Inspiration

Inspiration comes from many different places. It comes to us when we read, listen to music, have a conversation. Inspiration is the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, and when we use the word process, we are talking about a series of actions. Inspiration is a series of actions that result in mental stimulation, stimulation meaning the encouragement to develop or increase activity. 

See, I don't know about any of you, but I am just infatuated with looking up the definitions of words. You can't just define one word; that only gives you a hint as to what that word really means. We hold so much knowledge in our brains. Sure, we know what process means, we know what inspired means, but we really only know what our brain has grasped, and usually it's only a fraction of the definition. It's the shorthand version. 

When you define a word, there are usually words within that definition that are foreign to us, even though we use and hear these words on a daily basis. I find it fascinating to sit and define a word, and then define a word within that definition, and so on and so forth until I have a huge list and I fully understand what that word means, and every word that came from within that first word. 

That, is a process. That is my process, my series of actions, that results in the encouragement to develop, to grow, to continue on and on until this one word, and all of the ones that follow make complete and utter sense to me. That is my addiction, but it is a process. It is the process of inspiration. 

Inspiration does not just happen. Not the way that many people think it does. An artist down on his luck may look at a painting and think that whoever made that piece had it so easy; that the inspiration to paint just came to him. I do this from time to time; I look at all the other writers and think, 'If only I could do that. If only it was that easy for me.' It takes time and dedication to become inspired. 

Now, sometimes, inspiration also means that it comes to us in a sudden brilliant, creative, or timely idea. However convenient that may be, it still takes time, it takes a process, it takes steps to turn that inspiration into a reality. I have ideas, brilliant and creative ideas that come to me all the time. Only a fraction of those ideas actually make it from my mind to my keyboard. And then only a fraction of those actually make it past my scrutiny and onto anywhere useful. 

An artist can have all the inspiration in the world and it won't matter. I have a wealth of inspiration, all the time, and sometimes it just doesn't matter, because I can't get past whatever obstacle, whatever mental barrier I have put up and actually act on that inspiration. You have to be willing to put in the time to make inspiration into something real. You have to endure the process, no matter how many steps are involved. 

It takes patience to be an artist, of any kind; a painter, a writer, a musician, etc. It takes steps. My inspiration for this post today came from a friend on Facebook. My post from yesterday was pretty narrow and she reminded me that everyone goes through a struggle; not just writers. So it inspired me to write a bit more about it the struggle involved in being creative.

I hope you enjoyed. As always, feel free to leave a comment and share. I hope you are inspired by my inspiration. Happy writing!