Sometimes you can feel like you're completely jaded. Nothing is fun anymore, you're not energized by anything. You don't get hot about anything, so to speak. You want something different in your life, but then everything you come up with is not good, interesting or achievable enough for yourself. How do you get the inspiration to get out of bed anyway? That is what I will discuss in this article.
What is inspiration?
Inspiration is the state of being in spirit. You get a kind of energetic feeling of "yes, I should do that" or that something touches you.
When you are inspired, something happens that allows you to do things you couldn't do before for one reason or another.
You get a kind of fire or flame inside yourself that lets you do the impossible. If you follow that flame you become that flame. You can light other people with your inspiration.
You share your idea, or what you are working on, and then find that other people have also been inspired by it.
Also check out this video on inspiration.
What touches you?
Then the question is, what touches you? What fire can make your inspiration flame brighter again?
There are a number of techniques that can cause you to be inspired. For example, we humans are somewhat hierarchical. We often see people who are somehow doing "better" or "worse" than ourselves. We like to have an opinion about that.
By taking advantage of that and competing in a particular field, you can be inspired with new ideas to "win" that competition[1].
This is also done, for example, to encourage students to make the most of their thesis. By ensuring that a good thesis can win a prize.
Do you find competing scary? Then a hypnotist can help you with that. Perhaps avoiding competition has become a pattern in your life for one reason or another. In that case, for example, a hypnosis expert can apply regression to see where the belief started that participating in something competitive is bad and you just shouldn't get involved.
Then you will do something with that moment that allows you to break that trend. So that you start to find competition fun and valuable again. Because in the end, the goal is to win from yourself, not even necessarily from the other person. As long as it makes you a better version of yourself.
Using yourself as inspiration
You can also use yourself as inspiration. Research shows that when people experience a sense of power they can use themselves as inspiration.
This study also examined whether priming that you have power helped you find yourself an inspiration. Participants were first primed that they had power and then they wrote a letter about themselves and their own experiences. This produced a greater state of inspiration than people who were not primed to feel empowered before writing the letter[2].
The cool thing is, priming is something hypnotists do. So if you feel like you're a nobody with no power, a hypnotist can prim you so you feel like you can do something, that you have all sorts of things going for you. Then you write a letter about your life and this can inspire you to start doing "something" again.
A hypnotist can do this by, for example, improving your sense of control with hypnotic suggestions that you then repeat out loud yourself while under hypnosis. Such as:
"I have influence."
"My actions create reactions."
"There are people who help me achieve my goals," he said.
"I can do anything."
These are just examples. Depending on your feelings about power, a hypnosis expert may give you other suggestions for that that better fit your beliefs.
Inspiration from others
You can also be inspired by others. It's not for nothing that adolescents can have an idol they want to be like. That person inspires them to develop their identity.
In this case, you might want to talk to people who inspire you. Or you can listen to people who inspire you. For example, listening to their podcasts or reading their life stories. Maybe you can even go to a seminar they give.
Inspiration through experience
You can also get inspiration by experiencing something. For this, of course, you have to get out there. You can't experience an awful lot of things in your own home (although, of course, some YouTube videos are also very inspiring).
For example, research shows that when you have experienced something in nature that was completely amazing. This can be such a source of inspiration that it can lead to career choices and different behaviors at home and even spread to friends and family[3].
So nature can be an incredibly inspiring place. So taking a walk in nature (or at least outside the city) can inspire you.
Of course, you can also seek experiences other than a walk in nature for inspiration.
If you find it difficult to get out of the house and feel that this is not a good option, a guided visualization can help you still feel like you can get out, so you will start performing that behavior faster.
This may include suggestions such as:
"You looked up a beautiful nature spot on the Internet and went there by bike/in the car/by public transport. You have clothes on to match the weather of the day. You feel the wind on your face and check your (back) bag with food and drinks. You have your phone handy to take fun pictures of what you encounter. You start walking, following the dots on the posts that mark the path. Occasionally you stop to enjoy what you see. It feels good and you let the inspiration come to you."
This is just an example of a guided visualization. Depending on what you would like to experience but find exciting to do, a hypnotherapist can help you with a different suggestion.
Inspiration through knowledge (gaining)
Knowledge is also very inspiring. After all, ideas are created by combining old ideas. The more old ideas you know, the more likely you are to come up with a new idea (at least new to you).
Knowledge can be gained in many ways. You can:
- Watching documentaries
- Books read
- Take workshops
- Take courses
- Take Seminars
- Follow Webinars
- Take Training
Feel like you don't have time to learn something new? Then a post-hypnotic suggestion can help you make learning a daily priority.
This may include suggestions such as:
"From this moment on, every time you come home from work, go have a drink, find a quiet place and read for 20 minutes."
Post-hypnotic suggestion is used to influence behavior after hypnosis. This can cause you to subconsciously (and sometimes consciously) start doing what the hypnotist has said.
Inspiration through art
Designers often need inspiration from somewhere, too. Research shows that they like visual stimulation or visual stimulation for inspiration[4].
So art can also be very inspiring. Be it a painting or stellar art. So go to a museum once in a while and get inspired by the artists' ideas.
Inspiration is incredibly important for the energy you have to do something. This is also that figurative flame. That feeling of warmth of doing action. It's a certain state of being that creates that feeling.
There are a number of things you can do to get into spirit, namely:
- Using yourself as inspiration.
- Using others as inspiration.
- Use experiences for inspiration.
- Gain knowledge for inspiration.
- View and experience art for inspiration.
If you find it difficult to take any of these steps to light your inner flame of inspiration, a hypnotherapist can help you remove that block.
Want to know exactly how hypnosis works? You can experience that during the hypnosis playshop. A place where you can also get inspired about hypnosis. You can follow the playshop in Wormerveer or in Zwolle.
Do you feel the need to help people or yourself with hypnosis? Then you can also come to our seminars or enroll in one of the Hypnosis Institute Netherlands' training courses, which are held in Wormerveer or Zwolle. Ask about online options if that suits you better.
[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/nnano.2015.93
[2] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1948550614566857
[3] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00958964.2019.1594148
[4] AROUND YOU: HOW DESIGNERS GET INSPIRED (2011), M. Gonçalves, C. Cardoso and P. Badke-Schaub. Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, TU Delft, Delft, Netherlands
