Find Your Inspiration

in·spi·ra·tion
ˌinspəˈrāSH(ə)n/
noun
the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.

Do you know what gives you inspiration? Whether it’s in your writing, parenting, workouts, or general living, it can be hard to come up with ideas or motivation.

Well, I had that problem this week but maybe that’s obvious since this post is two days late. Some weeks it’s easy to write and other I need to use a lot of effort to focus. Several events this week left me discouraged, resulting in my focus being placed on other areas of life. I got lost in the commotion and procrastinated on writing this post.

As I hoped on the treadmill this morning for my usual run, I was craving some insight on life. I needed to find some motivation for a positive change in my attitude and my writing. During my five miles, I decided to switch it up from the usual mindless Netflix How I Met Your Mother episodes to some encouraging TED talks.

I had the opportunity to watch four incredible talks including:  

1. 10  ways to have a better conversation – Celeste Headlee
2. The 3 A’s of awesome – Neil Pasricha
3. What makes a good life? – Robert Waldinger
4. A beat boxing lesson from a father-daughter duo – Nicole Paris and Ed Cage

What a combination of incredible and simple knowledge. Listening to the positivity in each of these talks turned my day around and gave me something to write about. In those four talks, I learned that inspiration surrounds us. For myself, I found it today in a few TED talks but if I had run outside instead of on the treadmill I would have found inspiration in something else.

I’m not telling you if you watch endless hours of inspirational TV your life will improve itself. That seems like a waste of time. What I am saying is be aware of your surroundings, engage with people, listen intently, spend time with the people you love and you will find your inspiration.

“I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence, but it comes from within. It is there all of the time”. – Anna Freud.