Begin with a Key

Begin with a Key

He had been given a key. A shiny blue key. Blue to match his mood. Shiny to match his dreams of home and his barely contained excitement that they might come true. There were many more steps to be taken to find the door that would open into his own home. To get the bed and the table. To fill his refrigerator with food. But holding the key firmly in his gnarled old hands, he took the next step. That tiny blue key was his inspiration. That tiny blue key would become his motivation like the prayer bead his mother kept next to her heart.

“Home is a notion that only nations of the homeless 

fully appreciate and only the uprooted comprehend.”

~ Wallace Stegner, Angle of Repost

Flying High ~1

Like a steady wind

motivation raises spirits

as gulls soar high in the sky

“…..the wind beneath my wings”

~ Jeff Silbar and Larry Henley

Song written 1982

Like a Hummingbird

Inspiration stirs hearts, burning slowly into passion, perching like a tiny hummingbird on the very tip of a thin branch.

Our minds, cramped and crimped with rules and schedules pore over details, shaping inspiration into cold correctness.

When the idea of a need for rules and schedules does not go away ~ even those imagined ~ motivation lags and stalls mid flame.

Yet when a hummingbird takes flight, it is as sudden as a flash of inspiration motivated only by the desire to fly.

“I am always doing things I can’t do, that’s how I get to do them.”

~ Pablo Picasso

Vanishing Act

Vanishing Act

Inspiration sparkled and danced like a birthday candle. 

Nancy sat up straight in her chair, her pen suspended in the air like it was trying to catch the flashing idea. 

Sudden and unexpected, while she had been writing a grocery list, Nancy was absolutely dumbstruck with the force of the marvelous thought.

Putting her pen down, Nancy stood, walked into the living room and stopped. 
In an instant, she had crossed the threshold ~ the threshold between the den and the living room.

Ready to do ~ something, Nancy paused, scratching her head.

Absence had replaced the great, wonderful and intelligent idea out of her head with empty air.

Turning, she walked back into the den, hoping against hope she would find the fascinating idea hovering and waiting for her.

Instead of a flashing ‘IDEA’ in the air, she found only the grocery list she had started and a cold cup of coffee.

“Oh well”, Nancy muttered to herself, “if it was that great an idea it will be back - someday.”

Nagging in the back of her mind, unbeknownst to her, that distant sparkle would remain - always just out of reach until it vanished as though it had never been.

“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.”

~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Author's Note: Edited January 02, 2024

Wonderful Curiosity

Questions are inspiration for curiosity
Curiosity is motivation for more questions
Small questions, middling questions, and huge improbable questions

‘Do you always have to ask why?’ she asked me.
‘Yes’ I replied unequivocably.

What’s next?
How can I find out?
What can I do differently?

Giving free rein to curiosity motivates so much more ~
Simple solutions and adequate answers, 
Intriguing ideas and delicate designs ~
shape shifting through life to become who you are today.

“Curiosity is lying in wait for every secret.”

~  Ralph Waldo Emerson

Awakening ~ 2

January’s eyes have closed ~
tired after thirty one 

long winter days.
Gone into hibernation for another year, all pages turned and set aside.

February’s eyes, barely opened, tempted to remain abed, but with a yawn, accepts the call to yearly duty for a short twenty-eight days grateful for the quietness ~ the next stop on the calendar

February ~ inspiration and motivation just awakening ~
slowly steps into 2015 ~ play to be played and work to be done,
Commitments to be kept whether rain, snow or sleet
(rather like the postal service, but a bit more regular) 

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”

~ Arthur Ashe

Author's Note: Edited January 02, 2024