Inspiration

What inspires you? When you are having a less-than-perfect day, where do you find your inspiration?

My source of inspiration varies by the weather and where I happen to be situated.

At home my inspiration comes from the views outside my windows and along my walks throughout my neighborhood. Watching the changing seasons, new neighbors replacing one ones, seasonal plants that brighten my path. I also am inspired by listening to classic KING-FM; it awakens my imagination for writing and gives me energy. I’ve always been a sucker for classical music, especially The Moldau, Finlandia, New World Symphony, and most of Mozart.

Books inspire and entertain me. I often has 2 or 3 books going at the same time so I can match my mood or escape those times I’m reading deeply involved books or stories.

When I travel abroad, I draw inspiration from the scenery, the people, the way villages are situated, the streets where buildings that have stood across decades and even centuries. I wonder who built the village and why and how it stood the test of time, through wars and times of stress, through natural disasters and man-made ones. What keeps the resident living where they do? Would I like be comfortable living in the town for a month, a year, a lifetime?

A relatively new inspiration comes from the seniors living at Chateau pacific, a retirement community not far from where I live. I meet with a few of the residents twice a month to guide a writing hour. Each time I leave I feel lucky to have had time with them. We share ideas and they write either from a topic I share or whatever they wish. Each person is unique in what and how threy share.

Friends inspire me all the time. Their friendship, their compassion amid world issues and conditions, their volunteering in their community, their unselfishness, their ability to lighten my spirit by their kind words; all inspire me to do more and be a better, more productive person.

What inspires you? When you are having a less-than-perfect day, where do you find your inspiration?