As ABC Wednesday’s fourteenth round came around to the letter I this week, the word that comes to my mind is inspiration.
So, what is inspiration? Per the dictionary, the definitions of inspiration are below:
Inspiration (noun)
the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative
the quality or state of being inspired
an inspiring agent or influence (can be someone or something)
the drawing in of breath; inhalation.
And why does it matter? Without inspiration, for one, we wouldn’t be here, literally! If we do not draw in breath, if we don’t inspire, then…..we expire. But that said, I am going to focus on the other meaning(s) of inspiration since we know we need to breathe in. We all need inspiration – to keep us going, to be a catalyst that helps us create something beautiful, something useful, something that makes life better. Here is one great article on ‘Why inspiration matters’ in the Harvard Business Review.
How can you find inspiration, make it work for you, and how does it work? There are so many wonderful articles I read often on the hows of inspiration, including Leo Babauta’s Zenhabits that I am going to point you to them here.
For me, some things that do work:
- A walk outside by myself
- Just watching the starlit sky alone or quietly with my little ones
- My little ones
- Books
- Smiles – seeing smiles or smiling myself – both work!
Some other articles with great tips and information are below:
When and where does inspiration strike you? For me, this is still an unanswered question. I do recall having fantastically wonderful dreams but well, I am sleeping at that time so that doesn’t really help! Other times are in the shower or sometimes when listening to a monotonous speaker(); again, both are times when I can’t note down my ideas ; I need to shower and I need to pretend to listen at least.
Who/what provides inspiration? Each of us finds inspiration from so many sources – people we know and those we don’t; things we see and read; and more. I am lucky that I have so many people who inspire me on a daily basis – my family definitely (from my grandparents to my little ones), friends who are just wonderful being who they
are, and a whole community out there – of bloggers I read regularly, of parents I know from school and teachers.
are, and a whole community out there – of bloggers I read regularly, of parents I know from school and teachers.
The blogging world has definitely provided me a lot of inspiration, and each day I find someone or something who inspires me to do more, do better, and just do! Be it food, crafts, reviews, poems, travel, family and general blogs, or any one of the so many topics covered by talented blogger around the world – I see inspiration everywhere and I am glad.
Just the fact that I have so much more to learn, to do, to enjoy, and to possibly inspire someone else in the process is wonderful.
So what about you? Let me know the answer(s) to the how, why, what, when, where, who of inspiration for you…
A few quotes on inspiration to ponder and enjoy and be inspired by:
“I dream my painting and I paint my dream.” ― Vincent van Gogh
“You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write.” ― Saul Bellow
“I like to imagine that the world is one big machine. You know, machines never have any extra parts. They have the exact number and type of parts they need. So I figure if the entire world is a big machine, I have to be here for some reason. And that means you have to be here for some reason, too.” ― Brian Selznick, The Invention of Hugo Cabret
“Ideas come from everything” ― Alfred Hitchcock
Inspiration helps make the seemingly impossible possible.
Also for Theme Thursday where the theme is ‘possible’.
"I dream my painting and I paint my dream." In this I feel identified with Vincent van Gogh
I NEED inspiration to blog 9.6 years!
ROG, ABCW