This post is part of the Balanced challenge with Tricia Goyer—and you can join, too!
March 19: Inspiration and Relaxation (Chapter Nine)
Give your mind a rest and a dose of good, old-fashioned inspiration. Carve out some time today to implement one of my tips about finding inspiration and enjoy the feeling of creativity. Then come up with your own list of ways you can find inspiration and share those on your blog.
I am full of ideas. I have great ones, horrible ones, and everything in between; however, turning those ideas into a finished product is another story. Unfinished craft projects and half filled college-ruled notebooks litter every crevice in a home otherwise taken over with toys, sippy cups, and diapers. My Pintrest wishlist is overwhelmed and my collection of “can’t wait to try this” continues to grow 🙂 Clearing my mind and chiseling out a work area among the chaos are often my biggest challenges to ensuring that I am able to flush out one idea to its grand finale! My favorite ways to do this are listed below.
Favorite activities:
- Talking to people who really believe in me and appreciate the talents God has bestowed upon me
- Going for a walk or sitting outside with a cup of coffee either early in the morning when the birds very first begin to sing or late in the evening when the peepers begin their serenade
- Cuddling with a loved one in warm comfy pajamas and a great book while it rains and storms outside
- Taking a post it tab and using them to select crafts or projects from a cookbook or craft book
- Reading something completely unrelated to my current work efforts
- Participating in a challenge like this one (This is especially helpful during church seasons such as lent and advent. I achieve such great clarity and focus during these times.)
- Focusing my energy on helping someone else; proof reading someone else’s work, donating time to the church, or helping my family with their projects
- Donating and selling stuff we don’t need around the house
- Dancing to “happy music”
- Looking at photographs of my kids, my family, and my travels that bring me joy
- Updating my gratitude journal – every night I list 3 things in the day for which I’m grateful (I can’t tell you what a difference this has made in my overall attitude.)
Favorite Bible Verses:
- Phil 4:13: I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
- Prov 3:5: Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
- Prov 3:6: In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
- Phil 4:6: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
- Mathew 6:26: Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
- Luke 11:11: “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?
Role models, both near and far that offer advice and inspiration:
- “Write something every day. If you wrote just one page per day, you will have a 365-page novel at the end of a year.” – Robin Lee Hatcher (from Balanced by Tricia Goyer)
- “Do one thing every day that scares you.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
- “Lying by your side the greatest peace I’ve ever known.” – John Denver
- “If you want to be a writer get out there and do everything else first – that experience will give you a lifetime of great stories.” – My Dad
