What It Means to be Inspired

A friend gave me a rock that has the word "Inspire" on it. The design is such that you hold it in your hand and rub your thumb over the word, so I picked it up and did this. The next thought that flashed into my mind was, To be inspired is to be in spirit. Curious, I turned to the dictionary. Here's a recap of what was found:

Inspire means to blow breath into or onto, to breathe in, infuse with life, prompt towards a thought or feeling, have an animating effect on, impel towards creative efforts.

Spirit listed breath, courage, soul, life, to blow breath into, thought, enthusiasm.

You can see the common terms, as well as how the definitions interact.

If spirit means life and inspire means infuse with life, then when you feel inspired, the "breath of life" moves into and through you and that which you feel impelled towards, animated about, are passionate about. So often, people are concerned about how to identify their purpose in life, their purpose for being here. What if it's as simple as considering what inspires you? You may respond by saying many things inspire you. What if they're facets with one underlying theme: Live inspired?

When breath was used to define inspire, it was used as both an inhalation and an exhalation. Feeling inspiration is a form of inhalation. Taking action is a form of exhalation. When your action produces a desired outcome, your enthusiasm increases (another inhalation), and you take another action (exhalation). Being inspired about something and acting on it is you breathing your purpose into your life and simultaneously sharing it with others. All involved "breathe" together.

If being inspired means being in spirit, or even the other way around, you can be fairly certain you'll feel momentum to keep moving in a forward direction. Motivator and author Barbara Sher said, "The sooner you start getting some of what you really want, the more energy you'll have to go for the rest of it."

When inspired and in spirit, we feel alive. Think of a time when you felt this way. This may be a good tool to measure if we perceive ourselves and our lives as on track and fulfilled in whatever is appropriate for us. For those who've wondered what it takes to operate in the flow of spirit, perhaps it requires this "breathing" inward and outward. To keep in flow, you find and affirm your inspiration, follow it, and act on it. This feeds and enhances the energy you have to keep going, and going for more.

There's a tendency to focus on what Spirit provides. It's a give-and-receive operation, our quantum Universe; and sometimes, all we need to give is our permission to receive. That seems to be the starting point to be in spirit and inspired. Perhaps when we feel challenged and think, "Just keep breathing," we'll take in a breath and open to inspiration.