Inspiration or Motivation?

​“Inspiration comes forth from within. It’s what the light burning within you is about, as opposed to motivation, which is doing it because if you don’t do it, there will be negative repercussions. Motivation is making myself do something that I don’t really want to do. Inspiration is having the clear picture of what I am wanting — and letting Universal forces come into play to get the outcome.”
-Abraham-Hicks

Do you do what you do because you are motivated by what needs to get done or because you feel that inner spark of inspiration?

​Today's post could easily have come under the door of Play, because inspiration is fun.  But understanding why and how we do what we do is at the heart of Know Thyself, and of this post.

Years ago, I was an overwhelmed mother of two, I had a part-time job at a local, spiritual magazine, and another part-time job working with a few clients. I had a husband that traveled a lot, a large, old farmhouse to take care of and a tight budget.

I found myself feeling increasingly irritable, annoyed (and I’m sure annoying), and burdened by the care of our old house. Things were always dirty and broken and it weighed on me. Cleaning and maintenance of our home felt like too much in addition to everything else. Wrangling my kids into helping, well, I just didn’t have the energy. Nor did there seem to be money to hire help, though I longed for it.

This went on for some time, until one day as I vacuumed the never-ending cobwebs in our damp and ancient basement, I remembered how I loved to play imaginative games with my best friend as a child. We pretended to be other people, whoever captured our fancy at the time. We’d role play how we thought those people would feel, speak and act. It was fun.

That day, standing in our dark basement, vacuum hose in hand, I felt inspired to play an adult version of the game. I’d watched Manor House on PBS and marveled at the staff it took to run that enormous house. Continuing to vacuum I made up characters in my imagination, my own staff. There was “Cookie,” our cook, and “Ceilie” our maid, and “Alfred” our man of all work, and then there was the Estate Manager, me. 

As I cleaned, the Estate Manager, in proper English accent, had a running conversation of praise and appreciation with Alfred who was doing the vacuuming. (He had kindly taken over for Ceilie who was afraid of spiders.) The work flowed, and I was done before I knew it. It felt so good to work in this way that I continued the game whenever chores just felt like work. I began to look forward to having fun with “my staff” as the jobs became enjoyable.

The loving appreciation and feeling of support conjured in my imagination had another unexpected benefit. The Universe stepped in and supported.

When my husband was home, he started to help out more. Not because I nagged him to, but just because he thought of it. Together we decided to hire some jobs out, and I began to feel increasingly supported with the care of our big, old farmhouse.

The point here is to be moving into what you want rather than struggling against what you don’t want, because we know that, “what you resist, persists.” Choose to find, create and move into that spark of inspiration in whatever aspect of life you are focused upon as if it were already your reality. 

To do so I encourage you to, as Abraham-Hicks suggests, take action from inspiration rather than motivation.

Next, “act as if” what inspires you is already part of your life. That’s a tool Red Feather teaches which I share in today’s Your Spiritual Toolbox.
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Are you inspired or are you motivated? Inspiration can make play of hard work and is a lot more fun!

Your Spiritual Toolbox

​Ask yourself, “What inspires me today?” If it’s not what you need to be doing right now, or if it’s not currently in your reality, employ a wonderful suggestion of Red Feather’s and, “Act as if.”

What this means is that you pretend to yourself. You can even make it a game as you would have done as a child.

For example, imagine you want to finally take charge of your diet and health, but the idea of yet another diet has you feeling less than enthused. What do you do?

Ask yourself,  what would your ideal self feel like if you lost the weight you wanted to lose or were your most healthy self? Would your imagined self be more energetic and physically active? Would your imagined self dress better, get a new haircut, spend more time lovingly caring for your body? Would your imagined self love your body and focus upon what you like best about your body?

Now pretend that you already do. Act as if you have already accomplished your goal.

ENJOY feeling how you imagine you would feel living your inspiration.

​Continuing our example, any time you look in the mirror, think loving thoughts to your body. Go to a clothing store and play dress-up. Try on the kind of clothes that make you feel good about yourself. Maybe they are dressier than your usual, maybe they look more put together.

Have fun with this!

Why not, “act as if” you had already attained your desire and do all those things for yourself now? Make it a game you play with yourself.

​Think the thoughts of who you would be if you’d already attained your goal.

There’s every real reason to do so, because what you focus your attention on increases in your life. The more you, “act as if,” the more you live (even if it’s just in your imagination) your inspiration, the more the Universe responds guiding you to what it is that you want.