Have you ever sat around and thought about Inspiration? How does one become inspired? Why do we get inspired? What does it feel like to be inspired?
I was sitting around one day and felt a desire to write this blog. I knew that if I did not start writing this blog immediately then the inspired feeling I had would quickly fade. In a sense, I was inspired to write a blog about inspiration!
When we are inspired, our mind, body and emotions are connected through a feeling of excitement and passion. The inspiring thought tugs at our heartstrings and beautifully strums a harmony that vibrates throughout our entire body. You feel tingling on your skin and your mind feels like it lights up with instantaneous energy.
Inspiration quickly turns into ideas.
You feel the urge to do something. You feel the need to take immediate action. You are not able to contain your excitement.
The reality is inspiration comes at us in a flash and is time limited. Once we lose the moment that same inspired thought may never come back again.
When we are inspired, we have grand ideas of the things we can do, places we can go, and who we can become. We are in an altered state of mind, free from our normal self-limiting thoughts of fear, boredom, and complacency.
So the next time you are inspired, act immediately. It is your window of opportunity where your rational mind and fears have not yet had a chance to yank you back into reality. Take full advantage of the state of mind you are in.
Here are something’s you can do to capture the moment:
1) Write down the ideas, thoughts and feelings down immediately.
2) Tell someone about your ideas and thoughts and make a commitment to action it. One of the best ways to hold yourself accountable is through peer pressure.
3) Remember the emotions you are feeling in the moment. Bottle these emotions up and try to recreate these feelings each time you want to get inspired
4) Take action immediately. Don't let your rational mind think you out of what you are about to do. Inspiration is the voice you should listen to.
All of us have the capability to generate amazing ideas when we are inspired. The difference between the creative geniuses in the world and everyone else is the fact that they turned their ideas into reality.
Lately, I have been toying with the idea of putting myself in an inspired state even though I don’t feel inspired. I read a great book called Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, which talks about how to get yourself in the Flow state, which essentially is an inspired state of mind where you able to be completely focused at the task at hand. I strongly recommend you pick up a copy of this book.
Here is what I learned:
· To be in a flow state you must focus on a task that is challenging to the point where you have to struggle a bit to complete it. If it is too challenging, you have anxiety and you will not be in flow.
· You must have the appropriate skillset for the tasks that you are trying to complete. If it is too easy for you, you will quickly get bored
Here is an example of what Flow looks like according to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. (Picture credit goes to http://alifeofproductivity.com/resolutions/chapter4)
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi book Flow gives so many real life examples of how you can train your mind to be in a Flow state. With this knowledge, you could potentially learn how to turn on and off your own inspiration switch. What an amazing superpower that would be!
The next time you are inspired, think in your mind “It is time for ACTION!”
Oh… how I love to....
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