3 most inspirational moments.

photo credit: Pabro Barra (flickr)

We, humans, root for inspiration everyday. We search highs and lows for ideas, for perspectives, for concepts and even for meanings in life. We crave to be inspired day after day because inspiration makes life exciting and somehow allows us to extend our imagination at new heights. Writers, although we may be a little geeky, are also human and we long to be inspired everyday. It's not just everyday, but in every step of our waking moment, we long to be continuously inspired. Inspiration is the core of what we do. We write about things that made us feel alive and the thrill we get is from things that inspire us. 

It's pretty obvious actually to see how desperate writers are when it comes to finding inspiration. They are willing to go to remote places merely for the sake of meditating, hoping they will eventually come out with new meanings and new perspectives that will help them write better. Others travel around the world to see places, to be enchanted by the many wonders of the world and to learn about different cultures which will help them to get stronger character development. In my case, I don't believe in meditation and I don't travel much, but I've learned along the way that we can be inspired everyday through simple things. So, here are my list of the three most inspirational moments of our daily lives (from the third): 


3. Driving
I know what you're thinking, driving is an activity that requires your undivided attention and total focus but sometimes I just couldn't help to space out and start thinking about other things (please note that this can endanger your safety). When you're driving, especially when you're going through familiar routes (like driving from home to school), you will feel like your body moves on its own and you suddenly just got there to your destination. During these times, your mind will be so deep in thought, it's like you're no longer in the same reality that ideas will start popping up in your head.

2. The Semi-Unconscious State between Dreaming and Waking Up

In those mornings when you wake up very slowly (not suddenly) from such an intense dream, that you can feel like you're somehow still asleep and still dreaming but at the same time you're already aware it was just a dream? This is when you still remember what went on in your dreams, though probably not every little detail, but at this moment you have the ability to jot them down into a story. After you gain your full consciousness, the memory will start to fade and eventually you will have only glimpses of what happened and not enough details to make a story out of it. Some people can remember their dreams vividly even after days and weeks,  which is a blessing, but most people cannot. Dreams are actually one of the best sources of inspiration as there are no limits. So if you can experience that semi-unconscious state and you manage to get up and note what your dream was all about, it would be a a great source of inspiration. 

1. The Shower 
Yes, the famous "shower" moment. Ray Bradbury, one of the greatest writers of all time, said that one of the places he go to find inspiration would be the shower. I also don't know the scientific explanation behind why so many great people find inspiration in the shower. When we write (or work) we pressure our brains to think, explore and be critical, but at some point we get tired that we ended up generating zero ideas. So it's probably because when showering, our minds are more relax and can drift off just like that. Some people also say that taking a shower is a passive activity that doesn't require high brain activity therefore our minds can go deep into other things, for example: your characters, plot and settings. 

photo credit: debutart.com

So, are you inspired?