Throughout my life, I’ve been described as a highly motivated and achievement-driven person. My past and present body of work certainly confirms this to be true. Though, I can also feel stuck, resistant and unmotivated. For me and many of my clients, the difference is inspiration. When inspiration awakens us to a new idea, we breathe in the energy and the quickening becomes our rocket fuel for creative action. When we start to flat line and lose motivational energy, it is often because our inspiration is low.

Motivation: a force or influence that causes someone to do something
Inspiration: something that moves someone to act, create, or feel an emotion

Motivational theorists seek to understand what activates human behavior or ‘why a person does something’. They study drive, instinct, and humanistic motivators ignited by both conscious and unconscious factors – along with varieties of motivational influences.

However, researchers who study the effect of inspiration on goal achievement report that people who are more inspired in their lives tend to set more inspired goals, and have a higher success ratio. Beyond goal cultivation – if we live an inspired state of being, we will elevate to a higher degree of meaning, purpose, happiness, and abundance in our daily lives.

Inspiration Preparation

Some say that inspirational energy is ethereal, spontaneous, and uncontrollable. If this is true, then how can we best prepare ourselves for inspiration to take residence within us? Here are four ways:

• Prepare your Mind: develop a high degree of knowledge, experience, and confidence in your chosen profession or calling. Work mastery is a key element for transcendence.

• Open your Heart: practice being open-hearted, fearless, vulnerable, and curious. Retire defensiveness and victimhood and commit to love, even when it hurts.

• Live Creatively: train yourself to see possibility beyond current limitations. Transcend the traditional, color outside the lines, and become an original work of art.

• Breathe in Gratitude: cultivate a habit of thankfulness and appreciation. Learn to live in harmony with life and seek connections with those who uplift your spirit.

Inspiration Invitation

What was the passionate fire that propelled you to launch your company or commit to your professional life? What was the numinous force that attracted you to your beloved partner? What was the miraculous thunderbolt of love when your newborn baby was placed in your arms?  Business. Marriage. Parenting. Creative Projects. The process is the same. External forces motivate us to act, but inspiration fuels and sustains our commitments.  When your energy is waning, take a moment to reconnect with your most spirit-filled moments and invite inspiration to dance with you, once again!

Inspirational Quote

“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds. Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be!”

           Patanjali

Emergence Action

Start an Inspiration Journal. For the next week, pay attention and record every time you feel uplifted and inspired by an endless stream of blessings that may include: a majestic cloud, a painterly sunset, a cathedral forest, a stranger’s kindness, a heroic act of courage, a child’s gift of innocence, or the strength of a great leader. Soon you will feel more positive, more motivated, and more inspired by your own boundless Spirit.