Where does inspiration come from?
When you’re at your best, when you’re suddenly spurred into action, absolutely kicking ass or creating something new… When you’re knocking down your to-list, writing a perfect blog post, slapping paint on the canvas like a mad, wild genius…
Where does that come from?
What makes ideas come up in your mind?
Is it inspiration — a magical wellspring of fairy dust that poofs into existence unexpectedly?
Is it brain chemistry — the firing of neurons in such a way, the certain concoction of neurotransmitter alchemy that makes your brain light up on an fMRI brain scanner?
Is it psychology — the words you tell yourself, the inner conversation you have that says, “Go. Do. Make something”?
Is it some energy, like chi or tao or soul or consciousness, that is your lifeforce, that burns within you, that is airy and mysterious and separate from the physical universe, that you just “feel” at all times?
Is it coffee?
Can you manufacture it, buy it at the store, mix it up in a bowl in your kitchen? Can you put it on a playlist in your iPhone?
I think it could be all of those things — or none of them.
But the point is that it doesn’t always come, and often not when you most want it to. Wanting it makes you reach too far, try too hard. But being afraid of it — because it is a monstrous, beautiful dragon within — also doesn’t help. That makes you just sit on the couch, lazy or scared.
Instead, you have to find the zone in between, strike that balance, like the ringing of the Zen monk’s bell that reverberates through the wide, stone meditation hall.
And then, it all comes flooding in: The ocean of inspiration, the power that courses through your veins and bursts like fire from your hands — into the world, where it has impact.
So go. Do it.
But don’t try too hard.
And don’t try too little.
Strike the spark.