Creativity – Inspiration
Inspiration found by Bill Pillmore
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So, I’m in the process of writing a play. About 3 months into this idea, I find myself trying to trace my steps backwards in order to keep on track with the original inspiration. I can pin-point the exact moment when the decision was made to commit to the idea but the real need is the inspiration point – the how and why this idea became “the one”. This show came from all sorts of needs and desires within myself and the company. We had been talking about certain types of theatre, groups of artists, messages we wanted to explore… but the show came to light with a seemingly insignificant image, a statue in front of a restaurant we were strolling by.
Inspiration is a funny thing. The spark comes at you when you least expect it and from many different places. How we recognize inspiration is the tricky part.
I’m a visual person. I’m sparked by images which then draw me into action, an urge to play inside this image in order to feel the idea. Some people hear it, smell it, taste it… or write it down. The challenge isn’t finding inspiration, it’s everywhere. The challenge is knowing what you need in order to live an inspired life.
SELF OBSERVATIONS
1. Where do you find inspiration?
2. How do you recognize inspiration, is there a feeling attached, an urgency?
Comments: 5
For me inspiration is the meeting of the present with the future. When something in your life gets a chance to see itself as a future event, feeling, mood or action that has forward energy – for me that is inspiration.
I am inspired by so many different things. Inspiration does not occur constantly, but I would say I see/hear/experience something inspirational every day. The annoying thing for me, is that when I have an inspirational experience, I rarely have the tools necessary (for me a pen and paper) to record it with. I would like to start carrying around a small voice recorder, so that when it hits me, I can make a note–and not just a mental note, those I lose more than sticky notes). The most inspirational thing for me tends to be the wind– a soft breeze gently moving my hair on a star lit, summer night; a deep fresh breeze that nearly lifts my skirt and causes me internal panick that I’m flashing the entire street; and so on…The other huge inspiration in my life is stillness.
How interesting, Bill, that inspiration has a forward momentum for you. That brings a clearer picture to the phrase often associated with inspiration, a “driving force”.
And with that momentum, I think we can get caught up in the rush of it. Making timing and being prepared for inspiration an interesting next step in this conversation. Having the tools and time to put it down is a common problem/anxiety I think most of us struggle with, Jenn.
I heard a great talk by Elizabeth Gilbert on Nurturing Creativity (see it here) http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html
And she references an interview she had with Tom Waits about being caught by inspiration, a fragment of a melody popped into his head while in traffic, and he had no means of recording it in that moment… so he looked up at the sky and for the first time said, “Excuse me, can you not see that I’m driving?! Do I look like I can write down a song right now? If you really want to exist then come back at a more opportune moment when I can take care of you. Otherwise, go bother somebody else, go bother Leonard Cohen.”
So, you bring up a great new question… how to process inspiration?
~ Jess, Creatively Independent
NO WAY! I finally came across this site! I’ve been trying to find this blog post for so long!!
I am not going to be original this time, so all I am going to say that your blog rocks.
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