Inspired by nature

I am inspired by nature.

It's a simple thing, really. Trees, fresh mowed grass, sunlight peeking through a forest (see picture above), a mountain view, climbing a hill in my neighborhood. It's why I love recreating outdoors. I love every part of nature. The sky, the sun, the moon, the earth. What you can do with all of these parts of nature. It's most likely how travel writing became one of my specialties. 

I'm drawn to nature. It's why, during my most difficult moments in life, I turn to nature for her healing effects. It's why I ride a mountain bike. I prefer the mountain bike over the road bike because, on a mountain bike, you're less apt to ride on a busy city street. You're more apt to ride on trail. You're more likely to be riding alone. You're probably going to nearly run into a bush before you'll ever be threatened by the swoosh of a fast-driving automobile. I think my mountain bike's safer. Therefore, you could say I'm comforted by nature. It makes sense to me. How else would have been able to devise a B.I.K.E. program if I didn't find comfort in it. Believe me, my bike rides were the most comforting thing in my life at the time I first discovered their magic. To learn more about that, I urge you to search this site. It might take a while, but it will be worth visiting past posts that highlight the specific benefits of my B.I.K.E. program. 

Whether you have time or not, you might have noticed I'm also inspired to take photographs of nature. I use a lot of them on my blog here, including the one above. I took it when I was staying overnight in Greer, a small town in Arizona's White Mountains. If you ever get a chance to visit, it's a peaceful community, a great place to spend a summer or winter weekend. You can stay in a log cabin with a woodfire stove or a huge stone fireplace. You can hike trails or walk around in snowshoes, depending on the season you stop in. You can relax on big porches that overlook the Little Colorado River. And you can see wildlife: deer, antelope, skunks.

I absolutely adore living in a state where I can spend most days outdoors.

It's refreshing, enlivening, and a really wonderful way to connect with yourself. One of my favorite past-times involves walking or riding my bike alone on an Arizona trail. I'm not competitive. I'm pensive. So I use this time to think about things in general or to contemplate a challenge I'm having at work, or just to consider what my next move might be regarding whatever next project I might be working on or need to focus on in the months ahead. I'm almost always working on long-term projects. It's a rare thing for me to get fast turnaround jobs, though I do those as well. As a project-oriented person, I prefer the long-term task over the shorter ones. And I almost always need nature to help me iron out the details.

What's your relationship with nature?
 

Inspired by silliness

Whether it's a silly hat you put on your baby's head, a silly face you make at someone, or a silly sound, I am one to ask you to "do it again." I like silliness. It makes me laugh. And laughter is worth repeating.

When was the last time you relished the silly things life has to offer? If you can't recall, it's time to look for the silly in life. It's time to start focusing on that which makes you laugh or smile. If you feel like you've lost your sense of humor because you're just too busy to kid around right now, I have a few words of advice: Busy schmizzy.

That's right. Schmizzy. So what if it's not a word. It pretty much sums up what I think about the word busy. Let there be no such thing as being too busy. "Too busy" to have fun? "Too busy" to relax? "Too busy" to laugh? See how absurd that sounds?

Here's one simple suggestion for what we can do about that:

_What's on your desk? Work, you say? Well, move it aside, just for a second, and grab one of those Post-it pads. Yellow, pink, blue. It doesn't matter. Just grab one. Now, take a pen or pencil (Yes, that's right, no keyboard for this exercise) and draw a doodle. It doesn't matter what it is. Just start drawing. Make sure you fill the entire piece of paper, from corner to corner, edge to edge. Now, pull that Post-it Note from the pad and stick it up on a wall closest to your desk. Make sure you can see it. Do this three more times. You should now have three doodle-filled papers stuck on a wall in front of you. Line them up so that you can see all three. Do you have any star stickers? What?! No star stickers?! If you're not joshing me, then find a different colored pen from the instrument you used to draw your doodles and use that to draw a star on the doodle you think looks the best. Yes, you've just entered your doodles in the B.I.K.E. WITH JACKIE Doodle Contest, and you're the judge. Which doodle is your favorite? Draw or put a star on that one and toss the others away.

