How to be inspired…every day!

I worked something out today. You ready for this…

I’m an inspiration junkie.

There. I said it.

Thing is, this realization has been a long time in coming. Lot’s of days feeling a little… off, under the weather, unmotivated. Plenty of time spent wandering internet wastelands without a real destination or connection to… anything. Busying myself and my life with distractions. Just waiting around for the next fix (of inspiration) to show up.

But today it hit me. It’s not the inspiration that hasn’t been showing up… it’s me. And I know I’m not alone.

What I’d managed to forget or loose sight of in the midst of the distracted swirl of living is the simple fact that there is no inspiration delivery service waiting to drop off moments of genius, hot insights and encouragement at my door when I need them (30 minutes or less or it’s free!).

My grown up moment arrives…

We all have these moments, don’t we? I call them the “where am I going, what am I doing?” days. To me they feel a bit like that dream where you’re falling. I don’t know anyone who likes that dream.

So I’m here to tell you they CAN be avoided (mostly). How?

We have to do the work to generate our own inspiration… every day.

But most importantly we have to realize that inspiration existed way before there was Pinterest, Tumblr or instagram. It comes in many many forms and our task is to find our own “inspiration switch”.

Once I worked this out, it didn’t take long for me to get clear on what I need to do… every day!

So here’s my list (I put it up on my bulletin board)…

• Get up early – Early for me is before dawn. It’s a magical time of day when the voices of the world are quiet enough to allow me to hear my own voice… loud and clear. It’s vata time which makes it great for being up and at em (I’m sure that’s why the early bird got the worm!).

• Move your body – Your body is your vehicle for self expression in the world. Learning and speaking your own language is a matter of moving, feeling, and moving some more and getting familiar with what your body wants and needs at different times of the day (sometimes it’s water, and not that cheeseburger). Exercise makes me feel alive, even when it’s uncomfortable. Cause life can be uncomfortable.

• Make a plan – My vata hates planning. Truth be told it hates getting things done too. So I have my challenges… like everyone. And the way I tackle them is by making a plan… each day. A simple list (too much and my vata will revolt), two or three things that must be done. I come back to it when I feel myself wandering, and at the end of the day I rejoice in ticking each of the completed things off.

• Eat light and bright – One of my own Ayurvedic mantras is… Heavy begets Heavy. It’s something to remind myself of, when my experience of life gets a little heavy (mood, food, weather). The same goes for lightness, coolness, etc. Inspiration feels light and bright. So in order to feel inspired (especially when my mood is heavy), I try to infuse a little lightness and brightness into my meals.

• Say “I love you” – Love is at the center of inspiration. To feel love for something, someone, yourself, feels expansive, open, free, inspired. The beauty is, most of us have someone or something in our lives that we can feel love for (even just being alive)… we just forget sometimes. Saying “I love you” is a dead simple way of acknowledging your own feelings (and you get to feel it in the process, bonus!). Go ahead, try it. I love you bed, I love you sweater, I love you man sleeping next to me. I love you children in the other room, I love you sunrise, I love you cup of dandelion tea, I love you life…

As an inspiration junkie I can’t get enough of the stuff. So tell me… what inspires YOU?   Let me know in the comments! (and prepare to inspire yourself just by telling me! ha! 🙂 )

Oh and here’s a bird’s-eye view of what inspired me this week!

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