Creative Writing # 2, April 2012

Inspiration...
What inspires me??  When I was first asked this question, I thought "Oh, this will be easy to answer."  And then I started to think more about it...my first thought was nature.  Nature inspires me...when I'm outside, I feel complete.  Serene and peaceful, like Mother Earth has something to tell me, if I just stop and listen instead of running around crazy.  But that's not my only inspiration, especially in my daily life, because let's face it...I work a full-time job in the city, so the only nature I see on a daily basis is what has been corralled in the city park several blocks away from my office.  So I decided to look up the word "inspire" or "inspiration" and here's what I found: the first definition for "Inspire" in Merriam-Webster means "to influence, move or guide by divine or supernatural inspiration."; the first definition for "Inspiration" is "a divine influence or action on a person believed to qualify him or her to receive and communicate sacred revelation."  WOW!! I had no idea those words conveyed such a connection to the divine; it shows me that I sometimes "dumb down" words to suit my ordinary everyday life,when I really should be actively seeking the 'extraordinary" in every moment.  So how do I apply inspiration to my daily life AND my writing?  For me, I did what I need to do most when I'm turning a thought over and over in my head, like a gem in a tumbler...I meditated on it.  Where does my inspiration come from?  And there was the answer right inside of me, even though I didn't know it, just like Dorothy didn't know that her special red shoes could have taken her home to Kansas all along...it comes from within.  Right there in that special place created inside me, just for me, uniquely me...my soul center.  My connection to the divine and inspiration; it was breathed into me from the Creator and what is external is only an extension of the internal, if we allow the beauty and inspiration to flow from us to others.   When I allow inspiration to guide me, I am open to all things and present in each beautiful moment; it's always there, just waiting for me to feel it and then see it.  Every thing around us and in us can be an amazing source of inspiration...where do you find yours???