Inspired By You

In a recent post, Finding Inspiration, I requested you to share what your sources of inspiration are and how you ‘capture’ them. I was overwhelmed by your response and the many ideas that came through.  Authors, poets, photographers,  teachers, homemakers, travel bloggers – each one inspired and inspiring.  I decided to turn your comments into a post! So here’s what you, wonderfully creative souls shared. Thank you – I am inspired by you.

The glow of inspiration warms us, it is holy rapture ~ Ovid

Amanda – Self Sagacity – My inspiration is my need of feeling useful, accomplished. I could never be lazy or irresponsible. If I sense that I am, I would re-group right away. Motivation for writing is when the first sentence becomes a sentence, then it flows. The hardest part is coming up with an idea. 

Jimi Ann –  Path of Home Life and School – My inspiration comes from LIFE!  Rich life experiences lead to rich writing.  I read a quote the other day: “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.  No joy in the writer, no joy in the reader.”  I’m not sure that’s exactly the quote, but close.  My deepest inspiration comes during or after my deepest struggles and my deepest joys. 

Icy BC – Wandering Thought : I find inspiration from everything, a tiny drop of water, a change in the sky, etc..I believe that when you’re writing every day, you won’t run into the wall that often

Colleen Berge – Carpe Diem, Gorgeous!  I take absolute advantage of my experiences and feelings.  However fleeting.  You can create a poem, a painting out of something only felt for a second…it’s all a matter of capturing the depth of it, getting to the very heart of it.  There is a quote from a U2 song I love “Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief.  They kill their inspiration to sing about the grief.”  Sounds rather morbid I suppose but I don’t see it like that, I see it as using everything your life consists of to pour out art.

Colette – Jamerican Spice – My inspiration comes from so many sources. It could be how I see a leaf fall on my window today while turning into the garage, or catching the sunrise, or passing a window and realizing I’m so blessed to see this sunset and call my kids to come enjoy it! I just enjoy an inspiration and if it drives me to do something then I will but it’s hard to hold on to it per se. 


Jennifer – Mad Moose Mama: I don’t know what inspires me…just does… I don’t think I have ever pondered this before…I guess inspiration comes in the everyday-ness around me!   I use a rope, some glue, a piece of cerebellum, a deep, hidden recess of my soul and I wrap them all up into a tight knit wad and throw it at the paper, or computer screen or whatever it is that I’m needing inspiration for..:)

Rimly Bezbaruah – Journey: My inspiration can be anything but mostly when I am touched or when something sticks to my head, an idea or a thought. Since I write more of poems I have to be touched deeply to write them, they are very spontaneous. I cannot write poems everyday. 

It is usually a feeling or a thought that keeps needling me. Regarding prose it is again the same thing and I usually try and identify the thought or idea with our day to day life, if it has any connection to life in general or my life. 


Debra El-Ramey – Pure and Simple –  For me, inspiration and originality comes from a rich inner life.  Dreams have often provided fodder for inspiration and creativity.  The unconscious mind is a vast sea of buried treasure.    Did you know that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was based on a dream she had?   I’ve had ‘ghost writers’ come to me in dreams and tell me what to write.  Now my comment on your inspiring post may lead to a brand new post of my own.


Brenda Hardy –  We Are All In This Together – My inspiration comes from what is around me.  I am, by nature, an emotional person and when something strikes me, I blog. It seems when something is inspiring you want to keep it with you as long as possible.  Some very inspirational people will always be carried in my thoughts and actions as much as I can without losing myself.

Alpana Jaiswal- Motifs on the Wall:  I do get inspiration from a lot of bloggers…most of my posts are related to my own life,but two bloggers are my role models…Rimly Bezbaruah….and Nithin Jacob..

Cathy Kozak – While the Dervish Dances – One true thing is all I need to begin, as this post from my writer’s blog insists:  “In the world of imagination, all things belong. Indeed, if I’m available  to what comes next on the page, my words and ideas have room to breathe. Apart from that, the only other thing I need when I write is one true  thing to get me started. Some little ‘ole thing to anchor me to earth. Could be the flash of crisp morning sunlight on the shiny, green sports car racing across the orange bridge this morning. Or the gurgle of delight from the little girl crinkling a candy-wrapper in the seat next  to me on the bus. Or those deliriously-perfumed scarlet star-gazer lilies in the vase on my kitchen table. Just one true thing to remind me what I’m meant to do, like a pebble in my shoe worries at the bottom of my foot while my imagination catches the first few bars of a big bossy tango on the local radio station and, taking up the beat, stomps across the kitchen floor and out onto the front porch.

