Inspiration

What is Inspiration?
1. The process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.

Where does inspiration come from?
It is all around us. Just like the 2nd definition for Inspiration: The act of breathing in. When you step outside or into a room, it may all be the same as the last time, but, if you just look around and "breathe in" the atmosphere, you may notice something previously overlooked.

Consider some of the items that we see every day. Logs floating on a river are likely the inspiration for boats. Birds are the likely inspiration for aircraft. Is it possible that maple tree seeds are the inspiration for helicopters?

The essays that I write here and the speeches that I made at Toastmasters club meetings are all inspired by my experiences, from the past, present, and hopefully future. Despite instruction on the proper way to write and present a speech, I generally used just some key words, phrases, and verbatim text to execute my speeches. I have found that I ad lib, tell stories, and present other inspired words. In my speech on inspiration, I referred to this as Divine Inspiration, but qualified it for the primarily information technology audience as streaming inspiration. I truly believe that it is divinely inspired and that I present them with the passion that I have for their divine source. This divine inspiration is occasionally referred to as "Act is if..."

The etymology (history of use) for inspiration, from etymonline.com, c. 1300, "immediate influence of God or a god," especially that under which the holy books were written.

One of my hobbies is design. I design 3 and 4 wheeled vehicles, houses, buildings, estates, boats, aircraft, and furniture. I have been inspired by the efforts of other designers and by many things seen in nature, including animals. I've had a lifelong interest in all things mechanical and I apply mechanical engineering, ergonomics, modularity, fluid dynamics, material properties, and manufacturing processes into my designs.

For inspiration now, I look back at my experiences, I look around me, and I open my mind up to divine input.

Some inspirational speakers
• Religious Faith: John Hagee, Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer
• Personal Performance: Stephen R. Covey (dec.), Jack Canfield, Kyle Cease
• Productivity & Quality: W.E. Deming (dec.), Tom Peters