5 Ways to Meet Inspiration for your Art, Work & Life
Inspiration! The word can generate feelings of joy or anguish depending on your relationship to it. Someone who feels they are consistently chasing it is going to feel different than someone who feels met by it throughout the day. What is inspiration? When I break down the word, i think of inspiration as
In -> in
Spir -> spirit
Ation -> action
Inward connection to Spirit to take action
Photograph is from the Hands of Opportunity Series, find out more here
But what does that mean? It means that which talks to your spirit to invite you to take action on behalf of what it is you are intending to create. Usually it is a non-vebal exchange that happens between you and “other”. Inspiration to me is the communication that connects your desire and your surrounding world together to create/manifest your intention. Inspiration usually comes in pieces and as you continue to trust and follow the pieces, putting into action what is connecting with you, eventually you have the entire puzzle connected in front of you.
Puzzle is the perfect analogy for this because when you are putting together a puzzle you search the pile for any and all pieces that connect together. You lay all those connecting pieces before you and connect the smaller pieces to the larger connections as you go. And then eventually as you get more pieces connecting, more of the picture is revealed to you. Then you begin to see more quickly how the pieces you are finding fit into your puzzle and eventually you have an entire picture.
I feel that you meet inspiration.
And the inspiration you meet is dependent on your personal universe. Your personal universe meaning your thoughts/goals/intention for your life. So for me my goal is to be a top fine art photographer and create photographers that share the philosophy of personal growth. So because I am so connected to that intention whenever I go I meet upon inspiration that connects me to that intention.
Most people think inspiration as something you find. I would like to invite you to reframe the process of inspiration as something you meet.
This mental reframe will do at least 2 things for you. When you think of yourself as meeting inspiration:
You place yourself in a position of power with inspiration. This positioning of thinking allows you to remember there are major factors that you control which allow you to meet inspiration.
Inspiration requires that you do the preparation required for you two to meet. State of mind is a key determinant as to what inspiration you meet with. Your state of mind plays a major role in what you connect with, so make sure that you are maintaining the landscape of the mind. (I am really tempted to get into that analogy but I’m going to let it go. If you like analogies, let me know and I’ll add more of them. I personally love them !)
Now that you and I have gone through what inspiration is and how it works. Let's talk about the 5 ways in which you can prepare yourself so that you are ready to meet inspiration at every opportunity of the day.
1. Clear vision
Your ability to get anywhere is determined by declaring where you want to go. So first you must get clear on what it is you want. Ask yourself: what is it I want? Determine what exactly it is you want for yourself. If you are having trouble figuring out what you want you can start with what you don’t want and reframe it as an affirmation. For example, “I don’t want to live with roommates” becomes “I want to live in my own place”.
Why this step matters:
The clarity of vision matters because that will help you recognize what steps you need to take in order to help you get to your destination. You want to focus on what you do want because your mind directs you to wherever you place your focus. So if you are focusing on what you don't want, where are you going? You are going where you don't want to go. I always say that you have the ability to use your energy to affirm what you want and what you don't want, so use it to affirm what you want.
Clear vision allows you to find the puzzle pieces around you. Remember those 3d books where you needed the 3d glasses to see what was on the pages?? Your vision is the 3d glasses and inspiration is then the image you see on the pages when you put your glasses on. (That was a good analogy!)
2. Intention
Once you have a vision, you can set your intention. I define intention as: conscious awareness of vision guiding actions. It’s the energy of the why put into play. Intention can be a powerful driving force behind your actions and how you align with your vision. Aligning is when you are “in-line” for your vision through action and purposeful clear thought. It’s taking ownership of yourself and coupling the power of focus into your actions.
Why this step matters:
It’s the difference between going through the motions and being fully present for your vision. When you don't have an intention, you are left to be directed by default behaviors, patterns and emotional states. This may be ok for you if you have previously put in the work and have a natural state of enlightenment, but most people don’t. An intention allows you to stay on the path of your vision.
Being intentional also keeps you open and clear to meet inspiration. Because now the inspiration will be even more specific to you.
