, improvable, refinable, but it works.
The Value of the Review Process
I can use ChatGPT to take notes when I'm in a hurry and then copy-paste them into my Obsidian vault from my phone or desktop. That adds another step, but sometimes it's worth it for speed.
What I find particularly useful is the review process for the integrations that Cursor generates. It allows me to rethink and revise the changes it proposes, so I can accept them, reject them, modify them, and so on. This review step isn't just about quality control, it's an active part of my thinking process. By engaging with Cursor's suggestions, I'm forced to reconsider my own ideas, see them from different angles, and refine them in ways I might not have considered on my own.
Follow-up Questions: Deepening Understanding
As part of my system, whenever content is integrated and refined, I add follow-up questions at the end of articles. These questions serve multiple purposes:
- Encourage deeper thinking - They prompt me (and readers) to consider implications and connections I might not have explored fully
- Guide future exploration - They point toward related topics and questions worth investigating
- Maintain active engagement - Rather than treating articles as finished, the questions keep them alive as evolving thought processes
These follow-up questions aren't just for me. They're integrated into the rules that guide Cursor's behavior, ensuring that every time content is integrated, the system automatically suggests questions that help deepen understanding and connect ideas.
Follow-up Questions
- How can I refine the rules over time based on what I learn from the integration process?
- What patterns emerge in how I think and write that could be better supported by the system?
- Are there ways to make the review process even more efficient while maintaining quality?
- How do follow-up questions evolve over time as my understanding deepens?