INSPIRATION

When was the last time that you were inspired? 

Do you recall? 

Have you ever been inspired?

Before I became a cancer patient and even before High School, I experienced inspiration all the time but certainly not daily as I did later.  I was inspired by music heard on my cigarette pack size transistor radio and by black and white images on my 8” Admiral Television.  I was inspired by percussion rhythms I heard being played by marching bands and Latin American musicians. 

I was inspired by the art of Monet, the architecture of Wright, the poetry of Poe, and the counter-balance acting of Thespians.  I was inspired by the reflections in puddles of rain, sunsets and sunrises, and the falling splendor of snow.  I have been inspired by all sorts of words, sounds, images, and all sorts of creatures large and small. 

I have been inspired by touch and the sensation of touch and movement.  I have been inspired by fear and the hollowness of frightening moments, trepidations, and reluctance.  I have been inspired by the awesome universe and by wonder of life.

In fact, I have been inspired by wondering all my life.

The word "inspiration" comes from the Latin noun inspiratio and from the verb inspirare. Inspirare is a compound term resulting from the Latin prefix in (inside, into) and the verb spirare (to breathe). Inspirare meant originally "to blow into", as for example in the sentence of the Roman poet Ovid: "conchae [...] sonanti inspirare iubet"^[2] ("he orders to blow into the resonant [...] shell"). In classic Roman times, inspirare had already come to mean "to breathe deeply" and assumed also the figurative sense of "to instill [something] in the heart or in the mind of someone".

In Christian theology, the Latin word inspirare was already used by some Church Fathers in the first centuries to translate the Greek term pnéo. When Jerome translated the Greek text of the Bible into the language of the common people of Latium (the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome is located), in the passage of the 2 Tim 3.16-17 he translated the Greek theopneustos as divinitus inspirata ("divinely breathed into").

What do you have breathed into you?

For most of us, all of mankind included, we are inspired by money, power, and sex including a wide variety of themes tangent to the 3 main points that has become a spiritual trinity for us.  But, isn’t life more than that?

The wonder of birth in all species is enough inspiration to keep us entertained a lifetime, rejoicing in that phenomenon through our poetry, music, art, sculpture, dance, and clothes.  It does not matter where you live and what species you represent, the miracle of birth is the same.

As one ages and realizes that life passed by from age 10 to 60, in the blink of an eye, one realizes that there are no do-overs that life is what it is and no more and that life from age 60 to 80 not even half of what was previously lived will pass by at a rate much, much faster or so it will seem.  And, what you thought was not important becomes more important than you could ever have imagined, leaving you inspired by how little time is actually left.

In case you are wondering, this has nothing to do with “stopping to smell the roses;” although, that is equally as important, but this is all about having something breathed into you that literally changes your life.

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Reticular  Activating System

by Alex Hutchins



“What lies behind us and

what lies before us are

 tiny matters compared to

 what lies within us.” 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

By the age 3, one’s habits, attitudes, beliefs, and expectations are 85% fixed in their minds and by the age of 5 have become solidified.  While this may seem incredulous, it is nonetheless true, making it very difficult for us as adults to change our habits, attitudes, beliefs, and expectations, even if, they are not true are at the very least, no longer accurate.

Not only does this put a burden on society, it leaves high schools, colleges, and employers handicapped to say the least; but, more importantly, it leaves the individual imprisoned inside a mental cell block from which few, if any ever escape.  The unintended consequences of this unintended madness can be evidenced in our use of drugs and alcohol, divorce and dysfunctional families, and in our basic lack of ability to discipline, control, and take responsibility.

What the eye sees
 with a scotoma

In other words, our self-efficacy (the causative nature inside us) that been all shot to hell, leaving us with blind spots or what eye doctors call scotomas.  It is this scotoma that prevents us from seeing all of the world around us but more importantly, prevent us from seeing other’s points-of-view.  If something we see or hear does not agree with our habits, attitudes, beliefs, and expectations (that we acquired at an early age), then we simply reject it without thinking twice about what we have done.

Can you see
both females?

We journey through life and our careers based upon our habits, attitudes, beliefs, expectations, scotomas, achieving only that which we think we can achieve or deserve.  Some venture beyond but they are few and far between.  Yet, it is our mind, not necessarily us (the individual) that take us where we think we want or need to go.  So, how does our mind work?

We can break down the mind into 3 basic components:

• Conscious
• Sub conscious
• Creative sub conscious

The conscious deals with internal and external reality:  it perceives, investigates, and interprets.  The sub conscious makes sure that the external reality you perceive matches (or agrees) your beliefs about reality and makes adjustments when necessary.  The creative sub conscious deals with motivation, self-esteem, and self-awareness and influences the sub conscious because of a process called imprinting.  Imprinting can change the belief about one’s reality and once that is done, the creative sub conscious can directly influence the sub conscious which then creates a new reality for the conscious mind to pursue.

the teleological argument

What is very interesting here is the fact that human beings for the most part are teleological, meaning that there is a purpose towards life and that we move directly or indirectly towards that purpose because it is logical not random to do so.  That inherent nature of the mind is what moves us towards a goal, or a vision, or a desired outcome in all that we do.

At the base of the brain, is the location of the Reticular Activating System or RAS that provides stimulus to our consciousness and controls one’s motivation.  However, what stands in the way of that motivational stimuli are our scotomas and self-talk.  Basically, self-talk is the little person inside us all that quietly and consistently tells us that we are no good at math or that we do not perform well in front of an audience or that we cannot carry on a conversation with people of the opposite sex.

Our actions happen in the following sequence: 

Self-talk à self-image à self-esteem à self-efficacy

OR

SAY  à   SEE  à   FEEL  à  DO

Believe it or not, but, writing and saying positive affirmations several times a day can, after about 6 months, imprint different images on your mind’s reality guiding you towards that which you want to achieve or accomplish.