Inspiration is a tricky and elusive mistress.
Sometimes we have it, sometimes we don’t, and it can be hard to know what is going on behind this.
It is, indeed, a mysterious thing but, luckily, there are lots of practical and tangible ways that we can encourage inspiration in our lives and help it stick around.
Want to hear them?
Go on then, you’ve convinced me.
Stay active
Physical exercise and creative inspiration might sound unrelated but they really aren’t. One of the quickest ways to get out of a state we might name “brain fog” is to exercise and get our blood pumping.
Staying physically stagnant always results in us feeling mentally stagnant and this is the killer of inspiration.
If we live groundhog day, day in and day out, from our office desk, our brains are naturally going to dip in positive, motivating hormones and we will just want to stay seated and safe all day long. If we get outside or get to the gym, we can break ourselves out of this negative cycle and we can find that some of our best ideas pop into our heads in these times.
You never know what you might think of and so it is definitely worth a try.
Change your routine regularly
Some people are a fan of keeping the same routine for most of their lives but this can be a real killer of inspiration.
The more we do the same things at the same time, the more that our brains have the same thoughts at the same time.
To really get inspired we need to regularly change things up so that we can gain some new perspectives, have some new thoughts, and encourage our brains to adapt and be creative.
It can be small things and it could work with the seasons to make things easier. For example, instead of having a walk after work, you could jog in the morning. Instead of watching TV on your lunch, you could grab a coffee from a local spot. You could call a friend on a Sunday morning rather than reading the paper. It can be really small things that keep your brain stimulated through variation. Once that routine becomes boring, change again.
Do some light brain training
Our brains need to be proactively kept sharp and alive to reach maximum potential for inspiration. Brain training is a great way to do this.
Examples of brain training can be doing puzzles such as Sudokus, playing brain training games on your Switch or PC, learning a new language, problem-solving, and playing a musical instrument.
Spending some time doing at least one of these activities every week, even if they are completely unrelated to the area in which you are trying to get inspired, will really give your brain a winning edge.
This is a great habit to get into in life for anyone of any age, and it can slow down the effects of ageing and stress. So as well as being inspired you will be as healthy as you can be, what’s not to love about that?
Inspiration comes from tiny lifestyle changes that are sustained throughout our lives and so inspiration is, in itself, a lifestyle choice.
What do you think?
