So What About Inspiration?
I was wondering about inspiration.
Have you ever had an inspiration, an idea that just appears seemingly out of nowhere?
So what is inspiration?
If you look in the etymological dictionary we see that its meaning includes “inhaling, breathing in, to blow into, to breathe upon, to inspire, excite, inflame from “in” with spirit, to infuse animation, to breathe or put life or spirit into the human body, to impart reason to a human soul”.
I was wondering about this because I had an inspiration the other day, that appeared like a spark during a conversation. And I noticed how quickly my critical thinking was waiting in the wings with lots of questions and doubts.
Have you noticed that inspiration seems to come wrapped with a feeling, an enthusiasm and an energy? All part of the package.
But an inspiration can be a delicate thing, like a seed. Have you noticed that so often when our critical thinking gets involved we can stop it in its tracks? Have you ever done this? I have for sure but not this time.
So I asked myself, what if we played with letting an inspiration develop, to breathe, to grow. How would I do this? What would be good conditions to let this happen and here’s what came to mind:
- To notice but gently nudge away critical limiting and judgemental thinking that can easily stop the idea in its tracks.
- To take action, and take it right now.
- To just take the next step, then the next step, then the next step and see what happens.
- To be open to learning based on doing.
- To embrace the idea evolving from the experience of taking action.
- To be curious.
- To allow others involved with it spark new ideas that build on the original inspiration.
- To retain the enthusiasm and energy that emerges with inspiration and allow it to flow.
- To be completely unattached to the outcome.
- To let the inspiration grow wings and fly or come to a natural end.
- Above all to have FUN and enjoy whatever happens.
Is there anything you’d add?
Maybe this is a manifesto for allowing inspirations to grow.
We don’t really know when or where an inspiration will arise. So it seems to me that it’s worth being grateful for them, to gently catch them and to allow them some life.
