Inspiration

Inspiration comes from many places, often the most unexpected. Sometimes it's like a bolt from the blue, others it's more subtle than that. The trick is to recognise it when it comes knocking at your door. How many brilliant ideas have never materialised because we have been too busy, too distracted, to pay attention to the things that make that spark?

So where does your inspiration come from? What gets your creative juices flowing? What inspires you to get out of bed in the morning rather than snuggling down under the duvet and pretending the world's gone AWOL for a while?

There have been a few things over the last few months that have really grabbed my attention, that have made me think outside the box and want to go that extra mile. Some of them have been really simple, just a beautiful day, a special place...

Rainbow over the Hurlers Stone Circle

Other times it has been encountering great talent,



as I did when I came across these fantastic sculptures, created with a chainsaw, in a layby at the side of the road.

 

 

Then, there was the day I was hanged (how many people get to say that?) which after decades of research in social history, opened my eyes to things I had never even thought of before. To take part in this display at Bodmin Jail (a rather fine restaurant, in case you're wondering) was an honour and a revelation. I was actually rather nervous -it is the country's only working gallows after all, I didn't want there to be any mistakes- but thankfully I lived to tell the tale and the whole experience inspired me to pick up my research again into James Cook, the last man in England to be gibbeted, back in 1832. That has long been an obsession  interest of mine and it'll be good to get back to it.

 

 

When it comes to inspiration though, it doesn't come more inspiring than this lady...

 

...my lovely wife, who is currently in training for the 2013 Virgin London Marathon AND busy fundraising for Tommy's, the baby charity, in memory of my grandson Dillon. She hasn't stopped over the last few months, the work she's put in has been astounding. She would be the first to admit that she couldn't have run for a bus when she started this endeavour and yet this morning she ran ten miles, her longest run to date. I am so proud of her. Please take a look at her blog and donation page to see how she's getting along and support her if you can.  It's a lot of money she has to raise and it's scaring her just a bit.

 

Look for inspiration wherever you can find it, don't close your eyes -or your mind- to the spark, that flash in the dark, that light that leads us on to create, to find, to challenge ourselves.

 

Be inspired. Inspire others. It's what makes the world go round.