From Illumination to Inspiration
This Diwali, shine your inner light and inspire others!
People often ask me where I get my ideas or inspiration from… I tell them it could be from just about anywhere.
Those of you who read my articles closely may have noticed that my ideas emerge from everyday incidents — articles, videos, conversations, questions on life, human behaviour, creative expression etc.
Something somewhere strikes a chord and you decide to give it expression.
The question, then, is why do we feel the need to give it expression?
Because, giving expression to an idea is the most logical end of the creative discovery process. But, the process itself is a largely subconscious one, built over a period of time.
We are all always looking for something…
We seek answers, try to understand the origin of things, question creation, or simply wonder about how to enjoy and celebrate life better.
Sometimes you train yourself to see things outside of you.
At other times, things you didn’t set out to find come to you naturally. When they do, you have no choice but to make sense of them.
In all this seeking and questioning, you sometimes switch off your light of reason...because some things just need to be felt.
At other times, you depend on intellectual analysis, and at still others, that moment of realisation just dawns upon you…
For instance, you could be at a party, peacefully observing people, listening to conversations, and absorbing the atmosphere, when a certain understanding hits you…
It’s that moment of knowing — knowing what’s happening, understanding the dynamics, and glimpsing a picture that only you can see.
You’ve reached an understanding with your own little light of knowledge within. All your previous knowledge and experience comes into play…
These are moments of realisation.
Then there are times when a sharp focus on something you’ve witnessed has a much larger impact on your mind… Almost like bright rays of light have made visible angles of a situation that you’ve been waiting to discover.
The important aspect is to keep our eyes open, focus and assimilate what that light brings forth.
This then is an a-ha moment, when patterns and trends become clearer, when links are formed to aid understanding, and when you’re able to back something by proof.
Once you have that a-ha moment, the next step is to bank on your skill… To merge knowledge with creativity or talent…
To experience the knowing, live with the ideas, nurture them, give them wings... and to finally experiment with them — write and delete, construct and deconstruct.
And, as you keep your eyes, mind and heart open, to allow that external light to fall upon it ever so often, moments of illumination will happen time and again.
We will have now soaked our ideas in the light of reason and experience… We will be illuminated from within.
The next step is to transfer that knowledge and experience for the benefit of many more…
To tell them what you know, enlighten them with your experiences, see how you can add value, or ‘spread your light’.
When ideas can help eradicate the darkness of mind and spirit, uplift and transform, that’s when they become inspiration.
Inspiration leads to action…
It brings together all your resources, and knows no other option but to bring your ideas and thoughts to light, through whichever medium you know best.
As Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn, said in a video — ‘As soon as you have that moment of clarity, you start to manifest it, explicitly and implicitly… And it’s not in some New Age way. It’s very real. It’s a very real thing.’
I started out wanting to write about Diwali, a festival of lights and illumination… But I would have probably said the same story of good over evil, lighting up your homes, celebrating with loved ones, etc.
But, the story has to change… Illumination has to happen within.
It’s not about lighting some exterior lamp. Rather, it’s about lighting our minds and eradicating the internal darkness and ignorance.
How does this happen?
You have to be aware, still, and peaceful…receptive to moments of illumination, that are lit by the lamp within.
The article was first published on Common Sense Living, a digital publication with new-age lifestyle and wealth-building ideas.
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