LIVE THE
INSPIRED LIFE
A tool often put
in the backseat behind happiness,
inspiration is the most powerful tool
to experience true happiness.
Stop pursuing the happiness
we’ve come to know, expect and accept
and seek inspiration instead to unlock
the true happiness we all desire and deserve!
10 Empowering Principles of Inspiration
1. Inspiration is actionable with immediate benefits
Getting happy isn’t instantaneous. Sometimes it’s a lot of work. Sometimes it’s a lot of waiting or infinite waiting, or when we get happy, it’s not what we expected. We all know what it means to feel happy, but the path to this experience is too often confusing and elusively out of reach.
Inspiration, on the other hand, is actionable. You can get inspired intentionally anytime, anywhere. You don’t have to wait or wonder how to feel inspired; you know how, and you just do it!
2. It’s easy to choose to be inspired
I wish I could just “choose” to feel happy, but I haven’t figured out how to flip the happiness switch that easily. While the “fake it ’til you make it” practice can sometimes be beneficial, like when overcoming irrational fears, I more often feel that it’s important to honor when I’m sad, frustrated, and less than happy.
That’s when I turn to inspiration. I can’t personally choose to be happy, but I can always choose to dive into an inspired moment. We can generally feel unhappy and still get inspired. If we are going through a tough time, we don’t have to rush through that healing process, but instead collect and indulge in inspired moments to bring us energy and a reprieve from being less than happy without having to deny what’s challenging us.
3. Inspiration is immune to adversity
Happiness is too easily shaken when someone criticize us. If we share happy news and someone responds critically or with judgment, we can’t help but to feel discouraged, and our happiness can take a hit. When we instead pursue what inspires us, adversity becomes irrelevant. We are honoring our true selves simply because we can’t imagine another path. It’s not a frivolous choice that is subjected to others’ opinions. Inspiration is genuine and an unstoppable force stemming from our strongest foundation. All the rejection in the world can’t hinder our desire to do what inspires us.
4. Being inspired is experiencing reality at its best
During challenging times, we often pursue happiness to escape reality. We eat a pint of ice cream, binge watch a new show or go on vacation to relax on a beach. But when we come back to real life, all the same challenges are still there. Our souls are not quenched by distractions or an escape from life’s trials. This pause doesn’t help to exchange negative energy for positive refueling energy.
Instead, we can dive into the present to experience reality at its best, enjoying the positive stimulus in life. Through indulging in inspiration, we can recharge with positive energy and fully experience the connected moments that make us feel alive. We have to refuel with inspiration to experience true happiness.
5. Inspiration creates positive, recharging energy
Happiness is a break, but inspiration helps us refuel. Sometimes when we think we need to relax, we actually need to recharge. Breaks spent participating in energy-avoidance activities do not compound to become recharging because they don’t replace or create positive energy. If we store stress, negative energy, or too much stimulus that is not in connection to our true selves, negative energy doesn’t truly dissipate by taking a break. We have to move that energy. We have to replace that energy. Since inspiration elicits positive energy through an experience or activity, inspiration is a powerful recharger. Participating in inspiring activities infuses positive energy, cleansing out any stagnation in its path and replacing dormant negative energy.
6. Inspiration is about the “why”
Inspiration doesn’t stem from classic forms of success, approval, validation, money or praise, but happiness might. While these aspects may seem motivating, they are often related to the “what” in the pursuit of happiness.
The real question is why would you be happy about having more money? It’s not the money itself, sitting in your bank, that’s going to make you happy. It’s why you want it, what you would do with it, and how you would spend it. The only way to make a decision on how to spend it is to tap into what inspires you.
Simply choosing to think about why we’re working on a goal will bring us fuel while we’re working on that goal, and we will not be holding our happiness hostage until we reach it. Particularly when quitting bad habits or starting good ones, if we focus too much on the what, we might find ourselves spending too much time thinking about what we don’t want and not enough time living freely in the flow of life.
7. Inspiration brings us to the present
Happiness is generally quite conditional or circumstantial. “I’ll be happy when’s” rule our thinking, taking us out of the present and attaching expected outcomes based purely on hope. Even worse, the “I’ll be happy when’s” hold our happiness hostage from us for an unknown or even infinite period of time.
Attaching our happiness to outcomes we can’t predict or control is giving up our empowerment over our own life. We have very little influence on the external factors on which we often rely upon for our happiness.
But we have full influence over feeling inspired. We can decide at any point to dive into an inspired moment without relying on anyone or anything.
8. Inspiration ends with fulfillment
When we’re happy, we don’t want it to end. Of course we don’t! But this sets us up for disappointment.
Inspiration, on the other hand, has a built-in end, so your expectations are set accurately from the beginning. You know there will be an end to your ride, project, meal, and so on, but because you know there will be an end, you are more in the moment and less concerned about how long it will last. In fact, you’re probably not analyzing it at all because you are so present in the moment. You might even celebrate the end of being inspired as an accomplishment, whereas with happiness you may find yourself unfulfilled and disappointed.
9. Inspiration can only originate from our true selves
We might look outside ourselves for sources of happiness. We may even be partially successful at obtaining the happiness we’ve come to know, expect and accept, making us think that we’re on the right path to true happiness. But this path is distracting us from the real path to true happiness.
The path to true happiness is a path that goes within, leading us to our true selves, which is the only place inspiration can originate. That’s why inspiration is such a powerful tool. Inspiration can be used as a fast track to re-discovering and sharing our true selves, especially when we’ve lost our way along that other elusive path to “happiness.”
10. Inspiration is worry and judgment-free
We worry about happiness when we don’t have it, but how often to we say, “I am feeling so uninspired. Maybe something is wrong with me. Maybe something is wrong with my life. Maybe I need medication.”
We don’t need medication to feel inspired because we know we aren’t expected to be inspired 24/7. We can jump into inspiration anytime. We are empowered to simply dive into another inspired moment or activity whenever we want.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR HAPPINESS?
10 Reasons the Pursuit of Happiness
Keeps You from Being Happy
1. Happiness is elusive
2. It’s hard to choose happiness
3. Happiness is vulnerable to adversity
4. Happiness can be an escape from reality
5. Happiness doesn’t change energy
6. Happiness is about the “what”
7. Happiness is often rooted in the unknown future
8. Happiness often ends with disappointment
9. Happiness can be dependent on misleading outside sources
10. We judge ourselves when we’re not happy (“what’s wrong with me?!)
Want more inspiration? Happiness is Overrated - Live the Inspired Life is your friend along your journey to living your happiest life through inspiration!