How to Find Inspiration Anywhere
/When it comes to inspiration, there's a cultural narrative that we have to wait to be inspired.
Artists and writers will often share about being "struck by inspiration," and while this is definitely a phenomena that happens, it paints an inaccurate picture of what the creative process looks like most of the time.
Stephen Pressfield highlights this in his differentiation between the amateur and the professional. The amatuer only creates when inspiration strikes while the professional keeps showing up to create, inspiration or not.
When I wondered what I would share today, my eye caught this quote I keep on my altar in my office.
The words originally came from a Rumi calendar that my collage roommate had. One day she decided to cut a out a few quotes and "hid" them around the house for us to find throughout our days. I can't remember if this one was taped above the living room light switch or placed in the silverware drawer next to the forks, but I eventually decided to do something with it. I took some paint, pasted it on a piece fo paper, and put it in a plastic picture frame I had sitting around.
The quote and the story behind it forever reminds me of the true power of creativity:
There's always more where that came from.
Truth be told, I got this specific insight from my online mentor, Marie Forleo, who uses the mantra "There's always more where that came from" to keep her creating inspiring content on the regular. She’s done this for decades, so clearly it works.
I'm not sure if creativity is exactly what Rumi meant when he wrote the words that ended up in that calendar and later got pasted on my craft project, but I bet he'd agree that the love of God and our renewable creative abilities are indeed one and the same.
Whenever I've taught writing workshops, I often highlight that the etymology of "inspiration" is related to what biologists call the breath in, an inhalation.
In the Biblical creation story, God breathed life into Adam. I don't think it's a coincidence that "breath" and "spirit" are often related in many different languages.
I like to say that as long as you're breathing, inspiration is coming your way.
The trick is to pay attention.
