An Inspiration Proclamation
Inspiration is what's left after you let go. It is everywhere. And it is not just the cherry on top of the sundae; it's the whole ice cream shop. It is not the prize at the bottom of the Cracker Jack box; it's the entire cardboard package, sailor logo and all. Having searched high and low for a way to express my own intensely scattered observations on the subject of what inspiration means to me these days, this is the best I can come up with. It is all around us. Sure, true inspiration can come in those big dramatic 'a-ha!' moments of delightfully powerful life-changing insight, but it can also be as simple as that initial moment of sensory overload erupting from the first sip of strong, black coffee in the morning, the one that lights the fire of the brain and opens our eyes wide to a new day loaded with possibility.
More than anything, inspiration just seems to happen when you are willing to allow it. It is what's left when you give up control and go along for the ride. In short, inspiration can be found in every nook and cranny of life. It's everywhere.
It doesn't always feel like this. Oh, hell no. Sometimes it feels like there isn't a shovel big enough to dig our way through the muck to get to the inspiration well at the bottom of it all. Occasionally, we forget there is even a shovel. That is what makes the sweet discovery of an inspired moment all the more confounding in its sheer joy and wonder. We never really know how it happens, it just does. The brain could not have conceived of it, which for me is probably the beginning point of every inspired moment I have ever experienced. It seems that once I am out of my mind, the real fun begins.
I really love when I am awestruck about the inner workings of the universe, as if I were able to peek into the mind and heart at the center of it all and see what all the fuss is really about. Or rather, how there is actually no fuss, nothing to worry about, and truly nothing to fear but fear itself. Being conscious of the merry-go-round that keeps this whole dream going is probably the best gift any of us can ever discover. This particular present is always found in the present, and nowhere else.
What of this merry-go-round, anyway? What is it made of? How does it exist? Those questions I cannot answer. They are not for me to describe, as they must be experienced by each of us for the full effect of what it feels like to be riding it. We only need to see it in our own lives, like the other day when a five-minute conversation with a total stranger lifted me out of a work-induced, severely apathetic fog and sent my spirit soaring. The exchange was exactly what I needed to hear, at exactly the right time, and in exactly the setting. I could not have planned it. I couldn't have written a better script. I only needed to pay attention, and read the script that was right in front of me at that moment. I just had to accept it and be open to it.
Inspiration was knocking on the door, and I answered. I was certainly exhausted before the talk began, but I swear I could have ran a marathon after it was finished. Yes, right behind that door was a turbo-charger that kicked me out of desperation and into inspiration. It's like that sometimes, isn't it? We walk along, minding our own business, and then BOOM. Inspiration hits, and yet it's never in the package we think it should have come in. It seems to come to us out of the clear blue, but my sense is that it's probably more accurate to say that we were finally willing to see what was right in front of us all along. That is the beauty of it. We let go enough to experience it, making the choice to stop holding on to our own ideas of the way things oughta be and instead allow something else to take over. We make room for another way.
Perhaps that is the key to everything, that it all starts inside. Maybe inspiration really comes from the inside out.
I always like the idea that we are mirrors for each other. That makes sense to me. If I watch what I'm seeing in the world, I can closely monitor what I see in myself. It's all there in living color--the fears, the loves, the attitudes, the judgements, the generosity. This is all part of that merry-go-round. I notice this give and take in my own personal discoveries. Walking around town with an authentic smile, feeling good and letting it show, I inevitably encounter other smiling faces. I talk to people. I find out things. I am curious, and that curiosity leads me everywhere. In this scenario I feel more connected and more uplifted just by participating.
Walking around frowning, numbing out, staring down at my phone, or just lost in the bog of my own thoughts, nothing happens. No interactions. No smiles. Nada. The world doesn't seem so friendly. There is no sharing. I feel separate, as if I have to do this all on my own. Life is a constant struggle.
In both instances, it's as if I....gulp....was looking into a mirror. It is the true litmus test for me. I don't have to lie to myself anymore. I only need to look at my life to see what's really going on, kind of like when Dr. Phil admonishes his problem-addled guests with a semi-mocking "how's that working for ya?" after they have explained their beliefs and approaches to their own miserable lives. Gotta give the Doc some credit for that one. There is simple truth there. If I want to see what I believe, what I really believe, all I have to do is be willing to see what is playing out right before my own honest eyes. I may not like what I see, but it's hard to argue the validity when it's all right there in plain sight.
I think this is what inspiration means for me currently. It involves seeing the whole picture, or as the contradiction of the old saying goes, actually seeing the forest for the trees. I get inspired by being a part of the big green forest. Life as a singular tree just doesn't have as much pizazz. I need the other trees in ways that are only now becoming clear to me. I don't need to single out another tree as much as I need to be a part of the woods in its entirety, to hold my own space while openly sharing with the other forest inhabitants. In this way, inspiration equals connection.
