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Finding your Inspiration

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look for inspiration
Look for your sources of inspiration

There are days when things to write about come to you very easily and others where you have to seek an idea like Gollum looking for the ring.  The great thing is that there are thousands of idea makers out there, friends, random people, and even writers you have never met providing thoughts for  finding your inspiration.  This is extremely helpful because there is no limit on the number of helpful ideas others produce that you can expound upon to achieve creative synergy.

Old Friends Know Best

Yesterday a great topic came up, on Facebook I read the following quote on the wall of my friend Art O’Conner, in regards to the media coverage of the Connecticut shootings, and the media’s role in these tragedies as a whole.

Art O'Conner
Art O’Conner, mystic sage, adventurer, news critic

– “There is one thing you can do today that will change your life and it doesn’t cost a thing. Stop watching the news, all of it. The only agenda they have is to sell you fear and sensationalize violence and psychopaths. TV news is poison for your brain and make you a reactionary herd following pawn. Eating nothing but McDonald’s every day will make you a fat, tired and lazy. TV news is McDonald’s for your brain. If you watch and digest that long enough your brain is the equivalent of a 500lb man on oxygen sitting in line at McDonald’s on his Jazzy scooter. Take control of what you feed your brain. Especially your kids, don’t let them watch that crap. No kid should have to see that, ever.”

In the aftermath of the tragic shootings, in Connecticut, it is comforting to see that the first reaction isn’t to yell for gun control, or to blame the fraying fabric of our society, but to look at the real culprit here, the mainstream media.  This also produced the most memorable quote of the year.  “TV news is McDonald’s for your brain.”   Any organization that would sensationalize this type of tragedy, needs to seriously evaluate their role in what exactly makes news.  I have known Art for many years, since we were kids, there is something cathartic about hearing these words come from someone you went to elementary school with yourself.  Art is the man.

I was instantly inspired to not eat at McDonald’s, continue to boycott the television news, and to write this post.  Pretty good for a paragraph on Facebook.

Interact with People You will Learn

art-best-best-friends-friends-inspiration-Favim.com-344257Other unexpected places I have found extreme inspiration and motivation is through interactions with others, through connecting with people I have found a wealth of knowledge, ideas, motivation and inspiration.

It is amazing how a post will almost write itself when you have an idea discussed with a friend.  It flows, and my own inner thoughts can be poured out onto the page. This list of motivators is ever-growing, fortunately for me, allowing me to expand my thoughts and grow as a writer and as a person.  If you don’t have these people, then develop them, it is worth the time.

Thank You Fellow Bloggers

A more expected avenue for motivation is in the blogosphere.  If such a place really exists.  There are so many wonderful, thought-provoking websites out there which deal with ideas I want to express, or branches of thought I was thinking about, or new thoughts I have never thought but am now glad that I did.

It is amazing that there are such great talents out there providing inspiration all the time.  It was my own ignorance that until very recently I didn’t know all of these great writers and their blogs were out there.  Some of my favorites are listed at the very bottom of this page.  I add a few everyday, the only requirement for me is that I get some motivation from them.  These authors are all motivational so that is easy.

Something Great?

The final thought on finding inspiration is that it comes from your interactions with other human beings, who have creative minds, and open hearts.  People who are awake to the fact that life is not a set path, it has a lot of confusing road signs along the way.

The more people you allow to participate in  your journey, the easier it is to read these signs and navigate the twists and turns you come across.  Reach out to everyone that you know and listen, because you never know, you just may find the inspiration for something great.

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  • Waiting for the muse to call
  • Capturing Inspiration
  • 10 Surprising Findings in the Science of Motivation
Interests, Picture Project

Fighting the Angry Chicken

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I just wanted to ask, “How was your day?”

There are many times in life when you have to fight to be a man, today was not one of those days.  As I was minding my own business, thinking about enjoying the warm weather and getting some work done. I was interrupted by the gentle clucking of chickens outside.  The place where I am fortunate enough to work has their own chickens, that they do get their own eggs from, and so they serve a purpose.  I have seen them almost daily, and my interactions with them have until today been of the most perfunctory in nature.

So this takes us to today, I hear the chickens clucking away outside, and I decided that I should go out and talk to them and see what all the clucking was about.  I mean there must

chickens are mad
I was simply acting like the chickens, I guess I must have done too good a job.

have been something happening.  So I approached the herd of chickens like I always did, with a friendly disposition and the intent of just saying, “Hello chickens, what is happening on this beautiful November day?”

The conversation started much as I thought it would, I milled about with the chickens and made my own fake clucking sound, thinking this would ingratiate me with the rest of the flock.  Seeing no animosity, I took that as encouragement and started to duck my head and

chicken attacks
Out of nowhere, like a shark, he attacked!! I reacted with bravery as you can see.

mimic the motions the fowl were making.  This turned out to be a bad idea.  As one of the roosters took this action to be a threat I think.

Out of nowhere he pecked at my shoe.  Which more startled me than scared me.  This chicken was really mad at my shoe apparently as he continued to attack.  I tried to reason with the chicken and calmly explained that I didn’t mean any harm and if he went away I might bring him some food.  He didn’t buy it so  I of course went into my natural defense mode, which is reminiscent of the crane technique from the movie the Karate Kid.  Mr. Miyagi said when you do this right, there is no defense.  He obviously had never tussled with an angry chicken before.

I hoped he would get bored and stop his attack before I had to get serious and move to the second part of my self defense training.  (The fetal position)  Fortunately I was able to stay

crane technique
I instinctively practiced the crane technique from the Karate Kid, it seemed appropriate due to the opponent.

 

calm and stop laughing long enough to think of an acceptable exit strategy.

The irony was heavy on my mind that I was running away from an overly combatant chicken: Who was the chicken?   I did learn that if a chicken does start to attack you, if you run away, they will not be able to follow you very far and they will immediately attack your friend who was taking pictures of that whole incident.  So it all worked out in the end I got away with out being harmed by a chicken or doing harm to a chicken.  I also haven’t laughed so hard in a long time.

Running away from the chicken
I showed him who the better chicken was! How do you defeat a chicken?  You become one!

 

 

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