How To Find Inspiration + Stay Inspired
When it comes to finding inspiration many artists will say that they are waiting to "feel” inspired or get “hit” with it. They sit around waiting for the perfect idea to come to them or for the right mood to “access” their inspiration. This is all wrong though!
More often than not inspiration is found in the process of doing something! It's a lot like trying to change the direction of a car. It just can't be done when the car is stagnant and stationary. Inspiration is much the same -- it requires action and movement!
Waiting around for inspiration is going to make it increasingly hard to welcome it into your life. Do this long enough and you'll find that your creative juices will run dry, things will come to a halt, and before you know it you might find yourself facing a nasty case of creative block. Let me assure you that this is NOT the place you want to be as a creative individual.
For so long, I felt that inspiration was this ever-elusive thing. I felt like I had no ideas and no great "creative vision". Slowly over time though, I have learned how to welcome inspiration into my life and make it so that, for the most part, it sticks around! So what's the secret? Well, it's actually very simple...
The secret is cultivating inspiration through play. That's it! Good old-fashioned, frivolous, "unserious" play.
What Is Inspiration?
Inspiration is: the connection of new ideas which gives us the momentum to create something new.
The most common understanding of inspiration I see today though is that it is an external thing that we're waiting for, to hit us or come to us.
Inspiration though, in my opinion, is so much more dynamic and interesting than that. It's a combination of things. It's the right environment, stimulation, input, activity, and time.
If it were an equation it might look like this...
It's the ACTIVITY part of the equation that we're really going to focus on today.
What Is Play?
Play: to engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose.
So, coming back to our definition of inspiration PLAY is the ACTIVITY part of that equation.
When we are younger, play is natural and innate. As we grow older though our sense of play is often knocked out of us. We become preoccupied with the necessities of life and forget how to engage in play. We become serious with a capital “S”.
Play for adults is any activity that helps to (re-)engage our sense of fun and can often look like indulging the desires of our former child-self.
It can be frivolous, silly, and random. Play can take many forms but some of these things may include: painting, drawing, playing music, baking, taking photographs, dancing, colouring in, doing a jigsaw puzzle and the list goes on. Play for you may look a little different to this list but it's important to remember that it is essentially activity based and involves frivolousness, enjoyment, and fun!
Finding Inspiration THROUGH Play
As creative beings, it’s deeply important that we understand the connection between play and inspiration.
Artists need to look at things, read things, absorb things, do things and listen to things in order to create. We need to add a steady stream of these things so ideas can bubble, brew and stew at the back of our minds. You simply cannot create in a vacuum. The best way to fill this vacuum is through "play".
At first, learning to play again might feel foreign and awkward. Remember, if you are a blocked creative lacking inspiration you have probably spent years maintaining the composed, buttoned-up “serious” side of yourself.
So of course it’s going to feel awkward. It can take a little bit of determined teasing, testing, and exploring before we might feel truly reconnected to our playful, fun selves again! And well that’s ok!
So Where Do You Start?
Well, the simplest way to start is by making a list. I like to call this the list of “Playful Yearnings”.
Make a list of all the activities and things you find yourself craving or yearning.
This list can be a list of activities you wish to do or a list of supplies you wish to invest in for certain activities. Some of the things on this list may seem completely left of field or random, but sometimes it’s a quiet recurring thought coming from the back of your mind. List all these thoughts and asterisk the one/s you have the greatest yearning to explore.
Now schedule a time each week to do these activities! 
FOR EXAMPLE:
Maybe you really want to purchase a sketchbook and a few things to use in this sketchbook. Perhaps you really have a craving to learn how to draw and paint or get back to drawing + painting.
Schedule a time to get these supplies + get busy using them!
By implementing the activities on your list, you'll find that conditions are a little more conducive to “finding” or “being hit” with inspiration. It’s often in the process of playing that we’re hit with an idea for a new project or technique we want to try. It’s the process or act itself of play that allows for the creative juices to flow and for connections in the brain to be made.
Do this enough and eventually, it should become a self-sustaining cycle of play and inspiration. This is ultimately how you find inspiration and STAY inspired.
Takeaways
+ Inspiration requires action.
+ This action is best when it is play
+ Write a list of playful activities
+ Schedule a weekly timeslot and do these activities
+ Keep doing this and you will continue to find inspiration
What's Next?
1. Download your free PDF workbook below.
2. Unlock access to this and other free resources by joining "The Creativity Cafe". Sign up below.
3. Watch my free creative block masterclass here.
4. Get on the waitlist for my upcoming sketchbook workshop here.
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In two simple exercises this workbook will help you apply the formula for inspiration to your very own life -- ensuring you never run out of it ever again!
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