4 Tips to Finding Inspiration

“Become the sky. Take an axe to the prison wall. Escape.” – Rumi

It’s safe to say that everyone can use a little inspiration now and then. Correction, make that everyone can use a little inspiration daily. To be inspired is such a positive emotional experience that it should be cherished, nurtured and remembered. But how do you find inspiration in the first place? Is there some specific process to tap into inspiration or is it a matter of chance?

There are many ways to look at how you find inspiration, but here are a few choices that may help.

1. Learn to see the wonder in life — all aspects of life. 
   Undoubtedly there are many unknowns in your life. Everyone has a list of things they feel unsure of, don’t know about or feel little confidence in. It could be that they’ve never been reassured as a child or not sufficiently enough to gain self-confidence. Perhaps they were not given the freedom and encouraged to experiment, to try something new. That would tend to dampen enthusiasm and put a damper on any seeds of inspiration.

   One approach to changing this is to deliberately focus on what it is in life that is of wonder. Insert mindfulness into everything you do. In this way, you start to see things differently and tend to view life choices as more positive and possible.

2. Develop a routine that allows for discovery. 
   Anytime you embark on a new adventure, you feel a sense of excitement, knowing that there are things you’re likely to learn, experiences to have and people to meet. By establishing and developing a daily routine that gives you time and space to discover new things you create a buffer zone that makes room for inspiration to grow and fill it.

   Of course, for this to happen, you also must allow yourself to be open to discovery. Get rid of the filter that prohibits exploration and silence the voice that tells you you’re wasting time. You’re not. Even if you are in the process of completing a task, giving yourself permission to discover means that inspiration can find its way into your consciousness, pointing out new avenues to pursue, different paths to take, something else to research and learn.

3. Nurture pleasurable experiences.
   If something feels good and you feel pleasure doing it, as long as it doesn’t bring harm to others or yourself, go for it. Indulge in the experiences you find most comforting, exciting, consider fun, the ones you can’t wait to get involved in. This might be going for long walks in nature, working in the garden, crafting something, joining others in a hobby or recreational activity, searching for an answer to a problem or something else. What gets you so motivated that you lose track of time while you’re doing it is a good place to start. Welcome and nurture these pleasurable experiences. They will help your budding inspiration to flourish and grow.
4. Do things differently and do different things.
   Maybe your life has become a daily grind. Nothing seems to excite you as you do the same things over and over. There’s a quick way out of this and it involves doing things differently. It also involves doing different things.

   Take a different way to work or school. Start at the middle instead of the end. If you’ve never planned before starting a project, map out the steps before you get involved in the actions necessary. Maybe you pride yourself on doing things solo. Switch it up and enlist the assistance of others, if nothing more than for moral support and encouragement.

Once you stop limiting yourself you’ll find that ideas begin flowing and solutions occur to you that you couldn’t imagine before. Without that blockage in your mind, inspiration naturally finds its way to the surface.

from World of Psychology https://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2017/01/20/4-tips-to-finding-inspiration/