I thought we’d talk about INSPIRATION on the blog this week. So look for a few posts that follow this theme.

Like me, many of you resonated with the anne lamott-ism I shared in a recent post: “sometimes you’re not blocked, you’re empty.” For all of us who are desiring to participate in life, to be alive and awake, the forces out there (“Resistance,” Steven Pressfield might call it OR “Acedia,” Kathleen Norris might call it) can really work against us to numb us out, empty us, leave us listless and stuck.

When I’m feeling empty, I try to go about filling up again. One way I do this is by seeking out inspiration.

When life goes on for too long without any contact with these soul-inspirations, we begin to slowly and surely lose consciousness (like the frog in the pot of water as the temperature is imperceptibly being turned up under him), and we begin to fall asleep and do our lives in a way that is both painful and numbing, and sometimes we don’t even realize it.

The word inspiration literally means “to breathe” or “breathed upon.” So when you think about inspiration, think about the act of breathing in and out. Inspiration is what keeps us breathing, our very breath. And breath, as we all know, is what keeps us alive.

I believe God created the world as a playground of inspiration to us.  And the beauty we find in it is unique to each person here, like an individual poem or song he has written to you and to me and he’s hidden the words and the stanzas and the melodies and the verses in the nooks and crannies of the world and has SET US FREE to find those things that speak to us uniquely.

His very word, spoken to you, spoken to me, is lurking around us.

And what’s so cool is that it’s different for all of us.

For some of you, it’s elephants. You love elephants. And you get weepy looking at elephants because their big ears are so friendly and elegant and their long eye-lashes have an other-worldliness to them, and when you see an elephant at the zoo or a picture of an elephant, you just feel like the world is a better place. That elephant inspires you. Elephants make you feel alive and somehow known in a way that you can’t really explain to anyone else, but in a way that is incredibly true to you if you’re totally honest.

Maybe for you, you can breathe when you have a collection of extra fine tip sharpie markers in your bag. And when you look into your bag and you see hot pink and lime and turquoise and chocolate brown caps, you smile and you feel like the universe is speaking to you, beckoning you, through those markers. That’s inspiration.

For some of you, it’s the sky. And it whispers to you as it changes all day long. And if you take the time in your day to actually listen to what it wants to say to you, you find yourself absolutely hypnotized and really breathing. That’s inspiration.

Maybe one of your primary inspirations is music. Music is, for you, a teleporter or a time machine or a cocoon or a life raft. And when the right music is on, you are transported and enveloped and saved. And your soul feels as if it has been cut open.

Maybe some of you find great inspiration in other people’s creativity. And though you may not be able to come up with ideas or projects or recipes on your own, you love looking at what other people have created and that breathes ideas and life into you, and it motivates you (inspires you!) to get up off the couch and do a little something. So you need to find time to look at other people’s creativity – books, blogs, HGTV, etc. That’s inspiration.

Maybe you need to get your body moving. And when you do, you find that your brain kicks into this other gear and, though it’s so hard to find the time to do it, getting your heart rate up and your body moving and your skin sweating brings you back to life. That’s inspiration.

Maybe you like going to salvage yards and garage sales and junk stores and digging through discarded things in order to find something strange and wonderful that you might refashion into this interesting piece of original artwork. And when you do that, you feel like you have just come alive for the first time and again. That’s inspiration.

Perhaps this is a week when you might go in search of an elephant, purchase some sharpies, spend some intentional time with the sky, put in your headphones, visit a museum, take a walk, troll some garage sales Saturday morning. Perhaps RIGHT NOW is a time to go about filling up. TO BREATHE.

If you’d like to spend some intentional time reflecting on this idea of inspiration, here are some prompts for you to consider . . .

Make a list of anything and everything you find beautiful.

When was the last time you felt really alive? Where were you? What were you doing? Who were you with?

When I ________________, I am being the me-est me.

If you could do anything in your life, what would you do? What keeps you from doing it?

Describe your very favorite place to be. What does it look like, feel like, smell like? Who are you when you are there?

What is saving your life right now? What is killing you?

And while you’re at it, pick one of the prompts and leave us a comment with your reflection . . .

May today hold unexpected Beauty for you!