This week’s inspiration highlight is provided with awe and acceptance by Miranda Chop. She takes us on a short but no less profound journey into her creative process as she answers the question, What Inspires You?
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I’m never short on inspiration. It is everywhere, all the time, if you know where to look, but more importantly, if you know how to see. I find it in all the usual suspects: new spring growth, the stories our friends tell, our lived experiences, the waxing and waning of the moon. Life seems to conspire to inspire us. While the messages are prolific and constant, they are easy to miss in the chaos of every day living. No matter what shape our lives take, we tend to bury ourselves into them. The appointments, chores, errands, surviving and staying afloat take so much energy, there is often little time for grounding or conscious awareness. In these moments, when I’ve finally reached my limit of outward motion, I take solace in the inner stillness of “what is.” Sometimes this means accepting completely the idea that, in this moment, washing the dishes is my highest spiritual path. I focus on the movement of the broom as I sweep the floor, or on the pock-marked and fading wood, scratched and in desperate need of re-finishing. If the temperature is right, I immerse myself in nature. Walking barefoot in the dirt and grass, planting my feet firmly, I imagine strong roots coming out of them and burrowing deep into the earth. Even sitting with a green houseplant and crying it out when necessary. Plants are great listeners, never interrupting and always holding space for evolution. Nature is the perfect spiritual guru because it accepts where it is in every moment and recognizes the cyclical nature of the universe. It helps me to remember no matter how bad things feel, or even how good they feel, this too shall pass, and return. Ride the waves, the ocean says. Dig deep while reaching higher and higher, chime the trees. Sit in the stillness of the everchanging flow of life like a river stone, letting the water flow under, around, and sometimes through us. All the magic we could ever need is hidden in the plain sight of present moment awareness.
Miranda Chop is a lifelong writer from Texas intent on using her innate pioneering spirit to initiate change and transformation in her own life and others’. Follow her on Twitter @MirandaChop and see more of her work here:
Author Cristee cook 