Keeping An Inspiration Notebook
Keeping an inspiration notebook has been something I’ve done for years, because if you’re like me do you ever read a book, watch a movie, or listen to a speech and just feel inspired, energized, or motivated? You have a new perspective and you can’t wait to put it into action?
And then life hits you….again?
The energy you originally felt, may have dissipated. Your daily “chores” take precedent to you doing anything about your newfound inspiration. And in many cases, this motivation is simply lost in the doldrums of everyday life.
But what if you could change that? What if you could bottle up this goodness and use it, or at least preserve it to come back to?
Writing it down
When I have these experiences I make it a habit to write them down — in my planner, in one of my notebooks, in a note on my phone, or even on a scrap piece of paper. Getting it from my brain to paper is always the first step for me. In many cases, if I don’t take this first step, it just never gets done. And then it joins the other brilliant but unexecuted ideas. Do you ever wonder if there’s an island of those, kind of like an island of misfit toys from the Christmas story of Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer?
Every couple of weeks I move these random gems of goodness into one of my inspiration notebooks.
Once it makes it to paper though, there is a two-fold preservation that occurs.
First, I keep notebooks full of ideas, so it is preserved there. Some days when I’m in need of some inspiration or motivation, I’ll pull one of these out and peruse through it. Or on a day that I have a particular motivation I’m looking for, and remember reading a book related to it, I’ll go to that section of my notebook and renew this energy.
Second, committing ideas to paper also does something in our brain to help preserve it. While we don’t always remember everything we come across, writing it down helps to also preserve it in our memory. It comes out of hiding at some of the most unexpected moments.
Different Ways You Can Keep An Inspiration Notebook
There are many different ways to keep an inspiration notebook. These are a few of the ways that have worked for me.
Journals
My notebooks have taken on many different looks over the years. Over the past few years I’ve kept a journal notebook that I write in almost daily to work through ideas or challenges. It allows me to think on paper and come up with multiple ways to resolve something. Interestingly, I will look back on past years’ notebook entries and still come up with ideas. It’s always fun to look back on today’s date from 3 years ago….the challenges, the successes, and just life in general. Sometimes it’s a reminder that things I worried about or people I was upset with, well, just weren’t as important as I had made them out to be.
Notes from books
Other notebooks are a combination of notes jotted down from books I’ve read and lists of things for a project or business idea. I might list out all the thoughts I have for a business idea. Some ideas the timing just isn’t right and so they get shelved, but it’s so nice to pull a partially built idea off the shelf 2 years later when I have a brilliant idea and recall ‘I think I’ve considered that before’.
Craft (or business) ideas
And yet other notebooks are stuffed full of craft ideas where I crafted up crochet patterns and sketched up various craft ideas. This is usually where I figure out the logistics of a pattern, or jot down ideas to try.
Folders
I’m also going to include my file of manila folders that hold ideas and inspiration as I’ve come across them over the years. Craft projects, quotes, color inspirations, gardening ideas, etc. Ideas I would find in magazines headed for the recycling were ripped out and saved in these folders. Folders are kept by different craft categories.
Anytime I’m in need of some inspiration all I do is pull out a folder or a notebook and I can delve in for 5 minutes or for hours, depending on what I’m after.
Benefits of keeping an inspiration notebook
It also helps us to appreciate and acknowledge the world around us.
One evening as I was pondering, I had jotted down an idea about noticing the simple things in life and how I wanted to focus on doing that more often. This morning, I’m making the trek into work and notice one of life’s simple pleasures — the cool morning air. And then I notice that I notice it. And then I notice that it makes me feel good. And then I notice that I feel good about my life in general. I feel good about noticing these things in my life.
Is it earth shattering? Nope. Will it completely change someone’s life? Likely not. Is it a life-saving discovery? Nope.
Appreciating the simple things (and usually they’re the small things)
But being inspired usually takes us back to appreciating the simple things. Are the moments we remember in our lives always the big events? No. In many cases they are the little events. Wasn’t it Helen Keller who was quoted as saying to pay attention to the little things in life because one day you’ll realize they really were the big things?
The time you spend with your husband or significant other. He or she won’t be here forever. Is whatever you’re irritated with him/her really worth it? Will it matter in a year? Probably not.
The time you spend with your aging parents, knowing you can’t change how you treated them when you were a teenager, and now that you have children of your own, you finally get it. You’ve developed a deeper respect and admiration for how they chose to parent. I could go on and on.
The message is simple
When something inspires you, write it down. Come back to it often. Post it somewhere you can see it every day. Get in the practice of bottling up that inspiration (ie. Writing it down) so when you hit those days when you feel uninspired, you can unleash this powerful tool.
If you love quotes, create a Pinterest board of inspiring quotes. If you love reading books, jot down ideas you develop as you read the book.
In documenting these things, you might also jot down the source (ie. name of the book or movie, author, and the date you’re noting it). It doesn’t need to be anything fancy. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read a book, jotted down notes, and come back to it years later and thought, ‘Wow! That thought I had 7 years ago is still so relevant now.’ And maybe I’m in a better place to act on it.
Concluding thoughts on creating an inspiration notebook
Go get a notebook. It can be fancy, or just a regular old school notebook….whichever of these will get you to actually write in it. Fancy notebooks can be a lot of fun, but they can also be intimidating because you may not want to “make a mistake” in it. Regular old school notebooks don’t hold this intimidation, but may not draw you to actually writing in it. So pick the one that you know you’ll write in.
And then the next time you watch a movie, or read a book, or something just hits you that really makes you think or really makes you feel good, jot it down in your notebook. Once you do this several times, and once you begin creating notebooks (in the plural), you have a field of inspiration at your fingertips.
And all of it is just yours. You don’t have to weed through what someone else thought might be inspiring but just didn’t hit you that way. All of this is goodness customized for you.
To dancing with inspiration….
Keeping an inspiration notebook
