Thoughts Out Loud: Inspiration & Meaning
I hope to always find myself inspired.
Inspiration is a beautiful word. Probably my favorite out of the list of beautiful words that I keep cataloged in my mind. It’s one of those words which is so full of meaning, that you can define in various ways and still not come up with an apt interpretation of what exactly inspiration means to you. Because really, how can you describe the feeling of being inspired?
Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about inspiration. I’ve found myself asking during lulls in my day: “what truly inspires me?” Then I’m launched into a whole new thought process of whether the things that inspire me do rightfully so. As beautiful a word as inspiration is, I wonder if this loses meaning at some point if we use it too freely, or if we don’t find the right and meaningful things to keep us feeling inspired.
In all honesty I’m probably one of those people who uses inspiration too freely. A lot of things inspire me: quotes from books- whether it be good or bad literature, music, people I see walking in the streets, young children from poor communities who get to go to school, the future, a painting, news articles, poetry, film, Youtube videos, knowing that the weekend is a day away, boys. You name it, it would probably fall under the category of things I understand as inspirational.
I wonder whether there’s such a thing as too much inspiration. When a person finds inspiration in everything doesn’t it saturate the very effect that inspiration has on a person?
I also wonder whether there are right and wrong things to be inspired by. The very idea of inspiration connotes good things that make you want to act. A feeling that stimulates you. But sometimes a person can be stimulated by the wrong things. Revenge, getting even, hate. I wonder whether this means that inspiration can be a bad thing as well.
One thing about inspiration that I’ve always believed though is that this signifies finding meaning. Choosing to find inspiration is choosing to find meaning in the the things you do. I also believe that this in turn, translates to finding meaning in life.
And if there’s one thing we constantly seek to find, isn’t it meaning?
I’m not sure about how inspiration works exactly, or what other people think of this. But I love the feeling of being inspired. It’s the one thing I wish I would always be.
