Inspired Before Wired
Be inspired before you get wired.
It’s my new morning mantra.
A few mornings ago, I woke with the sunrise and took my morning walk. I had conveniently forgotten to check Facebook or email before I headed out.
Walking towards the golden horizon, I took inhale after inhale of that morning scent - you know the one. That scent of dew and freshness and renewal…
And I felt at peace.
My thoughts felt more ordered when they appeared. They were more like passing breezes that caught my attention than wild, screaming monkeys that demanded it. I could choose which ones to follow and which ones to let blow on past. I felt inspired.
***
Inspiration has its roots with breath, with breathing. It is a bringing in of the spirit, of the animation of that which is life. It is going into one’s self, finding the knowing within.
“Wired”, (as I use it here since it conveniently rhymes with “inspired”), is the connection to other. It’s plugging in to other realities and ways of seeing and being. It’s technology, social media, news, and even good ol’ face-to-face conversation and story-exchanging.
As we co-create our lives, we need to be both inspired and wired. Inspiration without being connected is just self-serving, and being wired without being self-connected and aware is living an empty life…always someone else’s version.
Too often, though, we rely on being wired all of the time. Connected, driven, in-the-know.
Looking outside of ourselves for answers and direction, we miss the morning sunrises because we are too busy looking at the light on our phones.
***
Since that beautiful morning walk, I’ve made it a point to be inspired before I become wired each morning. It isn’t just about checking my phone.
It’s about checking in with myself before I check in with the outside world.
Stretching to feel my own body and release built-up tensions, meditating to get in touch with the “morning news” in my mind, walking to find the beauty of my own body in the spaciousness of this world.
I’ve often said that one thing begets another. (I just like that word, “begets”.) So if you do one small thing, it influences how you do the next.
Practicing inspiration in the morning (and honestly, as resets throughout the day) begets inspiration flowing through the next moment. When I do get wired — make it to Facebook, or check news, or have a conversation with my sleepy teens — that which I’ve already tapped into within me flows throughout those activities. I’m more centered, more at ease-of-breath.
It’s a worthwhile practice.
What might you do right now to breathe a bit easier, to take a more full inhale (then exhale), to feel inspired?