The inspiration to change

The path of personal change is not an easy one, in fact, it’s one of the hardest things you can do. The start of the journey is the recognition that something new needs to happen, we can’t just do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result, the oft quoted definition of insanity, and not actually Einstein's by the way. This is your life to make the absolute most of, it’s not supposed to be groundhog day.

If you’ve arrived at this juncture with a ready awareness and perhaps a dash of inspiration, what now? Embarking on any journey of transformation and self-actualisation is going to constantly challenge us. I mean life is hard enough without having to wrangle with our hardened habits and personas that would be more at home in a Netflix drama.

However, if you really believe that this is the way forward, then powering your positive desire to overcome passivity and grow is going to require the ability to stay inspired and motivated. This is why these two vital qualities are part of the first focus element in this practice formulation, nothing can happen without them, and it’s so easy to sink back into the mire of barely conscious life.

What is inspiration?

What do we know of this profoundly moving experience of mind? More importantly, what are the conditions that make it more likely to arise? For the most part, inspiration seems to come of its own accord, a happy accident rather than something we consciously bring about. We’ve probably all felt inspiration at some point in our lives. Maybe it was during a positive or even challenging experience of some kind, a moment of silence or spaciousness, a bolt out of the blue while taking a shower, or some hitherto unexpected but auspicious coming together of causes and conditions.

Whatever the case, there’s no mistaking it. We feel excited, empowered and energised. We’re uplifted, elevated by an idea or new understanding that moves our emotions and intellect. Our minds may be opened with a sense of unlimited possibilities, our imagination stimulated, we can see a different future. We feel impelled, spurred to action, powerfully moved to forge a new path forward.

This is a very different state of mind from what we usually experience and can be a pivotal moment in our lives, a fork in the road that has the potential to change everything. It’s a moment of vision, of what could be. The problem is, that inspirational state of mind is not going to last forever, but the memory may. To live that future, to bring it to life or embody it is where the real work starts.

"Inspiration entertains the impossible, motivation makes it so!”

Inspiration, motivation and desire

Coming to know inspiration does beg the question of its relationship to motivation and desire. The latter clearly has a bit of a bad reputation and perhaps not without merit. But desire is just energy, it can be negatively or positively focused and it can move us to achieve great things or great harm. It is a form of imagined future satisfaction that can move us forward. The responsibility we have to our own well being and that of others, is knowing the difference between wholesome desires and those that undermine our mental and physical health.

The main point is that we can experience desire for things without being motivated to seek them out or achieve them. For that, we need motivation. Desire is evaluative, what we want or don’t want, it’s about preferences, predispositions and biases. But motivation is the reason and expresses itself in directed and sustained action to achieve our goals and dreams.

So, where inspiration connects us to something beyond our usual paradigm, something that has a powerful relevance or resonance for us, sustained motivation will be up to us. I address motivation in the first practice point of this focus element in ‘Rouse your spirit get energised fired up’, and will dedicate a special article to the topic of motivation in future.

To keep motivated, we will have to bring our inspired vision to mind as much as possible. We need to keep it alive and most importantly, continually create the conditions whereby further inspiration and connection to vision arise. That inspiration is dependent on our inner conditions and availing ourselves of supportive and nourishing experiences that have an impact on this more open and receptive state of mind.

Everyone is unique and the way in which we pursue a life filled with inspiration and value is not a prescriptive one size fits all formula, it’s more mysterious than that, as is the arrival of inspiration itself. However, certain things hold true due to the nature of consciousness, so firstly, we start with the mind.

Creating the internal conditions for inspiration

Being inspirable is a way of life, it’s about everything we do. So, rather than leave inspiration to chance, we make ourselves more prone to it through cultivating a positive mind. Being truly alive, awake and engaged with life is a reflection of continuously beneficial and wholesome intentionality. There’s no doubt that the more positive and engaged we are, the more likely we are to be inspired. It’s hard for this powerful experience to arise in a mind that’s under duress, muddy or full of habitual, driven activity.

