How Are You Inspired?

I know that many people are discouraged at this time, and therefore not inspired. Maybe you experience discouragement from time to time. However, you certainly must know more about inspiration than you know about discouragement or you wouldn’t be reading this.

I wonder … How are you inspired?

Hearing my voice inflection is, of course, lost when you read my written words. By emphasizing different words in the question, the meaning changes. So, let me repeat that question in different ways. You can hear your own voice emphasizing the different words. You can consider your answers to any or all the different questions:

HOW are you inspired? How ARE you inspired? How are YOU inspired? How are you INSPIRED?

Pick any of the above, and answer for yourself or make a comment to this article. I am interested.

If you are already generally inspired, you may answer the question differently from the way you’d answer it if you are currently discouraged.

You may find that you have a constant flow of inspiration. If so, that’s wonderful. How does your inspiration come into your awareness?

For me, I find that I can use almost any stimulus to trigger inspiration. Usually, my inspiration follows silence, as for example after meditation, sleep, relaxation, or taking a walk in nature.

I’m also often inspired by "doing something else." By that, I simply mean that I might be uninspired about something, and then I shift my attention or my activity to something else, and I am inspired. This dynamic is especially clear to me when I’m trying to gain some insight and it’s just not coming, so I stop trying so hard and do something else and THERE IT IS!

Another way to say this is that I let go of resistance to find my inspiration. I love watching movies, listening to music, meditating, and other activities that shift me out of the helper-writer-consultant mode. In the midst of the relaxation, I often get an unexpected inspiration.

When I’m relaxed and not trying to figure something out, I usually become more receptive to receiving mindful information.

And, I’ve saved the best for last … I am most inspired by my clients. When others ask me questions, especially questions that require more than knowledge, I am inspired. It’s like tuning a radio to a different frequency so that I can hear something that I would not ordinarily hear.

Inspiration, for me, is often non-ordinary. But it can also be an aha! that within a few minutes of reflection seems quite ordinary or obvious.

What is inspiration to you? How are you inspired?