How To Be Inspired

So many people say they can’t “get inspired” when they need or want to.

Doing anything from a “place” of inspiration is a merely a function of using your body and mind in a particular way.

Not feeling inspired? You’re using your body and mind in a certain way (i.e. you are maintaining a certain physiology and thinking certain thoughts) and creating an emotional state of NOT-inspired.

Rather than struggle and flail trying to get “inspired,” just stop and ask yourself: “How am I creating not-inspired?”

Allow the question to be real and simple. Just wonder: “How do I do not-inspired?”

It will help to do a few things:

  1. sit quietly in a comfortable and supportive chair (or stand in a powerful, grounded and relaxed manner);
  2. close your eyes and bring your attention to your breath for 30 or so seconds (as your attention invariably shifts to your thoughts, just return to the noticing of your breath).

Do this for a couple minutes.

Gently ask yourself again “How can come from inspiration?”

If you’re feeling better and more inspired, go with that and begin your work.

If not, continue with the curiosity of answering the question: “How do I do not-inspired?”

Once you’ve worked out your method, or methods, or doing not inspired, ask yourself: “What, for me, is the positive opposite?”

Do that… Rinse, lather, repeat.

Similar Posts

  • How You Become

    Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way. You become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions. – Aristotle What we do makes us. The idea of “muscle-memory” applies to character and life skills as much as it does to playing tennis or baseball….

  • How Are You Using Your Mind?

    A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices… – William James Perhaps replace “thinking” with being thoughtful? People are always thinking . . . Their monkey minds always chattering away . . . How about you? Are you merely thinking, or being thoughtful?

  • Be Anti-Status-Quo

    Any regular reader of this blog knows I am a big Seth Godin fan. I just read another great post on his blog (you can read it here). In the post he talks about the resistance of (certain factions in) business to important changes. One example being the elimination of child labor and the complaint…

  • Have To vs. Get To

    Some people have to do things. They “have to go to work.” They “have to  pick their kids up.” They “have to [insert the onerous, terrible task].” There’s two levels of dysfunction here: 1) What about people who don’t have jobs? What about people that would love to have kids? Does anyone think they would say…