What is Inspiration Anyway?
A good working definition is: the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.
My Own Humongous Inspiration
It was 1970. San Francisco. I was visiting the public TV station, KQED, to research an article about a female producing group, Femmedia, who was videotaping a show that day.
I had never been to a TV studio. So, when I walked into the other world of the dark control booth, my mouth dropped open. I was agog. I’d never seen anything like it before.
A wall of black and white monitors (1970, remember) lined the wall that looked out at the stage.
Two men sat at the controls, moving levers up and down.
One man, his nasal tone snide, said, “Alright, send the goddam talent in.”
I was magnetized, outraged at his contempt for the actors.
Right then and there, I determined I would have something to do with making sure actors were treated with respect. Of course, I knew nothing about actors or acting. (In fact, I had a prejudice from my college days that they were “showy” and therefore superficial.)
Within a split second, I realized I’d first have to learn to act. I’d heard of the American Conservatory Theatre (ACT) in San Francisco. So, I would figure out a way to go there. It still amazes me I had absolutely no qualms about being able to achieve that. I’m usually a worrier. But in that split second, I felt limitless.
Within a year, I was enrolled at ACT for three of the most exciting, creative, and fulfilling years of my life. After many years of acting myself, I became an acting coach.
I was devoted to the wellbeing of actors.
The Characteristics of Inspiration
My inspiration incident shows some qualities of inspiration noted by psychologists Todd M. Thrash and Andrew J. Elliot in the Harvard Business Review:
1. Inspiration propels a person from apathy to possibility and transforms the way we perceive our own capabilities.
2. Inspiration is evoked spontaneously, without intention.
3. Inspiration often involves a moment of clarity and awareness of new possibilities. This moment of clarity is often vivid, and can take the form of a grand vision, or a “seeing” of something one has not seen before.
4. Inspiration involves approach motivation, in which the individual strives to transmit, express, or actualize a new idea or vision. According to Thrash and Elliot, inspiration involves both being inspired by something and acting on that inspiration.
5. “Openness to Experience” often comes before inspiration, suggesting that those who are more open to inspiration are more likely to experience it.
How much does inspiration matter? A whole big lot.
Inspired people report higher levels of belief in their own abilities, self-esteem, and optimism.
What’s the catch?
The catch is that because it is so important, we may try to will it, force it upon ourselves. And that pressure on us is counterproductive. We can be open to experience it, but we can’t make it happen.
Julia Cameron, in her book, The Artist’s Way, gives suggestions of how to prepare ourselves for being “Open to experience.” She teaches us how to prime our openness by writing three pages of stream of consciousness each day and giving ourselves artist dates, excursions to explore unfamiliar sights.
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This morning I saw a headline that got me in that inspired state: A man’s foot found in Yellowstone hot spring. It shocked me. Made me think it would be a great opening image for a short story. I could invent what on earth made him end up like that. Hmmm.
