This morning, when I woke up and thought about my weekly card, a few positive affirmations came to my mind… But when time had come to take my pens and write, only one of them was obvious: I am inspired.

I am lucky: anything and everything can inspire me. A conversation, thoughts, a landscape, a color, a texture, any everyday object, really. I find inspiration in everything, really. As I trained my brain to memorize emotions and images, I then have a huge library of memories I can dive into in order to create something, to express something, to share something.

I learned from an early age to observe, to try to understand the world I lived in. I was really gifted in the emotional department: I feel A LOT. And sometimes it could be overwhelming. Could because I learned to let my emotions go, I learned to express them through media such as writing, drawing, music too, crafting mostly.

See, inspiration can come from two complementary directions: it can come from outside your self, something you see, something you hear, something you touch, something you taste, something you smell… it reaches one of your senses, and ring a bell in your creative mind. It can also come from an inner source: this feeling you need to let something express itself, an emotion, an idea.

Everyone is inspired to a point. It’s this little spark that initiate a dream, a wish, a project, a change of some kind in our life. Now it’s up to you to create something with it, or to just let it go. I always have a notebook and a pen in my purse (and sometimes a lot more, depending on the size of the purse and what I am about to do or where I go). Then when inspiration kicks, I can write an idea down, or draw, or write about what I feel there and then. And I am so happy to live at this time of history when I can grab my phone and take a picture of something that inspires me.

What I really love about inspiration is that it can lead you to small project, a doodle, a quick picture, few words on a piece of paper, or bring you to a long term journey, fueling itself with new sources of inspiration. And on those bright peaceful days, I love to think about my life as this kind of journey, led by inspiration. It truly is, in a way.

On a very personal note, inspiration helped and keep helping me to share what I feel with people around me. My emotions can be really strong, and I can’t express them with my oral words. Probably because I was often told that I was overreacting, or that it’s too big to be true, or that we don’t have time to deal with it… or things like that, when I was younger. I don’t do good with frustration… so I learned to let my emotions and feelings go on paper, or with yarn, or anything that I had in my hands. I learned to create with something that could have destroy me if I kept it within. With time, I call that alchemy. I took all those feelings, those pains, those open wounds and made something with it, something different, most of the time something positive. And even more: by doing so, I freed myself from the negativity or the excess of feelings. I change something potentially destructive into something highly constructive… Alchemy.

Because if we can find inspiration in positive thoughts and feelings, we can also find them in dark places of our soul. I realized that I can easily write really dark words, but that I am unable to draw something dark… Probably because I first tend to put words on my emotional state of mind, and do it without filters. It’s raw, direct, my words expressing with accuracy and a certain precision what I really feel at the time I need to write them. While drawing in a complete different expression, to me. It’s meditative, it’s soothing, it’s aimed to be shared most of the time. I do it for people I love, for myself too, but to take pleasure to look at it, to smile, to feel good. Music is in between. I can listen or play music when I feel really down, or when I feel happy, to have a good time, on my own or with people. I have a lot of playlist I can listen to depending on my mood. And I can harmonize my feelings with music or listen to a music in the opposite emotional spectrum. It only depends on my.. inspiration.

Inspiration comes when you open yourself. To your own self, but also to the world around you. Just feel. People, places, atmosphere. Smell, taste, touch, hear, see. And let these sensory experiences touch your soul. Then feel inspiration bursting, and follow it.

Yesterday, I woke up to dark clouds, thunder, heavy rain, coldness… In May! Felt like an October or November day… I needed spring. I can’t wait to put away my winter gear and have fun with my lighter clothes… But I guess time has not come yet. So I decided to break the circle. Nope, enough of rainy-depressing-cold feelings. Well, I can deal with it (I love thunder, probably my chaotic self having fun….), but I know someone who is even more sensitive about weather than I am… my mom. So I took my chalk markers and went to my parents’. I told them about my project and they loved the idea (they are used to my inspirational bursts). So I went to they front side window, erased the snowflakes I drew on it and replace them by flowers, leaves, and a butterfly. They really loved how it turned out, and I felt really good seeing their smiles. They told me they felt Spring was finally here… Goal reached! As I came back home under the rain, I couldn’t help smiling… thinking about all the windows I could hack…. at home, in my classroom… inspiration!!!!

With time, I learned to look at obstacles on my path as potential sources of inspiration. Because to me, everything is a lesson to be learned. Everything makes us grow. Everything fuel our creativity. Everything can be used to improve our understanding of the world. Everything can bring something to our life, something really meaningful. Everything can touch us to the very core of our soul. Everything is inspiration.

To me, inspiration is a way of living. Of being, even, maybe. And I hope that you will too feel inspired this week.

I am inspired

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