Now wasn't that silly? But it was fun, right? I mean, it took your mind off that work you had on your desk. It allowed you to open your thoughts to random ideas. And you played along. It wasn't that difficult to be inspired by silliness. When you get back to work in a second, I'd love to know how that transition went. And when you look up at some point during the day to see your winning doodle, I'd like to know how that makes you feel. Post your comments here.

What inspires you?

Swamped, I've taken myself away from the blogs for a bit. I just needed to get away from the act of trying to motivate or inspire others and focus on doing that for myself. Life got hectic on my end, and I really needed to step back and reaccess.

I'm a champion here of listening to the internal rhythms. The body, mind and soul does not hide from you what you need. You just may choose to ignore it. I try not to. I hope you understand the need for my absence. I always knew I'd be back.

Still, what brought me back was a comment one of my readers said to me in person, and I had to pay attention to that as well.

"You haven't been writing lately," she said to me.

Of course I've been writing, just not on the blogs.

But her comment reminded me I did need to consider my audience. Like I said, I always knew I'd return, but maybe you didn't. I wasn't doing a very good job of keeping you informed. But I didn't want to put any pressure on myself, so I didn't, not until such time that it was necessary. And, you know, when your readers notice you're missing, I figure you should take notice as well.

I did, and I'm back. And I'm back with a simple question:

What is inspiring you today? Maybe it's a person (like Martin Luther King, Jr., pictured above in bronze), or maybe it's a book, or a certain phrase you heard someone say -- and it stuck. Maybe it's someone else's blog that inspired you today.

If you're blogging, if you're riding, if you're hard at work, what is it that is motivating you to act today? If something springs to mind, just post a quick comment, and let's talk about this over the course of the next few weeks.

I've recently begun work with another writer who is in need of moving past burnout. We're going to help each other via e-mails for now. It appears that she's become uninspired. IMO, she has good reason, but, like me and this blog, we still need to work to overcome that. We still need to produce.

So over the course of the next few weeks, while I'm helping my BF convalesce from his open heart surgery (which is partly the reason for my absence--and now also my return), am working on moving past this burnout with my fellow writer friend, and am waiting for assignments to roll in from editors and other clients I've been pitching, let's talk inspiration. Let's see if we can dig deep for some answers.

Because on those days when nothing seems like it will help us move past this challenge, something will. But we may have to experiment a bit. Let's see if we can compile some handy lists of ideas to use when we need them the next time. This time, I guarantee you, the simple act of writing them down, thinking about them, talking about them, will do the trick. But next time, let's plan on being better prepared.

So, again, I ask: what is inspiring you right at this very moment? What do you wish would inspire you right now? Write it down, right here.

And, tomorrow, we'll talk.

What inspires you now?

We've just spent an entire month together, thinking about what inspires us. We've covered such things as:

_The more than 100 bloggers who showed up for the Blogathon this year

_Freedom

_Humor

_Quotes with meaningful messages

_Plants in your garden and/or nature

_Other people's advice

_Long walks near water

_Mothers who have overcome parenting challenges

_Your artistic self

_Signs that direct you where you need to go or to do what you need to do

_Color

_A spiritual journey

_Haiku and other poetic verse

_A messy desk, office or home

_Playful behavior

_[fill in the blank with your own ideas]

The point of this exercise was to focus for the month on a single topic: inspiration. By doing that, it should be clear to you that inspiration is everywhere you look. If you open your eyes, if you are prepared to see, if you are ready for the big reveal, it will appear. Inspiration is there for the asking. It is there for the taking. It is there when you need it. All you have to do is be a willing participant.

Are you?

On your own in the months ahead, make it a point to track how often you notice that which inspires you. I bet you'll be able to double this list in no time.

And now that the Blogathon has ended, I hope you plan on returning to visit me regularly at BIKE WITH JACKIE. I'll be here. Maybe not every day. But I'll be here every week, thinking of ways to inspire you to action, thinking of ways to help you connect with your true self--the one who is aware of what it takes to be your Best self, use your Inner strength, listen and respond to your Killer instincts, and speak up for yourself with your Expressive voice. On this BIKE journey, we focus on moving forward, and you're always invited to join the ride. Come any time.

