A Sky Filled With Gold
How to never run out of inspiration
Have you ever tried writing when your eyes feel so tired that you think they can close any moment?
I am here on my sofa, and I hope I won’t fall asleep on my keyboard before this post is done. Or after, as a matter of fact. I have a busy day at work, and I am not sure I will be able to fit a nap in my schedule.
Last night I didn’t sleep well at all. I feel like I’ve never really felt profoundly asleep and now I am struggling. The whole night feels like a distant bad dream. An uncomfortable, sticky summer night.
I do remember a thing, though. In the middle of the night, I woke up to go to the toilet. I crawled out of bed, did my best to avoid every obstacle in my way without turning the light on and started climbing down the stairs.
I vividly recall stopping mid-way through the staircase.
The big window was open as a desperate attempt to let some fresh air in. I remember looking at it in awe. The town was covered in darkness, and the sky was the most beautiful thing I have seen in a long time.
A dark blue blanket dotted with golden stars. The perfect backdrop to a silent, muggy July night. It seemed too beautiful to be true, unreachable. A piece of art too perfect to be even described.
I spent some moments on the stairs, just gazing over the dark silhouettes of the houses in my town. Letting the pale light of those stars caress my sleepy face and warm my heart up with beauty.
The first reaction was surprise. Not so much for the beautiful sky I was looking at, but because I couldn’t remember the last time I looked at the stars.
Our lives are always so manic. Head down, busy schedule and repeat. Our eyes gaze at monitors way more time than they spend admiring the stars. Something that it’s stuck right there over our heads.
That moment inspired me. Looking up and etching that memory in my mind, made me understand how much beauty and inspiration we have under our noses every day. And I am not talking about nature only.
We should be able to get inspired and appreciate all the small things that are constantly around us. Starting from the most trivial ones. Often they’ll be the most genuine, most heartfelt and real ones.
You cannot get inspired if you aren’t receptive to what’s going on around you. The skill of channelling emotions. Finding them around us in a consistent way is of paramount importance but takes time. It takes practice.
We sit on inspiration every minute of our life, we’re just too rigid to see it. Our brain gets used to it and discards it as trivial, uninteresting, something not worth noticing. This is the mechanism you need to get out of.
Focus on everything that’s going on around you. Look for the poetry in it. Look for the story, for the emotions and for the teachings you might get from it.
Did you notice those flowers on your way to work? They are just there to make a carpark look better, but their colours are pure art, and their smell takes you straight to the South of France. Can you imagine how many people, how many stories those flowers could tell?
Oh, you don’t have any flower beds on your commute to work? No problem. Have you noticed that old lady on the train with her grandchild? The poetry of two generations so apart interacting. The melancholy of a life on the last stretch of its existence enjoying time and experiences with a young person full of energy.
I could go on. And on. And on.
It takes time and effort, but everything starts with you.
You are the one holding the keys to your emotions. You are the gatekeeper to your soul. If you decide to give the world around you a shot, you’ll notice how many incredible things are going on around you. How much inspiration there’s available at any moment in time.
Once you start getting it, you decide what to do with it.
Paint, write, compose. Or just enjoy it. Let it warm you up from the inside, like a gentle cuddle to your soul. Let it open your mind.