It’s this ethical component of our lives that is most important, and channelling our energies into more wholesome and virtuous actions invites a new dimension into our lives, a deeper engagement with and awareness of life. We become more open to experiences like inspiration that energise us and make us feel alive in a new way.

All the practices here at The Inspired Warrior are directed at the cultivation of these positive mental states, and their conditioning mental and physical actions. The following are just a few aspects that we can focus on to create the internal conditions that invite inspiration to arise.

Positivity and attitude

Coming into contact with inspiration is all about affirming life in some way. With a positive mindset we are primed to go beyond who we are and what we thought we were capable of. Every moment of our life, we are faced with the choice of how we want to relate to our experience.

With a bit of self awareness and a good dose of honesty we can start working out what our tendencies are. Do we feel entitled or grateful? Do we tend to catastrophise or expect things to work out? Are we complainers or do we just get on with it. Do we back ourselves or see obstacles everywhere so we don’t even start?

Shifting our usual responses to life from a pessimistic attitude to a more positive and affirmational one opens up our world for great things to happen. It’s a state of seeing abundance everywhere rather than what’s missing and what we haven’t got. The more we exist in this reality, the greater the chance we will be more inspired and energised about a life that will be richer and more vibrant.

So be on the watch out for that negative self-talk and taking on the cynical and unsupportive narratives of others. It’s time to switch playlists, what you listen to is what you become.

Going beyond ourselves

When inspiration visits us, we can experience something out of the ordinary, whether it be a momentary flash of insightful thinking or an all consuming life altering vision. But we don’t need to wait around for that to happen, we can do it ourselves. All the time. Now!

There isn’t a moment in our life when we can’t extend ourselves, at least a little bit. Whatever we do, we can do it better, more thoroughly, with more attention to detail. We can always go beyond ‘good enough’. We can be cleaner or more organised, challenge habitual lateness, spend an extra five minutes composing that email, go out of our way to get that special ingredient for the family dinner, push a few extra reps at the gym or two more minutes running.

When we make a habit of this, we are inviting the world to witness us, to see what we are capable of. We continuously challenge the limitations we put on ourselves. It’s a shift in mental attitude that suggests nothing is impossible. However big or small the task is that we face, we decide that we are no longer involved in the world of wants and don't wanna. We do what needs to be done, what can be done, and we do it like a boss!

And the bigger the challenge, the greater the kickback. This is a process of cultivating strength of character and an attitude of excellence in all that we do. Every time we try to give that extra one percent, we’re calling out to our bigger nature, our unlimited potential, and that is the place where inspiration lives.

Striving for our vision

Knowing what our purpose is and being conscious of it at all times is a way to stay in touch with inspiration. I address the importance of this in the practice point ‘Stay connected to your inspiration, your overall purpose’. Do we still feel passionate about the things that really matter, about our chosen pursuits? Life can get its hooks into us and sedate us to the wonder of that inner life, of what fires our heart and soul.

We can keep our passion alive by stoking our own inspiration through staying fully conscious of what we love and why. Envisioning our greatest goals will inspire and motivate our dedication and determination. Part of striving to bring our goals and dreams into being is mastering our chosen skillset to prepare ourselves through discipline and constant practice. In this way, through us, our inspiration and vision can express its greatest potential.

Get moving

If you’re feeling stodgy, blocked and stuck in the head, getting physical is a great way to get our energy moving. We often forget the physical dimension of our lives and how interconnected it is with our state of mind and being. Mind and body are one and if we don’t already have an active lifestyle, any physical activity will help to activate our energies and potentially trigger the creative process, especially if we bring as much awareness to what we’re doing as possible.

Clean your room, clear the kitchen counter, pull some weeds in the garden, go for a run, swim or brisk walk, organise your desk at your place of work or clean the office fridge. It doesn’t have to be a monumental task, just five or ten minutes of activity can be enough to get you moving, increase circulation, give you a positive sense of achievement. This is affirmational action oriented flow.