Your everyday inspirations

Are you aware of your everyday inspirations? They don't necessarily call you to do anything specific. They are the everyday images, the textures, the colors or the sounds in your everyday life that just speak to you in some way. Perhaps they leave you with a good feeling, put a smile on your face, or remind you of someone or something.

I live in a neighborhood surrounded by palm trees of various kinds, big thorny mesquites, scattered palo verdes, jacarandas, and other trees that attract the birds. Hummingbirds, song birds, mockingbirds, finches, and birds I'd need to pull out the Audubon guide to name--they're all out there.

At night, you can even hear the owls and see the bats whirring by overhead. If I'm out for a walk in the early evening, the owl's call kind of spooks me. You never can tell which tree they're in, as the sound seems to echo from far away. I always imagine he'll fly out of one of those trees and wonk me on the head with his large talons.

I wake up in the morning and go to sleep to at night to many, long-lasting bird calls of various sounds. When I'm really listening, I can hear very specific sounds. One type of bird I noticed I'm not hearing this year had a unique call I really liked. It sounded like they were saying back and forth to each other: "Rick-ee! RickeeRickeeRickee!" It's funny what you miss when it's gone.

Is there a bird call unique to your neighborhood? Or one that you once noticed but now do not? Noticing the everyday things that surround you, such as the sound a bird makes, provides training ground for creating awareness within. It's about becoming aware of what you like or don't like, what matters to you and what does not, or what inspires you.

AWARENESS HOMEWORK: Make a list of 5-10 things in your everyday life that pleases you. The only requirement is that all items on the list must come from the natural environment. Post one or two of them here if you like. What this will do for you is bring your attention to that which brings you joy. Once you're aware of this, you begin to seek it out. A joy-filled life is one that overcomes obstacles with grace and ease, like the Great Blue Heron in my photograph above.

What inspires an interior designer?

I sometimes, as often as I can, write about interior design, art, construction, architecture, and other forms of design, including that which appears in nature. I studied these things on a limited spectrum in college, and my first job after graduation led me to editing a construction magazine. I spent a lot of time talking about design, engineering and buildings with the experts. It was fascinating work that stays with me to this day whenever I see a project I once wrote about in my hometown.

It's a background that led me to admire what I see when I'm out in the world: color, texture, fabrics, woods, metals, renderings, floorplans, glass walls, a building's facade, furniture, and so much more. I often photograph such things, just to have it. You never know when or where or for what a photograph might be useful. Such imagery can inspire new ideas to write about, think about, or file away for another time. Maybe in a previous life I was an artist. I'm a big doodler in this one. Or maybe I was supposed to be a botanist, except I'm lacking that green thumb. So I take photographs of organic things with the right texture or color, and admire them that way. Can any of you relate?

I think it's about being an observer, and that's also part of the BIKE philosophy discussed here. To be aware, I think, is to live, and to live to is observe.

That being said, if you've ever wondered what inspires an interior designer, meet Katja van der Loo, originally from the Netherlands, now living in New Jersey. A public relations consultant sent her link to me today, thinking I might want to write about her. Of course, curious, I clicked. I expected to find her portfolio, which I did. Impressive. But I didn't expect to find photos like these--her inspirations. Are you inspired by anything she's photographed:

_a repeating image?
_an animal in the wild?
_a doorway or entrance, or simply, doors?
_flowers?
_children?
_a home's landscape?
_a building, a very large building, in the distance?
_foreign architecture?
_someone you meet in a faraway land?
_the texture of a flower?
_a family of animals, or maybe their spots?
_sculpture?

If any of these things have ever inspired something within you, what was it? Did you do anything about it? I find that the best inspirational moments lead to an action that will take you some place you might not have discovered otherwise. What are your thoughts about this?

(Photo of the London Plane Tree was taken at Battery Park on Liberty Island, New York City, by Jackie Dishner, April 2010)

Question of the day: Where do you find inspiration?

No long post today, just a simple question...and a little bit more: where do you find inspiration?

Do you look for it in other human beings? Do you find it in your surroundings? Do you stumble upon it accidentally? Do you actively search for inspiring moments to teach you something, or do you think inspiration is purely spontaneous?

I'd love to read your comments, thoughts and stories? Post them below. Let's start a dialogue. This is the time of year to get inspired--but how?