What Inspires You?

What inspires you? What fills you with unmistakable joy? I'm not talking fun here. I'm not asking you what's your favorite dessert and then telling you to go out and get some. Sure, that's alright. That's nice even, but go a little deeper. What is it you dream about? What is it that maybe you've long forgotten, but there it is in that moment of clarity. You know it. I know you do. It's what revives something in you--something important. It could be reading poetry, or going head-to-head in a kick-boxing match, or possibly sitting silently in the park while a Purple Finch lights on the branch next to you. A friend of mine laid a labyrinth in his back yard, which he walks to gain clarity and a connection to his deeper self. Others find it in mediation, yoga or in cooking a special meal for friends or family. Only you know. Only you can discover it if you don't.

That's what I did. In a time of emotional turmoil, I ventured out to a beautiful old church downtown and stepped into a sanctuary full of music. A sixty member chorus was rehearsing for an upcoming concert and I wanted to hear the choral sound. I had sung in college myself, and when I graduated I dreamed more choral dreams than any other. No other archetype, it seemed, resonated so prominently in my dream mind. When the director asked me to sing with the group, I did. What I gained from that one short rehearsal I can barely put into words. I sang for an hour, maybe less, and when I woke up the next day, nearly all the heaviness, the grief, the bewilderment that I had felt for more than six weeks had lifted. Like a balm on a severe wound, the music, singing it, hearing it, breathing and enjoying it, soothed my pain and magically, it seemed, transformed me. I suddenly felt serene. That's the power of finding your own private and very personal inspiration. That's the potency you gain when you align with your true self.