True Inspiration by Kristin Mackey

True Inspiration
By Kristin Mackey

Where do we truly find inspiration? The kind of inspiration that makes us step back and evaluate the track we are on. What kind of moments, observations and epiphanies really inspire us to look deeper at our choices, lives and habits? Is it in the book we just read or the movie that moved us? Perhaps. Or are the most profound moments of inspiration less obvious, less direct?

Perhaps we underestimate the more subtle but deeper triggers that take us to new heights and inspire real change. Moments we observe the greatness of another in the ordinary. For example, when we observe the courage one has to speak up on a topic of passion or live a lifestyle foreign from our own and it inspires us, could this mark the first whisper that hints at our own desires and potentials? It is in the small but extraordinary choices observed in others that hit a personal cord in us toward our own transformation. When we are motivated, something is pushing us but when we are inspired, something has been ignited within us.

The best way to mine the gold in sometimes fleeting moments of inspiration is to question why the inspiration is there in the first place. Are we inspired because someone moved in a direction we ourselves are afraid to go? Can we gain a greater understanding of our own fears, blocks and issues by observing deeper? I think so.

Witnessing the greatness in another can launch a sort of inner lift to reach greater heights ourselves, however they may be defined. It is our human nature to want to grow, expand and be more. If someone on our path displays an area of growth we long (consciously or unconsciously) to embody, we will feel inspired. When we are inspired, we move to make changes. We often begin this process with action steps and plans. Although valuable and necessary, a more essential step may be in recognizing the necessary emotional landscape one needs to sustain the desired change. It could call for greater courage, conviction or faith.
When we begin to focus less on the actual changes we see, but on the emotional landscape of the changers that so inspire us, we can access the same power that will catapult our lives and visions in the same fashion. When we put less focus on the finished product and more on the internal emotional climate necessary to create “the product” we gain greater insight on how to make similar changes ourselves and more
importantly...how to sustain them.