by Gemma Wiseman

Created on: April 13, 2008

Creative inspiration may be a gift, but we all have the opportunity to use it. Yet, in our hectic lives, we often wonder where that gift hides and maybe even question if it really exists. The gift waits to be claimed everywhere~ in our outside worlds and our inner worlds. We just need to be "awake" spiritually and yearn to find it.

Often our personal life situations, however routine, can offer a glimmer of creative inspiration. Your child took her first steps today. Explore all the joy! Compare the joy to the thrill of flying or sailing! Maybe your belief system may offer another comparative joy! Be inspired and write!

Books, music and artwork may transport us into other worlds. The book may take you back or forward in time. Does the book inspire further ideas for stories? Could a minor character have his own story to tell? Music creates an atmosphere or connects with maybe inner feelings or attitudes. Describe the mood, perhaps explore a memory or explain the feelings and attitudes. Artwork is a treasure trove for ideas. Find an art work and pen a poem about what you see! Immerse in the feelings, the ideas and write!

Other mood inspiring places can be a quiet beach, meditation times, a candle lit room or that beautiful silence found in the midnight hours when the world sleeps. These are wonderful moments to let the thoughts run wild and free without the clamour of worldly distractions.

Airports, train stations or concerts and overheard snippets of conversation at a restaurant are a wonderful source to create imaginary worlds about peoples' lives.

As you travel, compare the world you see with the world you know. What are the differences? What are the similarities? Which one do you prefer and why?

Don't forget animals. Give them personalities and feelings and quirky behavior. Thereby evolves a story.

If fictional, descriptive, travelogues and inner, sensitive worlds are not really your style, there is always the media for "meaty" inspiration. Are you tired of the media view of the Iraqi situation? What is your view? Are there situations from classical worlds that are comparable?

And what about our favourite topic of the weather or the seasons? Perhaps try the advantages of the winter blues or a satire on the quirkiness of weather patterns. Maybe give the weather a personality and perhaps even a face. Maybe go further. Will there be 4 seasons or 2 in 100 years' time? Work through a logical explanation for your ideas.

You may even need a cup of coffee to convince your mind it is time to stop, relax and be inspired. Where will your thoughts roam?

Notice what is happening here. We are asking questions. The spark for creative inspiration may be in the world around us, but the real process is fired within, fanned by questions demanding answers.

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