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It could be a myth – but many myths are simply facts lost in the passage of time – that, having struggled for many years to discover the meaning of life, the Buddha realized his goal when he was simply sitting under a tree. It may also be legend, but legend has it that Sir Isaac Newton had his most significant scientific insight, once again, whilst sitting under a tree. And although it was an apple that reputedly dropped for Newton, you’ve got to find your own tree to allow your very own pennies to drop for you – your personal development depends upon it.
Inspiration only comes to the clear uncluttered mind. And the normal mind is anything but clear and uncluttered. Psychology has concluded that the normal mind is overwhelmed by random thought – some fifty thousand random thoughts whizz through our heads every single day. Many of those thoughts are innocuous but, psychology concludes, some of our thoughts are self-destructive – I was going to say positively self-destructive but that would be a contradiction – these thoughts are both negative and toxic. I refer to the thoughts that create the illusions of damaged self-esteem, worry, anxiety, stress and depression. Left to its own devices, the normal mind simply cannot experience inspiration.
Is life worth enduring without the joy of inspiration? Surely life is nothing more than going through the motions if you’re not excited and delighted by the cut and thrust of the out-of-the-ordinary? However, the out-of-the-ordinary is all too rare an event for the normal mind that wallows in the comfort of the routine. However, if you don’t shock yourself out of this deadly slumber you will simply not have experience real living. Not just that, you’ll be a negative influence on those around you – in particular those who you claim to love.
Everybody is capable of being inspired and being inspirational. You are capable of leaping out of the norm and living your very best life. But you’re going to have to make space for inspiration, you’ve got to give yourself the clear, uncluttered time to let the inner you out. Our next-door neighbour in the Alps has often asked me what I do for a living. And, even though I’ve explained it to him many times, he still seeks clarification – in his own words “It seems to me and my wife that you spend a lot of time doing nothing!”
Doing nothing is not a waste of time. Doing nothing can often be time most fruitfully spent. The peace and clarity of mind that comes with spending time doing nothing is the incubation chamber in which inspirational ideas simply spring to life. Thomas Edison found that he only became inspired when his mind was still to the extent that he set about creating quiet moments for his mind on a daily basis. A prolific inventor, he had had over four hundred inventions patented to his name. Pablo Picasso stated that he was never sure when inspiration would strike so he made it his business to cultivate a prepared mind.
How prepared are you to be inspired? How regularly do you simply let your mind go off on flights of fancy? I’m not talking about entertaining negative thought – I’m talking about effortlessly letting your mind wander onto what normal people would find undoable or unachievable. Such things are only undoable to a normal mind constrained by pre-programmed thought. De-program yourself – let yourself go, let yourself off the hook of normal ‘living inside the box’. Find your tree, sit down and spend some quality time doing nothing.
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