How To Find Inspiration When Life Is Hard

Beautiful woman in a greenhouse

Do you ever find yourself in an unmotivated state, unwilling to do anything? If so, you’re not alone. Almost everyone experiences a profound state of apathy at some point in their lives. Even if they have goals and dreams in the back of their minds, they don’t feel as though they can pursue them. 

The trick here is to rekindle your inspiration. Life is for living, getting out there, and living in the best way that you can. It’s not about feeling down and out when things get tough. 

In this post, we take a look at some of the ways that you can find inspiration, even when you’re not at your best. Check them out below. 

Give Yourself Some Time Away From Your Thoughts

If you really study yourself, you’ll notice something interesting: your thoughts are usually what bring you down. Self-critical and negative thinking gets in the way of your natural exuberance and suppresses it. 

If you don’t think this is true, observe what happens before you enter a low mood. Almost always, you’ll find that a thought or emotion triggered it. For instance, perhaps you felt inadequate at your work and that your colleagues are better than you. Or maybe you reflected on your life and saw it as a complete failure. Even the thought, “I must do better” can bring up all sorts of negative emotions. 

The trick here is to give yourself some time away from thinking. Just exploring nature, appreciating the beauty around you and taking time for yourself is the best remedy. 

At the weekend, go for a hike. Don’t choose any particular route. Instead, just wander, seeing where you wind up. You’ll find that this directionlessness and mindlessness is a good way out of your rut. 

Break Up Your Inspiration Into Smaller Chunks

Many people believe that inspiration comes like a mighty hammer blow. But, in many cases, that’s not what happens. Instead, it builds slowly over time, comprising many elements.

You don’t have to find the one thing that inspires you. Instead, you can look at the smaller things and then think about a way to fit them all together. Many people who make profound changes in the world start off with tiny ideas and then grow them to the point where they exceed all their expectations. 

Read Something Written By Someone Great

When you read books written by great people, they can speak to you on a deep level.

Something about their insights are timelessly appealing.

People who were able to achieve great things in their lives were often tapping into deep truths about themselves and the world around them. They fed on energies outside of themselves which kept them powering through, despite all the obstacles and challenges that they faced. 

Even reading a work of fiction can be inspirational. Characters in stories often have traits that you would like to embody in your life. 

Be More Spontaneous

Life shouldn’t be a daily grind, going through all the same motions. That’s not how to live an inspired life. Instead, you should fill it with spontaneity – new and interesting things that keep you engaged and fulfilled in what you’re doing.

Being spontaneous is a great way to remain present. When you act according to the needs of the moment, you’re not thinking about the past or future. Instead, you’re simply going with your inner intelligence, obeying what it tells you to do. 

Mental monotony is a major reason for why life gets so tough. Circumstances themselves can be okay, but if you’re going through the same patterns every day, it can feel a little pointless and trivial. Doing new things, acting spontaneously and being original can all help your life feel like it’s less on rails, and more free and easy. 

Read Inspirational Quotes

Like stories, inspirational quotes appeal to us on many levels. It’s not just what they say that matters, but the way they say it. In many cases, they are so profound, they can change the way we wire our brains, and rewrite the unconscious patterns that drive our lives. 

Sites, such as Everyday Power, contain long lists of inspirational quotes for practically any aspect of your life. Reading or listening to these can help you see more clearly, and enable you to move on with your life. 

Go For A Cold Shower

If your body is feeling lethargic or tense, then going for a cold shower could be just the thing you need to jolt you into action. 

Cold showers seem to reset the body. Exposure to a short, sharp bout of stress helps to create relaxation in the body and mind. The experience itself is unpleasant, but afterwards, you’ll feel refreshed and renewed. This can then give you renewed vigor to pursue the things that matter to you. 

Start Experimenting Without Pressure

Many people believe that it is inspiration that they dislike when, in reality, it is the pressure that they are putting on themselves. Say, for instance, you’ve had a great idea for a new business. It’s not the idea of the company itself that is killing your motivation: it’s the intense pressure that you feel to follow through. You feel as though you must succeed and must strive to get to where you want to be, immediately putting you off. 

The trick here is to start tinkering without putting yourself under any pressure. Go into projects without any fixed mind. Just see how they unfold. If you’re feeling demotivated, avoid setting objectives. 

Start When The Emotions Are Running High

Emotion provokes action. That’s why we have the saying, “strike while the iron is hot.” It’s the idea that you should go for things when you are in the right state of mind. 

If you feel yourself getting passionate about something in your life, don’t think, just act. Start doing the work and see where it leads. You’ll often find that once you sit down and do the first task, the rest of it becomes considerably easier. In fact, you actually start to really enjoy it. It feels good to get on with something that really matters to you. 

Ask A Guru About Their Biggest Life Lessons

Deep inside, everyone knows that they have the capacity to achieve great things in their lives. However, they don’t always get there, partly because they have incorrect perspectives on life and their place in the world. 

For this reason, many people find it helpful to go to gurus. These people have a knack for opening up new dimensions of existence. They say things that you would never have thought of yourself, but provide near-infinite clarity. 

Look To Others For Sources Of Inspiration

Sometimes, reading things doesn’t help. What you need is exposure to an inspirational person. 

For instance, many Buddhists travel to Nepal to spend time with the great masters who live in the country. They don’t go to learn anything in particular. Instead, they simply bask in the aura of the spiritual teacher, hoping to imbibe his or her ways. 

Likewise, you can do something similar. You can simply spend more time with someone who you find inspirational and allow them to take the lead. Over time, you’ll notice that you start to follow along with them. Your standards become significantly higher and you begin to feel real energy within your body. 

Try One Thing Per Week That Gets You Out Of Your Comfort Zone

Getting out of your comfort zone is critical in life. That’s because it’s pretty much the only way you can grow as a person. If you don’t challenge yourself, you can’t upgrade who you are. What’s more, life will feel dull, predictable and boring. For inspiration to occur, it needs to be an adventure. 

Trying at least one new thing per week doesn’t sound like much, but over the course of a year, it can really add up. Continuous exposure helps to build strength and character. 

Meditate For A While

At the start of this post, we mentioned the importance of spending some time away from your thoughts. Another way to achieve this is through meditation, a practice that goes back thousands of years. People discovered that, through meditation, they could change their brain states entirely. All the negatives melted away. 

If you haven’t meditated before, try it. As you cut back on thoughts, you discover that inspiration arises naturally. 

Learn Something Totally New

Over time, people have a habit of settling down into their grooves. They come to believe, rightly or wrongly, that they know everything that they need to know and that there aren’t any opportunities for moving forward. 

That changes, however, when you learn something new. You discover that life is much richer than you imagined, and there’s a whole new aspect you didn’t see before. 

For instance, you might take up a musical instrument and see new kinds of beauty in music. Or you could switch up your diet and get to a whole new level of health. 

 

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