Ten Ways to Find Your Inspiration
The word inspire comes from the
Latin word for inspirare,
which means to breath upon or into. When we inspire others,
we're living from our higher selves. When we're being inspired,
we expand beyond what we previously were, or know our selves
to be. Our lives have new breath. Our soul and our actions
are one.
1. Know what inspires you. Go back to your memories and
recall when you felt most inspired. What was the common
thread amongst the different times when you've been inspired?
Was it a quality about another person or your self? Was there
a theme to the times when you've been inspired, or have been
inspiring? Was it an action that a person took - or that you
took? Think about what's inspired you in the past. Look to
see what's missing now.
2. Learn to live with ambivalence while striving for perfection.
Inspiration lives between the two spaces of ambivalence and
perfection. Inspiration speaks to the best within our selves
-
ambivalence is the messiness of our lives, the life process.
Perfection is the ideal, while ambivalence is its application.
Inspiration is what moves us forward in life - through the
ambivalence and towards the ideal.
3. Take a break from your life. Go to a movie or hike
a
mountain to its highest vista. Surround yourself with the
sound of the rhythm of water, while the warmth of the sun
energizes your body. Move your body so you feel its life.
Keep your focus on nothing other than your experience. Live
in the present.
4. Inspiration isn't only what's done TO you. Being inspired
requires an openness of heart and spirit. Create an environ-
ment that supports an open heart, so that inspiration blossoms
in your life. Just as a flower needs soil and water, so too
does inspiration need openness of heart and spirit. Inspiration
can't exist without this.
5. Sometimes we fall before we stand. Don't beat yourself
up
when you fall from grace. Life is a process and isn't static.
When you fall, don't beat yourself up for falling. Acknowledge
the fall and it's impact on your life. At some point, you'll
take action and stand up. Trust the process.
6. Divert your attention. Forget about the joys that inspiration
brings, and live from another domain. An inspired life isn't
only about inspiration. It's also about exhilaration, about
passion and living life fully. Do something completely different
than you normally would. Strike up a conversation with someone
you typically wouldn't, and approach the conversation with
naivete, openness and depth. There's a good chance that
inspiration will come to you when you're least looking for it.
7. Surround yourself with what inspires you. If a certain
type of person inspires you, follow and nurture the attraction.
Trust what inspires you, and let it guide your actions. If
a Wagner opera inspires you, surround yourself with it's
music so you feel completely at one with the music, and with
what inspires you. Lose yourself in what you love and be
inspired.
8. Get outside of yourself. Though you think you know
what
inspires you based on past experiences - this doesn't mean
that you can't be inspired by something new that previously
didn't effect you. Live in the present and pay attention to
what tugs at your heart. This will give you a hint to newer
sources of inspiration.
9. Grace + openness + life + soul = inspiration. Create
a
formula consisting of the ingredients that define inspiration
for you. We all have different perceptions and experiences
of inspiration. Define what it is for you.
10. Inspiration is a quality and a state of being. To
be
inspiring to others is to be self-generative and inspiring
to our selves. How can you be more self-generative? One
must live in a state of being that allows for inspiration
to take root. How can you cause and create your own source
of inspiration? Where are you self-generative in your life,
and how can you be more self-generative?
Jan Gordon, LCSW is an Executive and Personal Coach who finds great joy in helping her clients achieve outstanding results! Ms. Gordon provides coaching to individuals and teams who are dedicated to enhancing their personal power and sense of fulfilment. Her coaching embraces the concept that challenge provides opportunity. Visit her website at: www.qualitycoaching.com. Jan can reached at jan@qualitycoaching.com
Copyright © 2001 by
Jan Gordon. All Rights Reserved. This content may be forwarded only in full, with copyright/bio/contact/creation information intact, without specific permission, when used only in a not-for-profit format. If any other use is desired, permission in writing from Jan Gordon is required.
|
|
|
|
|
|