Everyone’s in the mood for creating content at the moment in hopes of earning some Steem. The fire’s been lit, and there’s a strong new motivation for many of us that we didn’t have before. But when it comes time to put pen to paper, so to speak, a blank page can be an intimidating thing.  

Inspiration is sometimes an elusive phantom. Other times an ocean to swim in. Either way it comes, it goes, it's here and there, but it is always needed.

When I started gathering this list I was in a particularly uninspired mood, floating along in the doldrums. But ironically (or perhaps to be expected) the very act of putting together an 'inspiration list', was a uniquely inspiring process. 

in·spire/inˈspī(ə)r/:  To fill (someone) with the urge or ability to do or feel something, esp. to do something creative. 

Here it goes...

1. Children being carefree.

(photo by: @jamtaylor) 

Seeing children when they are in their glee, cackling at random things, playing (peacefully) is the perfect example, to me, of something that truly inspires life. It's a reminder that not all things are wrong in the world, that imaginations do run free and joy can be found. 

2. Being around certain types of artists and musicians 

(left photo by Jonny Lander | right photo by @jamtaylor)

I find there are two responses I have to being around 'creative' people. One is that I feel intimidated by their talent and (perhaps) big personality. The other, is that I really connect with their art and their way of 'being' and feed off of their creative energy. There are certain artists, musicians, types of people really... that I find exude a hopeful creativity. A creativity that instead of intimidating me, inspires me. Instead of proclaiming that they are the best, and their art is the most awesome, they encourage a world-view that helps other people see the art in everything. 

I distinctly remember experiencing this 'rubbing off' of inspiration one afternoon a few years ago while driving around the 'country side' of Barbados with @jamtaylor (my husband) and an old friend of his, Jenny Mahon, aka Jenny Mayhem, taking photos. The way she talk about creativity, her music, the lyrics, even the drawings she uses as 'album covers' all inspire me. Be sure to check out her music.

3. Andy Goldsworthy

Speaking of artists...If I was forced at gun point to pick a favourite artist (because really, what kind of sane person makes someone pick just one? They would have to be a raving lunatic waving a gun around..) I would probably blurt out Andy Goldsworthy in between pathetic cries of 'please don't shoot me'. I love his work. Every aspect of it, from the medium(s), his process, the aesthetic result, it's ephemeral nature.. all of it I love. It makes me see art oozing out of the natural world. Every leaf, every stone, every stem.

4. Sitting out in nature. 

Be it in my garden under all the fruit trees and royal palms or walking along the rustic beach of the east coast, spending time surrounded by nature puts something inside me back in balance. It restores a rightness that perhaps hours of sitting in front of glowing screens takes away.

5. Journal Art. 

There is something about the raw and personal nature of 'journal art' that I really connect with. At times when I have been in the habit of journalling, I've really enjoyed journal art and find it very cathartic. 

6. Reading contemplative memoirs. 

I know some people find the meandering style of personal memoirs annoying and 'pointless', and I can understand why. But I really enjoy a good memoir, and maybe even 'bad' ones! In the twists and turns of another person's story and their rambling thoughts I find the inspiration to value my own story and usually the impulse to form my own thoughts into concrete words on paper. One of my favourite memoirs is Don Millers' Blue Like Jazz. One of the most recent memoirs I've read is Anne Lamott's Travelling Mercies...

7. The book "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years" by Don Miller.

I know I just referred to Don Miller but I find it hard not to as he is one of my favourite authors. While the style of all his books inspire me generally as memoirs do, this particular book inspires me in a unique way. It's not even my favorite book per say, but the core theme of living a life that tells a good story - living in a way that's 'worth it' reverberates in my soul and keeps coming back to me. It inspires me to make the choices to live a non-boring life. Perhaps I even need to read this again to get myself out of my current rut.

“If you watched a movie about a guy who wanted a Volvo and worked for years to get it, you wouldn’t cry at the end when he drove off the lot, testing the windshield wipers. You wouldn’t tell your friends you saw a beautiful movie or go home and put a record on to think about the story you’d seen. The truth is, you wouldn't remember that movie a week later, except you’d feel robbed and want your money back. Nobody cries at the end of a movie about a guy who wants a Volvo." 

But we spend years actually living those stories, and expect our lives to be meaningful. The truth is, if what we choose to do with our lives won't make a story meaningful, it won’t make a life meaningful either” 

― Donald Miller, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life

8 Travelling to places rich in history.

(photo by: @jamtaylor) 

Travelling and seeing new places, especially places rich in history and culture are extremely inspiring experiences. I love to be in a place taking in its newness while, at the same time, imagining its past - the people that would have been there, the differences between then and now, us and them and yet the profound similarities that span across time. 

9. Fruit of the spirit.

Almost 2000 years ago a letter was written to a group of people in Turkey about living life freely. Free from vices and, instead, freely loving those around us. In this letter, the author relays a thought that I find profoundly inspiring. He says that people that are doing this, those that are living truly in tune with 'the Spirit' exude these things: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. When I was about eight years old I learnt this list of attributes, and they have been written into my memory like the alphabet. They come back to me time and time again. I aspire to them, and I'm inspired by them. I may not be as religiously minded as I once was, but the presence of these ‘fruit’ is still something I measure success by.

10. Steemit - Of course!

It’s a bit circle-jerk, but this list would not be complete without it, now would it? 

While the ability to earn money for content is a HUGE motivator - I wouldn’t necesarily call it inspiration. But what is inspiring, is reading other people’s content.

Iron sharpens iron and ideas spark ideas. Perhaps this lies at the heart of Steemit’s potential. People on Steemit are either consuming content or creating content. And the beauty is that each act plays into the other. Reading other people’s ideas and experiences inspires me to share my ideas and experience. And hopefully sharing my thoughts, inspires others to share theirs. 

So, Steemians, what inspires you?