Hi Friends,
Have you ever noticed how strange the word "inspiration" is when you actually look at it?
We use it all the time.
"I need some inspiration."
"That was so inspiring."
"I've lost my inspiration."
But if you look at the root of the word, it means something specific. To inspire literally means to breathe in. To take something into yourself from outside.
That's a very different thing than what most people think inspiration is. We often act like inspiration is something we go out and hunt down. Something we manufacture through willpower.
But real inspiration doesn't work like that. It shows up unannounced. Often when we're not looking. It arrives from somewhere and enters us and lifts us.
Our job isn't to produce it. Our job is to be in a state where we can actually receive it when it comes.
I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and I've been noticing something interesting when you look at how genuinely inspired people have lived their lives.
Steve Jobs took a calligraphy class in college. Just because he liked the letterforms. He had no idea he'd ever use it. Years later, when he was building the first Mac, that class became the reason personal computers have beautiful typography today. His inspiration didn't come from studying computers. It came from studying something completely unrelated that he loved for its own sake.
Maya Angelou wrote in hotel rooms. She'd rent a small, sparse room, ask the staff to take all the paintings off the walls, and write there from early morning until early afternoon. She said the bare, unfamiliar space was what freed her to write. Her inspiration didn't come from being surrounded by beauty. It came from the specific, deliberate emptiness she created around herself.
Albert Einstein played the violin when he got stuck on a physics problem. Mozart, mostly. He said the music helped him think. Not as a distraction, but as a genuine tool. Something about the structure of the music let his mind loosen and reorganize. Some of his biggest breakthroughs came in moments when he'd stopped thinking about physics at all.
Do you notice what these three people have in common?
None of them chased inspiration directly. They created the conditions in which inspiration could find them. A love pursued for its own sake. A quiet, empty room. A piece of music that let the mind wander.
You see, inspiration lives in a specific state. Not a mood. A neurological state. Researchers have actually mapped it. It shows up in the brainwave range called high theta, around 8 Hz. It's the state where creativity, motivation, and those "where did that come from?" moments arise. It's a real place your brain can go, and once you know how to get there, you can visit it far more often than most people ever do.
And recently, I used that information to create the central soundtrack of our Igniting Inspiration Suite. It’s simply called Inspire, and it incorporates that high theta brainwave frequency associated with those moments when inspiration finds you.
It’s a way to invite inspiration in!
Inspire is one of four tracks that come with the suite, along with Fathom, Reflect, and Energize. This collection also commemorates my 30th anniversary working at Centerpointe, so making this suite was really a labor of love and a way for me to highlight some important themes that have infused my career in sound design and coaching.
Inspired? I hope you take a moment to check it out right here!
But before I go, just a small question to sit with.
What kinds of things do you do that create the space and conditions for inspiration to find you? Is it music? Maybe a special spot where you enjoy your morning coffee? Or maybe even a special person in your life who inspires you?
Drop me a note and let me know!
And until next time, this is me, Just Checking In!
No comments:
Post a Comment