Equuality: Reflections on Life with Horses

Inspiration

About the Book

We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action. -Frank Tibolt

The word inspiration comes from the Latin "in spirare," literally "to breathe." Thus, inspiration is the breath of our life. It brings in fresh ideas to nurture the creative spirit and expunges the stagnant energy that keeps us from expressing ourselves fully. Inspiration is the oxygen that stokes the fires of our passion.

Just as the air can become stagnant and stale, so can the energy of our lives. Often, we are taught that we must wait for new inspiration to strike before we can take action. This idea is central to our cultural myth of the savant artist: an individual that creates great works because they are somehow tapped into the flow of divine inspiration more directly than the rest of us. We are jealous of their creative abilities, but vindicated because we consider artists to be out of touch with reality: lucky in their gifts but fundamentally flawed, unable to fit into the "normal" world with the rest of us.

This idea that creation requires special powers bestowed only to a worthy but damaged few is an extremely dangerous one. We often use it to justify our own lack of action. What we realize though, when we look more deeply, is that it is our fears, not a lack of ability, that keep us from creating. We dread the idea of failure, of trying and not "succeeding." So, we sit and wait for inspiration that will never come so that we will not have to risk damage to our egos.

When I began my formal training as a painter, I was very much stuck in this same mode of thinking. When we were given assignments, I would sit around, waiting for the lightning bolt of vision to strike me and power the creation of my work. This usually meant spending hour upon hour stuck in my head, analyzing, thinking, running around in mental circles, before finally breaking down at the last minute, struggling to achieve something mediocre, and feeling like a failure for not having heard the voice of my muse.

As time progressed, I began to learn the lesson that Mr. Tibolt stated so well: inspiration comes to those who put in the work, not those who wait. Pablo Picasso is said to have create some 50,000 pieces over his lifetime. There is a man who understood this truth. He didn't become one of the 20th century's greatest artists by waiting around for genius to strike. Instead he put in the effort, every day.

Sitting still, our breath is shallow and steady. As we begin to move, to walk, to run, we begin naturally to draw more deeply from the air that surrounds us. In moving, our body now has a use for the oxygen. It is this way with inspiration. Just like the air we breathe, creative energies permeate our existence, surrounding us every day. Only by being active and engaged do we create a space for these energies to penetrate us deeply, to saturate our souls with life as the air infuses our bloodstream. Inspiration is not the impetus of action, but rather the result of it.

When we act, we put ourselves in situations where we can be privy to the wonders of life. All we need to do is cultivate our ability to see that wonder. To this end, when I am feeling stagnant, I begin a simple journaling process. Each day, I write down three things: something that surprised me today, something that moved me today, and something that inspired me today. Sometimes it can be a challenge. I will get to the end of the day and realize that I hadn't really noticed anything all day long. Still, usually I can pick out something, even if it seems insignificant. Then, as a dislodged stone gains speed as it rolls down hill, I gain momentum in my engagement. Soon I am noticing wondrous things all day long, continually breathing in inspiration just by being alive and engaged.