Inspiration: The process of being stimulated to do or feel something
Art: The conscious expression of a thought or idea through a learned skill.
Creation: Bringing some thing into existence
When we are inspired to create nothing feels more natural. We cannot even imagine that life could be any other way. The inspirational force is so all encompassing that there is little room for anything else other than creating
When we are uninspired, the quagmire of self doubt and idleness can be so overwhelming that many of us have given up creating altogether.
Inspiration is an external force that manifests internally
SO why are we inspired to create in the first place?
AND
How do we get inspiration back when it leaves?
All of this can be answered with a simple analogy.
It’s the middle of the day at the edge of a gravel side road surrounded by farm fields. Standing at the end of a driveway the expansive overcast horizon is everywhere you look. The air is still in sound and movement. Your gaze falls from one mundane view to another.
Without warning a short burst of light shoots out from among the dusty gray stones at your feet. Beginning to study the spot from whence it came you become engrossed in the chaotic gravel. Seeing another flicker, out of the corner of your eye, causes your head to snap left. Shuffling along the edge of the road you begin to search for the source of this light but it has left again. Moving along looking down you intently search. An unseen world emerges. Depth and texture create expansive vistas and bottomless caverns.
Suddenly the whole road begins to sparkle with light. The wonderous beauty draws you, like a lure does fish, into the road. Upon a bed of twinkling stars you find yourself. What is it that causes the light to emanate from this once dull gravel.
Kneeling down a closer inspection reveals that this light is reflective. It was so obvious how could you have thought otherwise. Tilting your head back you see that the overcast sky has opened up.
A break in the clouds.
The intense mid day sun has illuminated the once dull road.
and that’s when it hits you
the car speeding down the road
you never saw it coming
Inspiration is the car that hits you
if you are looking for inspiration it will never hit you.
You would see a car from far away speeding down the road.
You would never step in its way for fear
true inspiration is frightening because at its foundation is change
It is the only way that something new can come
The first step is putting yourself in the way of inspiration
how do we do this?
like the lonely country road
step into the world.
study what is around you
see what you can see
become so engrossed
that the idea of being hit by a car is no longer in your mind
only then will it come
and
it will always
come