All we're doing is creating a break in the current mental flow with a change up, a strategy that can be used in any situation. This shift in mental momentum allows something else to arise in the space. I can’t count how many times I’ve had great reflections and ideas come up while exercising or doing other menial tasks.

Another way to free up energy is to do something we’ve been putting off, especially if it’s something that has been nagging at us or causing stress. Make that phone call, send that email, make a list, get an action plan and prioritise any pressing matters. Whatever it is, we stop leaving worrying concerns just out of mental sight where they unconsciously control us with feelings of fear and foreboding. Resolving an issue like this can cause a major release of energy which can be an inspiration in itself.

Authenticity and truth

Living from truth and coming into relationship with who we really are, rather than the idea of ourselves, moves us towards wholeness and away from a habitually divided and unhealthy state of being. If we lie to ourselves and can’t accept parts of the whole, if we confect reality by not speaking the truth, we live in denial. The commitment to honesty and authenticity is fundamentally a very positive and growthful action of mind and being.

Rigorous honesty simplifies life profoundly and with a more united self, everything we are and do is more authentic. Consequently, we can be better in touch with our deeper nature, truer values and healthy aspirations as they relate to the real. Being less energetically divided invites inspiration to inform and direct our more wholesome and focused intentionality and state of being.

Openness and receptivity

Open mindedness is a very beneficial condition for inspiration to arise. Letting go of our hard views, judgementalness and need to be right allows the space for something else to flow in without being strangled by our rigid mindset. If we think we’ve got it all sorted out, how can we possibly entertain anything new?

Being ok with not being right isn’t about weakness, it's precisely the opposite. No one ever learnt anything by being doggedly attached to their own view. So, let's loosen up that insecurity driven self assuredness to allow the possibility of a new way of thinking and viewing the world to emerge.

Spacious mind

Along with openness and receptivity, cultivating more moments of mental space in our day will go a long way to enable reflective and creative thoughts to emerge. Mental stillness is a rare thing in modern life, made significantly worse since the advent of mobile screens. Our lives are filled with activity, and often, every other moment our eyes are glued to a screen, taking in even more information of questionable origin and value.

Without detoxifying from this sort of activity, it’s hard to realise how unhealthy it is and what it deprives you of. Like our body, the mind is just as affected by what it absorbs, both in quality and volume. If we don’t give it a break and feed it something more wholesome, its health will deteriorate and we may not notice because we’ve become inured to the discomfort of it.

Activities like quiet moments of reflection, being outside in natural surrounds, mindfully walking, taking in the ocean and sitting calmly help to give our fevered minds a rest from incessant input and activity. In particular, meditation is highly beneficial for cultivating a healthy mind that tends naturally towards more spaciousness and wholesome living. Through this practice, we become more integrated and connect with our deeper energies and wholesome aspirations which creates conditions for inspiration to arise, par excellence.

Being inspired by life

Clearly, there’s a lot we can do to create fertile inner conditions to be more predisposed to inspiration. With our consciousness primed, the world out there offers a cornucopia of valuable input to nourish our minds, to challenge our own mental conditioning and predispositions. With discernment, we can expose ourselves to stimulation outside our usual paradigm. Having positive energy and information flowing into and out of our ‘lake’ means our waters won’t get stagnant.

People

Every person on this planet is completely unique. Some of us have lived vastly different lives with entirely different conditioning experiences that have formed who we are. Something that I have always appreciated about this is being exposed to someone else’s life experience and points of view, seeing the world through their eyes, if only for a moment.

Meeting different people, really hearing what they have to say in person or through different forms of media and non fictional biographies are great ways to get this bigger perspective. All we have to do is listen and suspend our own biases momentarily to broaden our outlook on life. Remember, our own conditions and views are not necessarily the right ones.

Fiction and media

If the limitless diversity of individual human beings wasn’t enough, what about what we produce collectively in terms of imaginal narratives? Reading remarkable fictional works and watching high quality programming and movies can talk directly to our hearts and minds through the immersive experience of great storytelling.

