What if inspiration is actually so abundant we miss it more often than we benefit from it?
Often we portray creativity as something some people have more than others. Sometimes we label some people as the kind of person that has lots of ‘good ideas’ or even wish we could have more ‘good ideas’, that like them we were full of inspiration all the time. What if we were?
What if we had moments of inspiration all the time and we just didn’t realise it and worse didn’t give room to act on the inspiration?
What can be both help and hindrance is the fact that the language around ideas and inspiration is so passive.
We are inspired.
Ideas come to us.
This makes it sound like we’re simply a net hoping to catch some inspiration and it seems some people know the best fishing spots or have much bigger nets.
However if we are receiving inspiration and ideas then perhaps we don’t have to constantly be on the hunt for that inspiration. If inspiration is the fish swimming in the ocean, being in the ocean is enough for the fish to swim by.
How many ideas have you had recently where you’ve thought you’ve been excited about?
It could be a solution to something you’ve been grappling with at work, a new personal project, a new place you want to visit or simply what you’d like to have for dinner.
When have you noticed those ideas?
For me, reflecting on this there were some obvious sources of inspiration that came from ‘looking’:
Subject related - Ideas for dinner when looking through a cookbook
Dedicated exploration - Ideas about how I live my life from being coached
Vicarious experience - Energy to do more of the things I enjoy from seeing and hearing of friends following their passions
However, I found a lot more inspiration came from totally unrelated sources and moments.
Blog ideas while reading a History book (totally unrelated in topic), reading a newsletter, having a conversation with my partner at dinner, and from being coached
Creative writing ideas on a bus after a walk
Ideas for the charity I work at while brushing my teeth in the morning (the first thing I do when I wake up when I’m barely even awake), going for a walk, cooking dinner
Ideas for a coaching workshop when reading the rugby news
Ideas for dinner when walking to the train station
What do these seemingly unrelated moments of inspiration highlight?
Inspiration and ideas for anything can come from anywhere.
So much so that one of my coaches would often share their Art teacher’s guidance: ‘walking is working’.
In fact, many of my colleagues' ideas at work start with ‘In the shower this morning…’ And most memorably, one friend has termed moments of inspiration as ‘yoga moments’ after the answer to a coding problem they had been working ceaselessly on all day came to them midway through an evening yoga class.
Alongside the more obvious sources of inspiration it is a reminder that the answer or idea wont always come from searching and that these activities, while invaluable, can often be complemented by doing nothing at all to find the inspiration we’re seeking.
Reframing our hunt for inspiration
More inspiringly we can see that Inspiration is always there and always within us, sometimes it can’t be forced out, but it will appear eventually.
Inspiration isn’t the limited amount of gold we have to search for and potentially never find, but more like Inspiration is perhaps more like air we can’t grab it we simply breath it in and we only have to be conscious of our breathing to notice it.
Therefore, as innately creative, resourceful beings full of inspiration instead of thinking ‘what more can I do to find inspiration’ we could consider ‘what can we let go of to more easily pick up and receive new ideas?’
Less than searching it may be enough to simply create the conditions for inspiration to arise, which ironically often means letting go of the problem or thing we’re looking for inspiration on. Sometimes having the question clear that we’re looking for inspiration on is enough.
In fact a crucial condition for inspiration can often be a readiness to receive. If we’re waiting to catch a ball we’re more likely to catch it with free hands and not tense with expectation or need but when we’re more relaxed, ready without overthinking (I must catch this ball, I must find this answer/inspiration).
And what if we’re time pressed? Dinner, after all, has to be cooked, and deadlines have to be met. Try the below.
List what comes up for the following:
What are all the times you’ve found spontaneous inspiration (however big or small)? It could be as simple a thing as a walk, a shower, a run.
Which of these do I have time to wholly immerse myself in and see what then comes up?
Do that thing and see what inspiration arises.
If we’re still struggling for inspiration, maybe we don’t need it right now. Sometimes we simply have to trust that an answer will come or if it doesn’t perhaps we already have everything we need to do what is needed for now.
Perhaps the inspiration is that I feel uninspired about this thing right now so all I can do is give it what I have and that is still better than nothing.
Finally, how are we treating inspiration? Are we ignoring it because we need to do something else? What would it take to note it down somewhere, revisit it when you have a moment and then choose whether to keep and nurture it or to let it go? If we’re not actively engaging with those moments of inspiration it’s less likely we’ll notice them in the future.
Ultimately, inspiration is often where we least expect it, and it is there for all of us. Sometimes to find it we simply have to stop looking.
As Nancy Kline says, ‘Ease creates. Urgency destroys.’
What would create more space for inspiration in your life?
What would you do with the inspiration when it comes?
References
Nancy Kline, Time to Think
