The Emotions of Inspiration

Thank you Nicola for this beautiful photo.

A few days ago, I returned from a creative business retreat with six incredible women- all friends of mine.

Energy, inspiration and heart-beats were running at an all-time high.

We brainstormed and belly-laughed our way through three nights of hinterland heaven, and I tell you what, I had to keep pinching myself.

It wasn’t that long ago that the topic of conversation amongst my friends and I would revolve around boys, booze and belittling ourselves, and suddenly I find myself – the youngest of the six of us – sitting in a circle by a fire with fierce sisters; an alter full of sacred, personal pieces in the centre of us, glueing us together. We masterminded on ways in which we can expand, reach more people, make more of a difference. Put on even bigger ‘big girl boots.’

It was incredible, and honestly life changing. But you know what? It was fucking scary, too!

I got up close and personal with a side of Inspiration I hadn’t experienced before. Here’s what I learnt about it at our Power Posse Retreat.

Inspiration can be overwhelming

It can come in droves. It can come in a herd of clanging noise and a flurry of chaotic, swirling sensations in the body. And sometimes, it almost seems as though the more open you are to receiving all that life has to offer you- whaddya know- the more you receive. Sounds nice, but man-oh-man, sometimes I’m not quite ready for the onslaught of perfect ideas and action plans that seem to obnoxiously plonk themselves in my lap, when I’ve already got, like, twenty-seven trillion million projects on the go.

Despite my beliefs, which I’ve held close to my heart in the past, I’ve come to realise that inspiration is NOT always easy and fluid. Sometimes it is, and that’s a bonus; when an idea beautifully springs forth in the shower or while making your morning cuppa, but there can also be a truck load of friction involved. Resistance and self doubt (obviously).

And as boring as it sounds, it’s all about prioritising – which in my world, looks like lots of sticky notes, lots of nourishing routines, and a rough outline (I mean come on, I’m a Pisces) of the order of projects.

When I’m feeling overwhelmed, I also know that it’s time for me to start abusing this productivity app.

I loved this week’s episode of MarieTV, where she spoke about creativity being a grind. I really resonated with that.

Desperation is NOT an appropriate way to foster in Inspiration

I had a dark moment on retreat. A moment of desperation. My voice started croaking, my heart was racing, I felt a rush of heat wash over me and I had to hold back tears.

I thought to myself: What the hell just happened to me?

What happened to me, was that I jumped out of the flow. This little heart of mine, which I tend to tirelessly, in order to keep it open, slammed closed. I wanted answers! I wanted to know the next step of this journey!

All this coming from the girl who teaches her clients to embrace the uncertainty of life! To revel in the mystery of it! To throw caution to the wind and leap baby, leap!

It took a little journalling, a little quiet time, a few tears. But I came home again. I felt my heart open again. I felt TRUST creep back in.

This whole experience reminded me of Sarah Wilson’s recent Conscious Club talk. ‘Every time I took my grubby mitts off of life, life seemed to flow.’ Amen to that, sister.

Inspiration can make you cry

I was so inspired by my sister girls, that I often had to wipe away a tear or two. I’m speaking for all of us here, too. We closed our retreat writing love letters to each other, letting tears of gratitude roll down our cheeks.

Authentic Inspiration trumps, every time.

It’s very, very powerful to realise what you do not want to do. To celebrate the success of someone in your life and recognise the journey of that success, is a beautiful thing. To then turn around and affirm to yourself: That’s not going to work for me, and I don’t want to do it that way – that’s freakin’ powerful.

We are so individual in the way we create, explore, launch, give service. But the internet can tie us all up in similar knots of sameness.

This is a huge disservice to the people you’re trying to help. My advice? Instead of trawling the internet for what inspires you, identify first what you do not want to implement in your life and business, or on your blog. Trail-blazing rocks.

Your ego WILL try and sabotage your Inspired efforts. Don’t let it.

Promise? Get your ideas down. Divine timing will let you know when it’s time to act on a project or idea. By the way, it doesn’t all have to happen today, or this week, or this year for that matter. You are allowed to be patient.

I like to remember that every time my ego becomes louder, it means that I’m onto something good. Very good. That’s all self-sabotage is; ego’s sneaky way of cultivating misery in your life, so that it has something to feed off. Let’s let it starve. With love, of course.

How about you? When you’re inspired, do you often slip quickly into overwhelm, or worse, comparison?

How does inspiration show up for you? With ease- clear signposts, plenty of synchronicities and clues along the way?

Or do you have to give those ideas some muscle, and work tirelessly on the insight? Let me know in the comments.