Larry Lewis – Healthy Lifestyles Living –  Life events are my inspiration. I believe that by keeping our eyes open, and our ears ready to listen we find so much to think about, and to write about. As a blogger, active in communication with other bloggers, there are plenty of things that you can see need answers. You also may have noticed I’m never short of things to say or lacking in opinion


Luna Miranda – Miranda : I’m afraid I haven’t been inspired lately.  My posts are mostly “uninspired”. I focus more on photos nowadays than writing down my thoughts.  But there are days when i am inspired by a song, a poem, a story, a smile, a kiss, a kind gesture, by the light through the window, by the sound of rain and thunder. I don’t know how I captured it…focus is,  I think, is what I sadly lack these days.

Nelieta Mishchenko – Join Me On A Journey of Discovery – I guess I find the inspiration from my photos, experiences and passion for what I do. The more blogs I read the more I get exposed to other influences and that is really great! Daily inspiration I get from the Bible.


Jan Neel – Weathering the Storm: My inspiration for writing comes from my experiences and daily life. family and community are great inspiration as well.  For my photography I love the beauty of nature and try to capture the most beautiful moments.

Janaki Nagaraj – Memoirs of A Homemaker – My experiences and thoughts are what prompt me to write….and it doesn’t always turn out the way I want. But, yes, I toy with an idea and try to string the words together to form a poem or a prose. Some times reading other blog posts triggers some ideas and thus develops a thought for a blog.Galen Pearl – 10 Steps to Finding Your Happy Place –  Seems like my inspiration comes from two sources–life and also things I read.  Once I started blogging, I think my “radar” became more sensitive, so I noticed things perhaps more quickly than I did before.  The danger then, however, is that things become something to “write about” rather than something to “experience.”  So I try to focus on living life and letting the inspiration come second. I write down ideas as they occur to me, sometimes in little notebook, or on post it notes, or on anything I can grab.  As my daughter correctly observes, I have the memory of a gnat, so I have to write it down or it’s lost.  

The Squirrel Queen – The Road to Here – Nature is my primary source of inspiration, it can be on a trail or my backyard. The least little thing can bring a flow of ideas. I prefer to create with a camera so one captured photo might inspire a series of shots. I believe inspiration is all around us if we keep our minds and eyes open.Sulekha Rawat – Memoirs : You won’t believe me when I say that I write when I feel alive and I feel alive when I write 🙂 These days I am feeling a bit blue, reason unknown, so no writing. My Dad was my inspiration and my most loyal and crazy fan, I guess I miss his presence in my life.

Damien Riley – Damien At The Speed of Life – My inspiration for life comes from people. I have admired and loved people since I was a young lad. Blogging is really a conduit for that innate love I have. People in all their ways amaze me. I like to think someone out there would benefit by my love of people. They might read my posts the way I listened to talk radio in my 20’s. I felt like I was having coffee with the hosts. I see myself as the host now only in a blogger’s seat on a slightly smaller scale.


Poetic Shutterbug – I find inspiration in many things especially nature and music.  I will see or hear something that strikes a chord and that will provide me inspiration.  I have been a writer all my life so writing and photography is where I express my thoughts and feelings.


Melissa Tandoc – Depth :I get my inspiration mostly from experiences … or the people I’ve encountered… conversations with friends… reflections…books I read…movies I watch…I capture them mostly by writing them or making notes in the keyboard 


Mari Sterling Wilbur – Photography Tips – Since I’m an avid photographer and blog about photo tips,  my inspiration comes from the visual world around me. Whether it’s my own backyard, my town, or a trip I snap away with my camera and can find blogging ideas fairly easily. Lots of the photos I snap are for my personal enjoyment too.

So many ways that we can be inspired and inspire.  

Image of green forest background in a sunny day by Shutterstock