Inspiration for my columns comes from many different places. Sometimes it comes while flipping old grainy photographs from my past or listening to songs that have touched my heart at some point, a movie or book or a conversation.
The idea for this column came as I read Paul Zollo’s book, Songwriters on Songwriting. The author interviewed Jackson Browne about his song, These Days. It’s a song I have listened to a thousand times.
Browne wrote the song when he was 16 years old and I cannot imagine how a mind that young could have written something so profound about the angst of growing older. The song sounds as if someone much older had written it, but Browne said it just came to him.
Who knows where insightful inspiration comes from? Are there radio waves sent from a higher power through the Universe? Do you have to be tuned in to a special celestial frequency to receive the signal? If that’s true, is there a device we could wear on our heads to improve reception. Can I buy one to wear each time I sit down to write?
Maybe it is a fanciful thought, if only it were true. Imagine if all the inspiration and answers you need in your life were out there waiting for you to tune in your psychic radio to the correct frequency and listen.
Some folks believe the answers are written in the Good Book, and it is their source of inspiration. But there are many others who seek answers in different places.
Some look to drugs or alcohol, those are the ones who often become disillusioned and bitter. Others look to relationships, work, food, it seems we all search and somehow the lucky ones find it.
So, what is inspiration? Webster’s definition is: something that makes someone want to do something or that gives someone an idea about what to do or create: a force or influence that inspires someone.
We know what it is, but where does it come from? It’s a mystery, but I think inspiration comes from the life we live as it unfolds before us.
The older I get the more it seems I find inspiration in unpredictable places. I have found I am most receptive when I look at life through the eyes of my inner child.
I have been accused of behaving like a child, it was meant as an insult, but I consider it a compliment.
This much I do know- inspiration is vital to a fulfilled life. It drives creativity, keeps us learning and growing. I think it keeps us young. Those in their nineties who seem more vital than people much younger are usually inspired and inspiring. I think inspiration might just be the fountain of youth.
