I attended a writer’s group, the other day, where everyone told what they did to “become inspired.” Two basic techniques were discussed:
1. Rituals, i.e., – “I try to write first thing in the morning when I’m fresh,” or “When I’m stuck, I go for a walk/do a load of laundry/play with the dog.” And,
2. Props, including funny stuffed animals, photos of supportive family and friends, framed copies of prior published works, and inspirational quotations displayed prominently in the work area.
These techniques may be useful, but I think the question of “how do you get inspired?” is the wrong one. Kids, after all, need do nothing to “get inspired” – they are just naturally inspired by almost everything around them. (Thus, a big cardboard box effortlessly becomes, first, a fort, and then a spaceship, igloo, castle, etc.) I think something happens to many of us, as we “grow up,” that blocks our natural tendency towards inspiration.
The key, therefore, is not to go around chasing inspiration, but to deal with your blocks, or obstacles, as I call them in _The Lifelong Activist_, so that your inspiration, ever-present, can reveal itself. I provide a strategy for doing so in the book, and also recommend journaling, therapy and other techniques.
I picture my blocks as giant boulders literally blocking the path I want to take. Once I’ve dealt with them, they disappear, revealing my inspiration, which I picture as a small sun, warm, vibrant, and pulsing with ideas and energy. It has been awaiting me patiently, and now that the block is gone I can just walk up to it whenever I want and be bathed in its light and energy and glow.
Once you find a reliable way past your blocks and to your inspiration, you’ll be able to write, do your activism, exercise, or do whatever else that is important to you more or less effortlessly.
Agree? Disagree? How do _you_ approach the problem of maintaining your energy and focus…i.e., your inspiration?
2 Comments
I find that my attitude has a lot to do with my inspiration. If I believe, even a little bit, that something I do or say could make a difference, I’m inspired. As soon as I take the case that nothing I do or say will make a difference, my inspiration is not only dead, it’s completely inaccessible.
So, when I’m in that space, I give up needing to know, or believe that doing anything will make a difference, but do my best not to allow my inner-critic to tell me it defintely won’t. There’s usually a chance that it could and usually the things I’m interested in taking on are worth taking some risks for.
Hi Dallas, I agree that knowing you can make a difference is empowering and inspiring. One of the key chapters in The Lifelong Activist is called Above All, Sell Hope (concept borrowed from a great sales book by Harry Beckwith). Hope – including the hope that one’s activities will create change – may be the most powerful motivator/inspirer of all.
But I think the most important point is that we have more control over our attitude/inspiration than many people think. There’s this idea that inspiration is this rare thing that we have no control over and that visits us – or it’s a muse to be strenuously courted – but I think it can be almost a constant state – like it is for kids. We just need to create the conditions for that to happen. The book Flow is a good guide for how to do this. (See biblio in Activist Love section.)