Finding inspiration

Inspiration. I've been lacking it lately. And in order to rediscover inspiration in my life, I decided to get back to basics and look up the definition of the word. One of the definitions from Dictionary.com defined inspiration as "An inspiring or animating action or influence."

This definition was not inspiring.

I kept looking. The Google search definition was better, "The process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative." Yes! I desperately need to feel mentally stimulated to do or feel something again... especially something creative. But, I still wanted a definition that felt a little more... raw.

Thank goodness for the good ol' Merriam-Webster dictionary. Its second definition of inspiration is so simple, but so real:

"The act of drawing in; specifically: the drawing of air into the lungs."

Perfect definition, both literally and figuratively. You see, inspiration to me is like breathing. Without inspiration, I feel like I'm suffocating. I lack creativity, I lack motivation. Literally, I sit in my house all day and watch lame TV shows and dwell on my lack of inspiration. Trust me, it's not good.

But, if there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that sitting on the couch and allowing your brain (and/or body) to rot is just about the worst way to improve your situation. So, after weeks of mind-rotting, inspiration-sapping sitting, I've decided to do something about it.

I've decided to train my inspiration muscle. And it's about to get real around here.

Starting Thursday, July 12th, 2012, I'm going to start a column entitled "90 Days of inspiration". This column is going to follow my active pursuit of re-inspiration. Some days will be rough. Some days will be awesome. Whatever happens, I hope you follow along. And, I hope my journey inspires you to become re-inspired if you, too, are lacking inspiration.

I must note that this column will include a spiritual component. As a follower of Christ, my day-to-day inspiration can't be separated from my spiritual walk. That said, this is not an attempt to prosthelytize or convert anyone. My goal will be to make each post a personal reflection of where I am in my inspiration journey and to write in a way that's non-threatening and open to anyone of any belief.

So... get ready to be inspired!

Header image credit: Chickens in the trees, http://www.flickr.com/photos/vsanderson/4998968942/sizes/z/