Week 114: Choosing Inspiration

Walking across Central Park one morning, I came to a choice point in my journey. One of the major gifts of the morning walk is that, for a little while, I feel embraced by nature, with the sounds, smells, and sights of trees, dirt, birds, playing dogs, and a few people along the way. Because of a concert planned that evening, the entire area around the Great Lawn was covered with people, machines, and barriers preparing to deal with the crowds later in the day. The previous morning, the gathering of concert paraphernalia had begun, with trucks and material along much of the way I walk to work. It was still a good walk, but didn’t have the same quiet feeling of being in the midst of nature.

The next morning, as I saw that even more machinery, barriers, and people were around, I decided to change my route to one outside the area of concert preparation. I went in the direction of the Central Park reservoir, which offers me an alternate route to my office. As I walked around the reservoir, I filled up with the beauty of early-morning water, water birds, and trees all around. As people jogged by, the sound of their shoes on the dirt creating a muffled rhythm, I relaxed into a delicious enjoyment of the early-morning park.

My walk that morning got me to thinking of the number of times in any given week I make choices that increase my experience of inspiration. Living in New York City offers many opportunities for inspiration. For example, I usually choose to walk down Park Avenue, rather than going down one of the other streets on the East Side of Manhattan when the opportunity arises, as it’s a prettier street to me – with a median planted with flowers and trees. When I have to go across town on a day I’m not already at my office, I might decide to walk to an appointment through the park, rather than taking a bus or cab, or I might choose to go a particular way – maybe a number of blocks longer than necessary – if it takes me by places that, to me, represent beauty.

Given how immeasurably important these choices are in my quality of life, I wanted to invite you to spend the next week noticing where you consciously offer yourself sources of beauty and inspiration in your life, and where you overlook these in the busy-ness of daily activities. For each of us, what creates inspiration is different. There’s no right way to be inspired, just your way. As you work with this experiment, notice the things that truly nourish you and those that leave you feeling more tired or frazzled. And, notice what happens if you become increasingly sensitive to those choice points along the way and then how you feel when you make the choice to take the extra time, or extra thought, or extra effort to give yourself a moment of beauty or inspiration.

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