The Ins and Out and Ups and Downs Of Inspiration

Beside the flesh and blood component, our brains are basically repositories for ideas. Fairly regularly, one of these little passengers in my brain pull the cord asking me to stop and let it out.

It might be a short story,  it might be a lyric, which is something I have been experimenting with for a long time. It might be a reflection, which seems to come more and more frequently these days. It might be an image I want to find with my camera.

Or it might be just an notion that I want to dimensionalize. And this is one of those days.

Inspiration Is The Ultimate Abstraction

We all walk around with thoughts cascading in a virtually endless stream in our heads. Some are related to the practical things we have to do. But the vast majority of them are simply memories and abstractions exploding like popcorn kernels in a microwave.

If you’re a writer, you pay attention to that popcorn, simply because you’re always looking for ideas. For the thoughts that will blow themselves up into something. And those thoughts, no matter what causes them to occur, to me at least, are what I call inspiration.

A lot of times inspiration will come from virtually out of nowhere. Other times it can be triggered by something you see or hear. Or it can slowly rise up out of the your subconscious mind when you relax, close your eyes and calm the chaotic popping in your head.

For me, this time is right now. 11:09 on a Monday night. It’s a beautiful evening. My wife has gone to bed, and I probably should too. But I had this thought and a curiosity to see how it manifests itself.

Everybody Has Inspiration

One of the most beautiful things about the human mind is the clarity that exists there if you just teach yourself how to slow things down.

The best clarity comes when you have slowed everything down to a crawl and you are actually asleep and dreaming.

Did you ever notice how much sense everything makes when you are dreaming?

This has a lot to do with the fact that every human being who whose brain isn’t seriously affected by some sort of malady, is basically as intelligent and insightful as every other human being.

It really is a level playing field. Where it stratifies is in the ability that each individual develops within themselves to make the most of the inspiration they receive from their own thought processes.

In other words, what you know of as genius, is something that every healthy brain possesses the capability to develop.

The difference is the degree to which you will act upon your idea, or allow your inspiration to actualize itself.

Everything I have written up to now is a manifestation of the thought I had to write something about inspiration…What it means to me. How I use it to do what I do. How I express it in a logical, understandable and hopefully inspirational way.

It’s A Long Road, This Learning Stuff

It has taken me a long time to teach myself to capitalize on inspiration.

It wasn’t easy and I was at a bit of a disadvantage since I have a condition that is basically caused by misfiring synapses in my brain.

But I did the work. Because I have a passion for writing and expressing myself in words. And that’s really the difference between people who become writers and designers and architects and artists and musicians and those who don’t.

I do not believe that any talent people have is God given gift, because I believe that everybody has it in them to do anything they want and on a pretty high level.

But the ones who actually do are the ones who teach themselves how to seize the inspiration that comes to them then turn it into real things.

Different Strokes For Different Folks

Not everybody chooses to do that. But everybody has the basic equipment. But like just about anything in life, your ability to develop inspiration is directly proportional to your desire to do so.

I have been a writer for all of my adult life. And, except for the writing I do for people or companies which is generally about dimensionalizing a strategy or a tactical positioning, virtually everything else I do is based strictly on inspiration.

And you know what. The older you get the easier it becomes to see the good ideas and jump on them.

The Takeaway

You may or may not agree with my assessment of inspiration, and that’s OK.

But if you really want to experience what it’s like to capture some inspiration and develop it into something, all I’m saying is that I believe you have that ability to do that within you. I believe that everybody does.

All you have to is calm down enough to capture the inspiration then figure out how to go about the work you need to do in a way that works for you.

It’s not easy. But then nothing worth achieving in life ever is.

jim out.

Jim lives in St Catharines Ontario (AKA The Quiet Side Of The Lake) and is still working with companies in Toronto whence he came two years ago.

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