Choose to Take the Journey

Part I: Inspiration

Just as a fire needs oxygen to spark, so too your passion needs inspiration to give it life. And yet inspiration is often hard to come by. Artists desire artistry, but paint may be allowed to dry and clay to harden if inspiration is lacking. Writers wish to write, but many sit idle waiting for the spirit to move them. How much sand must pass through the hourglass, how many suns must rise and fall, how many wrinkles must beset upon one’s face before inspiration will take hold?

The fallacy most people make is that inspiration will wash over them automatically. They often end up waiting for either wolves to be at their back to terrify them, or sirens to be at their front to lure them with deceptive songs. A windfall may occur once in a while, but by itself, it is simply not enough. A fire may have even been ignited in such a way, but to keep it burning, the supply of oxygen must be continuous.

This vital source can be found within the comfort of your own home: your favorite movie, an unread book, or even a particularly interesting blog on the internet (hint hint). But sometimes you may have to leave your house to sweep the rest of the cobwebs off your neurons. Here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Diversify your exposure.

Go somewhere you’ve never been; try something you’ve never considered. You don’t know the unknown, but if you keep an open mind, you’ll never know when the thing you were looking for will actually find you.

2. Break routine.

Expand your comfort zone and do something you wouldn’t normally do. Only when you do something beyond what you’re used to doing, will you get something beyond what you’re used to getting.

3. Find the right environment.

From mountaintop to ocean floor, whether surrounded by friends or in your fortress of solitude, create the kind of environment that would make inspiration easier to come by.

4. Delve deeper.

If you intend to become a professional pianist, go to Germany and play a song on the same piano Mozart did. If you’re determined to become a world-class architect, travel to Dubai and gaze upon their engineering marvels. Even if you cannot afford to leave your city, an aspiring photographer can still drown in a sea of images on the internet. An aspiring chef can still lose himself among the culinary section at a local bookstore. The more you learn about your craft, the more thoroughly you explore its depths, the more passionate you will become… automatically.

//Stay tuned for Part II: Ideas