Finding Inspiration

To feel inspiration daily is a challenge, especially when we're lacking the energy it takes to get things going. Often we fall into the slump of our everyday living and we make up excuses as to why we don’t want to give something new a try, even if that thing may take us out of the blah of our monotonous lives. Carrying on in a robot like existence, although torturous, is easy. We can think for hours, days, maybe even years about what we really want our lives to be without ever taking action. We could be on our death bed wondering how we got there and never accomplished what we truly wanted. 

In Yoga we call this repetitive pattern a samskara. Samskaras can be either emotional or physical patterns. Imagine a samskara like a canyon in your brain. It is a pattern of thought that we have done over and over again, creating a grove. In order to get out of this pattern we must create a new positive samskara. Each positive thing that we do will fill in the negative samskara and start to dig a positive one. It takes a lot of awareness and persistence to create a positive samskara as the old ones can be deeply ingrained. 

Some of our samskaras have been with us since childhood. Understanding where these samskaras come from will be helpful in ceasing them.  Finding a therapist to talk with can be helpful. If we had parents that repeatedly told us we weren’t smart enough or that we were lazy, these are thoughts that we have carried into adulthood. These thoughts will stop you from believing in yourself causing you to stall in taking the steps to chang your life.

To start your new life you need a plan, one that isn’t just in your head. Sit down and start writing. Write out what you hope to achieve overall, then brainstorm on what you need to do to get there. Don’t leave anything out, put in even the smallest details. The more details you put in, the more inspired you will become. If, at a point, you become overwhelmed by all the things you have written down and wonder how you will ever accomplish it all, break your list down into manageable bits. 

Once you’ve got your plan, your next move is to work on it daily. Especially on the days when you don’t feel like it. Why? Because those are the days that your plan will start to gather dust. You'll start to doubt it and come up with reasons to delay or leave it behind all together. Sure you may not be your most creative or inspired on those days, but you need to do something, even if it is for five minutes. I read once that in order to succeed you must implement. 

Patience is the other factor. Success doesn’t happen overnight. It takes a lot of hard work and commitment. It takes support, not just from your friends and family but from yourself. You need to believe in what you are doing. Work hard at it. Things aren’t handed to you, especially in this competitive world. 

Create a positive mantra to help build yourself up on those hard days. A mantra is a positive repetitive phrase that you say over and over in your head or out loud. An example is “I am a talented writer/artist/designer, etc.” Not “I will be” or “I hope to be” but use the phrase “I am”. Our minds are funny things, they will grab ahold of any little thing and run with it. Using the phrase “I will” can leave the mind open for doubt, vs the phrase “I am” doesn’t leave any wiggle room.

Whatever your dream is don’t delay. Start today, right after you finish this article grab a pen and paper and start writing. Don’t delay or you’ll be old and dying and wondering why you didn’t just do it.