How to inspire yourself

Everyone knows that superman draws all his strength from the sun. On his home planet (krypton to be precise) he is an average Joe but on Earth he is extraordinary because the Sun gives him strength beyond that of a human. Okay so by now your probably thinking this guy is a total comic book nerd! The point I'm trying to make is that you need to find or figure out what inspires you the most so you can draw power from it and use that to aid your creativity.. Find your source of inspiration and you have found a source of power.

Find or create a space/place where you can be most creative

If you are a writer, artist or musician you will know that being in your own creative space is essential. Everybody needs a place where they can go to generate ideas, collect their thoughts or even clear their mind. Have you realised how problems can be solved, questions answered by a stroll through a park or a walk down the beach.Unfortunately not everyone has access or lives close enough to a beach or park.The next best thing is to create your own space and fill it with things that inspire you.

Movies are a great simulation of real life. They may be depicted in an unrealistic manner in some cases but the messages can be very powerful, thought provoking and inspirational. Take this clip for example, yes it's abit graphic for some people but it's a metaphor for the trails and tribulations that life throws at us. We all know that life is not a striaght and narrow road its a rollercoaster full of ups and downs. When things get hard and it feels like we're beaten or when we've taken the hits and we've reached rock bottom peservere, refuse to give up because that's how you win battles and you'll succeed regardless of how big the challenge. That's only one of the messages in this video and I'm sure if you watch it a few more times you will uncover many more..

Just to point out I hope nobody watched this video and thought it had something to do with starting up an underground fight club and brawling with your biggest enemy. Thats just crazy! Besides you might lose, it's always best to keep your pride and scratch the paintwork of their car at around 2am in the morning. You won't get caught and they can wake up to the surprise. ; ) . Only kidding people.

Drawing inspiration from books is one of the more older techniques but it offers so much. An inspirational book can change your perception of your life and really put things into context . It can make you want to create change in your life for the better and can be a learning curve for many people. Its not only non-fiction books that have the ability to inspire but a beautifully written fiction can contain many important messages about life. Its also very easy to mark and refer back to important quotes. One of my favourite books is The war of arts by Steven Pressefield and heres a quote that I've found very inspirational and I hope you will too.

"Are you a born writer, were you put on earth to be a painter, a scientist, an apostle of peace. In the end the question can only be answered by action. Do it or don't do it. It might help you to think of it this way. If you were meant to cure cancer or write a symphony or crack cold fusion and you don't do it. You'll not only hurt yourself even, destroy yourself. You hurt your children, you hurt me, you hurt the planet. You shame the angels who watch over you and you spite the almighty who created you and only you contain your unique gifts for the sole pupose of nudging the human race one millimeter further along in its path back to God. Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the the actor, its a gift to the world and every being in it. Don't cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you've got"

Since the dawn of man there have always been inspirational people. People who inspire others through their words and actions.I think we may be inspired mostly by the story that an inspirational person brings. Often there are major challenges people who are considered inspirational overcome. We see characteristics in them which we can relate to but we see ones that we also aspire to have or admire.

An inspirational person doesn't have to be someone that is revered as a star and has mass followers, a huge fan base and is talked about often. It can be the 10 year old boy/girl living in a poor country, who has taken on the responsibility of looking after their sick mother and younger brother and sister. Even though every morning they wake up to the difficulties of their life and its all too evident as they see poverty all around them. They brave it through without complaint and won't runaway from their problems, they confront them and try to do what it takes to make a difference for the sake of their family. Nobody knows of their existence apart from the people they actively effect through their good deeds.. If that ain't true inspiration then I dont know what is.. We won't all be celebrities but we can make it our duty to actively effect every person we meet in a positive way.

Inspirational people come in different shapes and sizes and thats not what makes them inspirational but a huge part of what does is that through there struggles they never opted for a shortcut instead they did what felt right. Belows is a video of a man I consider inspirational and a beacon of hope for those who feel like giving up on life..

Music can have a massive effect on a person, it has the ability to trigger so many different emotions in us.The words in a song combined with a collaboration of different instruments playing, all work together to create a certain kind of feeling. The artist wants their listener to understand and relate to the song. I actually feel that listening to songs with positive lyrics and meaningful content has alot of impact on your life.
Isn't it weird how you can condition your mind through things you feed it. A few times I've heard a song come on and people say "I love this song" and I've thought to myself "Well I can't say the same buddy".After hearing the song a few times or just taking the time to listen to the lyrics I later realise why that person felt such a connection. The truth about music is no genre is above another its the content of a song that can make it inspirational in my eyes.

The reason why the title is "how inspiration should work" and not "how inspiration works" is that I realise that it doesn't work like that for everyone. Some people will be inspired to start of with but may not be motivated to do anything and others will be inspred, they will be motivated but they take no action. This in itself is an ineffective kind of inspiration, one that we feel for a small amount of time but it materialises into nothing. The best type of inspiration is one that consists of all three of these things.You are inspired by something or someone,which motivates you to do something, you decide to take action and that action turns the ideas from your inspiration into reality.

I'm fortunate enough to come from a close knit family and I have to say I am blessed to have some inspirational characters in my life. My mother wins the award as the number one most inspirational person I know. I draw inspiration from all the things that I have talked about on this lens. Its like my secret tools for getting me fired up when I am about to embark in a new quest in my life. One example was when I decided to go university after a few years of putting education on hold, due to family problems. I wasn't too confident about getting into the rountine of studying and had a few doubts about my ability to understand some of the difficult equations physics would surely present to me, since the course I wanted to take included this subject.

I remember a few days after worrying about this, I bumped into a neighbour I hadn't seen for a while and we talked about the usual (you know, the weather and how bad the economy is at the moment talk). Then the conversation took a turn into more serious matters. She began to talk about her son who was autistic, "I'm so proud of him" she said lovingly. "He's just enrolled into a college and he tells me he wants to be a teacher one day". We made our way to the local bakery and she ordered a cinnamon roll and continued. " What really amazes me is that he doesn't accept that there are some things he might not be able to do and everyday he proves to be right".. Those words from my neighbour, have stuck in my head to this day. What an inspirational son she has! I knew exactly what I had to do. Coincidently I remember it was that same week that I watched "a beautiful mind" starring Russell Crow and it urged me on further to take on this challenge.

This doesn't apply for education alone. We all have our personal battles whether it be that we want to lose weight or we want to run our own business. The problem is fears, doubts and procrastination gets the better of us at times. Yes, use inspiration when it comes as a motivator but don't spend your life waiting always to be inspired ultimately it's the taking action part that counts.

On a final note and just out of interest I want to leave you with this question. Think back to a time when you were inspired, what inspired you and what did you do with that inspiration?

All the pictures on this Lens came from Mogulfile and do not require credits.