Through this absorbing experience we can forget ourselves for a moment, we get out of the way and let our deeper emotions and aspirations surface. Experiences like this can be so moving that we can feel alive as if for the first time, or perhaps in a long time, and in that moment we contemplate our relationship to life in new ways.

Music

Is there any doubt about the ability of music to move and inspire us? I don’t know how many times my mood, emotions, thinking and overall state of mind have completely shifted due to the music I was listening to. It’s such a powerful medium to transform our habitual mental states, not only that, it can affect our whole being and get our body moving and our motivations firing.

Assiduously cultivating a diverse library of go to music is a great way to engage and energise ourselves, and to have music at hand to add extra colour and meaning to our life moments. And has there ever been a better time in history for being able to listen to literally any type of music, anywhere in the world, through any piece of technology? Also, discovering new genres and sub genres of music is another great way to expose our minds to something outside our usual experience.

Listening to music does require an active component of listening, as we can tune it out unless it’s our primary activity. Actively listening while being engaged in an activity, allowing our emotions to flow and opening our minds is a great way to get in the flow and to be inspired by the deeper and more meaningful parts of ourselves.

Nature and aesthetics

There is something to be said about the confected nature of the constructed world that unsettles the mind, if only subtly. Evidence abounds about the positive benefits on the mind of natural environments. And it makes sense, after all our entire evolution, besides this brief nanosecond of modernity, was based in natural unconstructed surrounds. Availing ourselves of the natural world could be considered as relevant as any other mental hygiene and health initiatives in our lives.

If you live in a town or city, hopefully you have green spaces close by that you can visit often, or go to the local beach to watch the water and crashing surf. You can add some plants inside your home, take excursions or holidays outside of built up areas full of concrete and straight lines. What about sunrises and sunsets, or just noting the amazing expansiveness of a cloudless, radiant blue sky?

Along with natural beauty, there’s the whole area of aesthetics and how certain forms and arrangements of material reality around us affect the mind. John Keats said that “Beauty is truth, truth beauty, that is all ye know on Earth and all ye need to know.” This implies that there is something fundamentally beautiful about the truth and that this is also expressed through form.

The perception of beauty does have some level of subjectivity, but there’s no doubt that there are also properties of form like symmetry and curvature, proportionality, placement of items with respect to one another and so on that can stimulate aesthetic appreciation. We can express this beauty through our own attentiveness, love and care, in how we live our lives. Whether it be our actions, the way we think and communicate, or the state in which we keep our home or work space.

Exposing our senses to calmer more beautiful environments, and cultivating them in the spaces we inhabit will bring us into a more refined experience of life and of ourselves, connecting us to a deeper dimension of life, one that invites inspiration and flow.

Inviting inspiration versus chasing it

We’ve talked a lot about how to find inspiration, but we must be clear about our intentions of that seeking. Inspiration is not a thing to be triggered at will to give us what we want, it’s more like a reward for seeking and striving to realise the best in ourselves and in life and through our chosen passions. The more wholesome the intention and connection to that, the more likely it is that inspiration will fill our lives with clarity, meaning and purposeful direction.

In that sense, we should be aware of how attached we are to our desired outcomes, how connected we are to our overall vision or immediate goals. Are we relying on certain experiences to inspire us without preparing the mind to receive them? Expecting inspiration without cultivating the conditions for it to arise in, is to miss the point.

Also, do we rely on inspiring people to draw us forward, are we swooning over them or putting them on a pedestal? If so, we are putting ourselves at risk if they fail to continually live up to our idealisation of them. Relate to our heroes from a place of perspective, cherish their great virtues while remaining aware that they are just human beings like us.

Conclusion

Working on staying motivated and activated through mental training and awareness, we can continually tap into our inspiration. Being fully conscious and knowing not only what’s most important in our lives and why, but what brings true happiness will significantly support this practice and lead to a consistently inspired life.