Something just inspired me to look up the online definition of "inspiration". There are a few, but my favorite one describes inspiration as divine guidance or influence exerted directly on the mind and soul of humankind. Such a definition keeps inspiration right where it belongs: squarely in the mind and soul of the inspired, intensely personal and emanating from within.
No more maybes. I am convinced and yes, even inspired enough, to proclaim that we really can't find inspiration out there until we find it in here.
More than anything, inspiration just seems to happen when you are willing to allow it. It is what's left when you give up control and go along for the ride. In short, inspiration can be found in every nook and cranny of life. It's everywhere.
It doesn't always feel like this. Oh, hell no. Sometimes it feels like there isn't a shovel big enough to dig our way through the muck to get to the inspiration well at the bottom of it all. Occasionally, we forget there is even a shovel. That is what makes the sweet discovery of an inspired moment all the more confounding in its sheer joy and wonder. We never really know how it happens, it just does. The brain could not have conceived of it, which for me is probably the beginning point of every inspired moment I have ever experienced. It seems that once I am out of my mind, the real fun begins.
I really love when I am awestruck about the inner workings of the universe, as if I were able to peek into the mind and heart at the center of it all and see what all the fuss is really about. Or rather, how there is actually no fuss, nothing to worry about, and truly nothing to fear but fear itself. Being conscious of the merry-go-round that keeps this whole dream going is probably the best gift any of us can ever discover. This particular present is always found in the present, and nowhere else.
What of this merry-go-round, anyway? What is it made of? How does it exist? Those questions I cannot answer. They are not for me to describe, as they must be experienced by each of us for the full effect of what it feels like to be riding it. We only need to see it in our own lives, like the other day when a five-minute conversation with a total stranger lifted me out of a work-induced, severely apathetic fog and sent my spirit soaring. The exchange was exactly what I needed to hear, at exactly the right time, and in exactly the setting. I could not have planned it. I couldn't have written a better script. I only needed to pay attention, and read the script that was right in front of me at that moment. I just had to accept it and be open to it.
Inspiration was knocking on the door, and I answered. I was certainly exhausted before the talk began, but I swear I could have ran a marathon after it was finished. Yes, right behind that door was a turbo-charger that kicked me out of desperation and into inspiration. It's like that sometimes, isn't it? We walk along, minding our own business, and then BOOM. Inspiration hits, and yet it's never in the package we think it should have come in. It seems to come to us out of the clear blue, but my sense is that it's probably more accurate to say that we were finally willing to see what was right in front of us all along. That is the beauty of it. We let go enough to experience it, making the choice to stop holding on to our own ideas of the way things oughta be and instead allow something else to take over. We make room for another way.
Perhaps that is the key to everything, that it all starts inside. Maybe inspiration really comes from the inside out.
I always like the idea that we are mirrors for each other. That makes sense to me. If I watch what I'm seeing in the world, I can closely monitor what I see in myself. It's all there in living color--the fears, the loves, the attitudes, the judgements, the generosity. This is all part of that merry-go-round. I notice this give and take in my own personal discoveries. Walking around town with an authentic smile, feeling good and letting it show, I inevitably encounter other smiling faces. I talk to people. I find out things. I am curious, and that curiosity leads me everywhere. In this scenario I feel more connected and more uplifted just by participating.
Walking around frowning, numbing out, staring down at my phone, or just lost in the bog of my own thoughts, nothing happens. No interactions. No smiles. Nada. The world doesn't seem so friendly. There is no sharing. I feel separate, as if I have to do this all on my own. Life is a constant struggle.
In both instances, it's as if I....gulp....was looking into a mirror. It is the true litmus test for me. I don't have to lie to myself anymore. I only need to look at my life to see what's really going on, kind of like when Dr. Phil admonishes his problem-addled guests with a semi-mocking "how's that working for ya?" after they have explained their beliefs and approaches to their own miserable lives. Gotta give the Doc some credit for that one. There is simple truth there. If I want to see what I believe, what I really believe, all I have to do is be willing to see what is playing out right before my own honest eyes. I may not like what I see, but it's hard to argue the validity when it's all right there in plain sight.
I think this is what inspiration means for me currently. It involves seeing the whole picture, or as the contradiction of the old saying goes, actually seeing the forest for the trees. I get inspired by being a part of the big green forest. Life as a singular tree just doesn't have as much pizazz. I need the other trees in ways that are only now becoming clear to me. I don't need to single out another tree as much as I need to be a part of the woods in its entirety, to hold my own space while openly sharing with the other forest inhabitants. In this way, inspiration equals connection.
Something just inspired me to look up the online definition of "inspiration". There are a few, but my favorite one describes inspiration as divine guidance or influence exerted directly on the mind and soul of humankind. Such a definition keeps inspiration right where it belongs: squarely in the mind and soul of the inspired, intensely personal and emanating from within.
No more maybes. I am convinced and yes, even inspired enough, to proclaim that we really can't find inspiration out there until we find it in here.
Comments
Becky