Inspiration

I often get asked the question, where do you get your inspiration?  The short answer is this, everywhere.  There’s beauty, intrigue, contrast, irony, and complexity all over the place.  You can find it in people, nature, society, concepts, the past, the future, etc.  For me the question isn’t where inspiration can be found, it’s more about what is holding it back.

When people don’t feel inspired, I feel that it’s because something is wrong.   Something in a person’s life is off, maybe it’s a job, a living situation, a relationship or something emotional they are dealing with.  It could be represented in depression or anxiety, these are situations where we are caught in the past or stuck in a future that doesn’t and may never exist.  We are immersed in a world full of could-be inspiration, but if we aren’t looking around, we won’t see it.

I personally feel that inspiration is best when it’s motivated with a positive fire.  Sure, negativity can inspire people in this way or that, but even when the goal of that inspiration is achieved it doesn’t feel truly good.  I’m thinking about people that are pushed by a desire to prove something, or to get back at something or anything negative like that.  The goal is achieved but it’s empty.  Positivity feels good through and through.  Inspiration through beauty, love, awe and gratitude has such a deeper power.  It’s an energy that spreads out and blooms in others as well. 

If you are ever feeling a lack of inspiration in your life, I would ask you a few questions.  What interests you?  What do you feel good doing?  When do you feel most alive?  Or you could go the other way with the questioning.  What do you see as a problem?  What frustrates you?  What would you like to change?  Some say follow your bliss, others say look for opportunity.  There are universes of inspiration and possibilities in both directions.

With my art I like to pursue different things at different times.  Sometimes I’m moved by beauty.  Sometimes I’m troubled by things I see in the world and want to make a difference.  Sometimes I just want to do something I’ve never done before.  Either way, inspiration is the first step and it drives me down the road of creativity.