3. Cultivating your mind
I have already touched on the fact that your mind directs you to wherever you place your focus. Cultivating our minds is the ongoing practice of making sure our thoughts are in alignment to what we want and who we choose to be. It is the practice of taking the daily actions that enable us to have a mind with space to operate through the day with clarity.You know how slow your computer runs when the harddrive is full? It’s like it’s working harder to run the actions it could normally run if there was more space. This can mean taking a practice of: meditation, walking, journaling, speaking to a therapist, affirmations, etc. Find a practice that allows you to center yourself and give your mind rest and periods to rejuvenate.
There are so many ways to go about cultivating your mind. What is important is that you take the time to understand what you need personally and practice that regularly to maintain the landscape of your mind. A regular practice is necessary because our minds think 10,000 thoughts a day (forgot who said that but…) and we may not have control over all the thoughts that come into our minds but we have control over which ones we allow priority. We have control over which ones we allow to direct our actions. We have control over which ones we purposefully circulate so that they can get a higher ranking in the circulation process. If you only showered once a week you’d most likely have a hygiene problem. But when you shower daily you maintain you level of good hygiene. I’m not going to convert that one, you get it
Why this step matters:
We all have heard innumerous times how important positive thinking is. And if that doesn’t resonate with you fine. Just know that negative thoughts are 4-7x stronger than positive ones , as shared by Trevor Moawad- a world renowned mental conditioning expert. He also highlights that saying a thought out loud has 10x effect than not saying it aloud. If you want to start somewhere with cultivating your thoughts stop saying negative shit out loud. That’s a fantastic place to start.
Cultivating your mind is part of the practice of creating space for inspiration! Back to the hardware analogy , a full computer runs slower and won't allow you to download or save new files to your hard drive. Likewise with your mind, it’s preoccupied, full and and running a bunch of other programmed thoughts all day you will miss inspiration even if it's right in front of you because you have no processing power.
4. Filling Your well
Like cultivating your mind, which is more of the practice of maintaining a clear mind/space. Filling your well is the action of deliberately going to meet with inspiration! Many times it’s been said that people get the best ideas in the shower, I feel that’s because our minds have space to breath and are relaxed. When you have the clear space you can go into activities with the intention of meeting inspiration. Some of the various activities where I meet inspiration are:
Listening to music
Reading
Going on walks
Visit places where I am surrounded by nature
Looking at work of artists (painters, other photographers, dancers, musicians)
In the shower (let’s not dismiss this powerful source)
Cooking
Watching a beautiful movie
Why this step matters:
Filling your well is part of intentional living. In order to keep creating new and fun ideas, you need to be able to draw from the well of inspiration inside of you. (Well of inspiration is a term I found by an author Barbara Sher) If you intended to always have inspiration to draw from make it a practice to fill up the well!
5. Practicing your craft
“Practice makes perfect”. While there is no such thing as perfect because we are always finding new, improved and different ways of doing things, we can always get better. We can always level up our skills at whatever we are practicing and with increased practice comes the ability to be more present in your craft.
Why this step matters:
The more we practice something the more we can be present, and through presence we come into a flow state. Flow state is simply a mental state where you are highly present, engaged and connected to the present moment. In this state you are definitely equipped to meet with inspiration. That being said, flow state doesn't have to be your goal. However, the more skilled you get, the higher the level of inspiration that you can meet. The more you level up your skills the more you open to higher levels of inspiration to connect with you and the more available you become to act on those higher level inspirations.
There we have it! We have covered what inspiration is and 5 ways you can take ownership of yourself and be best set-up to meet with it.
(sidenote: This GIF is from the movie Little Miss Sunshine. I found it hilarious!)
I think that attainment happens from becoming which is just the practice of being. It’s like going on a road trip. You have picked your destination, you have mapped out what you need to bring with you for the trip, how you want to get there and now you have to drive. And you have to keep driving UNTIL you get there. Likewise you have your vision, which allows you to map out what abilities, skills and practices you need to bring with you to arrive at your vision and then you have to keep in alignment with that vision UNTIL you get there.
I hope this helps someone and I hope the inspiration you meet keeps you on your path UNTIL you get there. Or to keep staying open to inspiration to continue growing something beautiful you have already attained. Either way #keepgoing
Sincerely,
Chloe’
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