Finding Inspiration When There's None to be Found

I've been battling a nasty summertime cold for a little over a week now.  When family members and friends call to check up on me, they all say the same thing: "Nothings worse than a summertime cold!" ..... yeah, tell me about it!  I went to my doctor and her advice was not what I wanted to hear.  I was informed it was a virus and it needed to run its way through my system and it will eventually resolve itself. No meds to be given or options to be discussed... basically, just suck it up and it will resolve on its own.  Great.

Being physically sick takes a toll on you mentally as well.  The feeling of cabin fever from staring out the windows and seeing the world playing in the sun on a warm day while you lay on the couch and cuddle with a tissue box only adds to the dismay.

While I wait for my immune system to win the war and the virus to wave the white flag, I find myself looking for new ways to occupy my brain.  The computer and T.V. are too easy to depend on, so I challenged myself to keep looking, and here's what I found:

Sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing.  The 5 senses.  We overlook how powerful of tools these are.  They are not just for gathering information about our outside environment.  They are also for centering and grounding ourselves, noticing the little things in our world that are often overlooked, and finding appreciation in the things that are within our range of abilities. 

Now, being sick, I've noticed 2 of my senses are currently mostly affected. The sense of smell (my sinuses are completedly blocked!) and the sense of taste (Not even the strong taste of garlic got through to me). 

This left me with 3 options to focus on - sight, hearing, and touch.  I studied my room in a way I haven't before.  I laid on the floor and looked up!  From this perspective, there were all sorts of new things I hadn't previously noticed- the small crack in the ceiling, the cobweb in the corner, the crooked picture in the frame on the wall.  So many visual details to explore that I've walked by thousands of times and never noticed!  I also laid out a picnic blanket in my yard and did some people watching.  There is an inner calmness I find that comes when we allow our minds eye to observe without judgement and simply bear witness to the wonderful world around us.

Next was the sense of hearing.  Imagine just listening. Closing your eyes and shutting down the other senses; focusing your energy solely on the balenced sounds of movement and stillness.  The rustling of the leaves as a soft breeze whispers by. The birds chirping in the trees. The tick of my watch as the seconds drift by.  The gentle hum of electricity from some nearby live wires. The silence in a moment where your world seems to stand still.  Your breath as it enters your lungs.

And finally the sense of touch.  The melting of an ice cube in my hand. The feeling of grass inbetween my toes.  Putting chapstick on my lips. A cool shower on a hot summers day. The sensation of rubbing lotion on my hands or an exfoliating scrub on my feet. An icepack on my forehead or over my eyes. The sensation of holding air in my hands and trying to describe it in my mind.

I found inspiration by bearing witness to the world around me, freeing my mind up to not have to process any of the information that was coming in by judging it as good or bad.  Rather, being a gentle observer with no expectations of myself and no boundaries on my abilites.

Where do you find your inspiration when you are most depleted? What are the smallest of things in your immediate world that you can take notice of and grant a minute of your attention? What is in your surroundings that you see every day, but have never noticed before?

Focus in on your 5 senses and discover your world in a different way. You'll quickly discover inspiration where you never knew it existed.

Tammy Greene is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor.  Please feel free to respond with related comments or questions to askTammyanything@gmail.com .   Also, if you have a topic that you would like to have addressed in the next blog, please submit a brief description. Tammy will pick one submission per week to respond to. You may also reach Tammy through her website at www.tgperspectives.com .  She is currently accepting new clients.