“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity… and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.”~William Blake
Here in my neck of the woods, we’re having an exceptional warm spell. It’s 65 degrees and as I write this blog post, I am sitting in front of my sliding door leading to my deck, wearing shorts and a tank top. And it’s February in Missouri!
Thanks to the warm weather and sunny, breezy day, I have had my windows open and have been listening to the sounds of my neighbors wind chimes, the wind rustling the naked branches of the trees and the sounds of the ducks and geese playing on the lake at my apartment complex.
Nature as an inspirational tool:
As I’ve talked about before here on Vida de Verde, nature inspires me. Whenever I need to really clear my head, get resolution to a problem or be relieved from the dreaded writer’s block, I head into nature. It never fails to bring out the best side of my personality and stoke my creative fires.
I think what makes nature so inspirational to me is the complexity of it. Nature is at once both ordinary and extraordinary.
The trees, grass, birds chirping and bugs crawling are ordinary in that they have been here on earth doing the same thing for a long, long time. Nature is extraordinary in that no two sunsets are ever the same, no two clouds the same, the power to take your breath away is possible daily and from virtually every place in the world.
What inspires you?:
Maybe you’re a people watcher, an animal lover, a surfer or an artist. Find that thing that inspires you and cling to it. Keep going back to it. It won’t let you down. Keep a journal or a blog of what inspires you and use your written thoughts to guide you to your inspiration.
Inspiration in the every day is vital:
So why do I feel it’s important to find inspiration in the ordinary? Because it’s around us, everywhere. Finding inspiration in the every day is harder than finding it in big events and fancy things and expensive trips.
The best part of soaking up nature, people watching and finding inspiration in the ordinary? It’s completely free and can (and should) be practiced daily.
*The pictures on this post were taken from my deck, and were my inspiration for this blog post on inspiration. 🙂
Amanda Bretz 