There are a few tricks on how to get inspired, and you will find a few of them in this article. But most importantly, you will learn the true meaning of inspiration and how to work under the influence of it. After all, when work feels like grinding instead of creating, it tends to become a burden rather than a privilege, and that is when perspectives need to be shifted.
What is inspiration?
The word inspiration originates from the Latin word “spirare”, which means “breathe”. It is related to spirit, from the Latin word “spiritus”, meaning “breath”. When the word was adapted into English, it was used with the meaning of influence, move, guide, through divine or supernatural powers, according to Merriam-Webster dictionary. This, by definition, means that inspiration is directly connected to the breath. And think about it, when you’ve been inspired by something, haven’t you been highly energetic and enthusiastic, blissfully ecstatic about what you are doing or what you want to do? And during those times, if you observed your breathing, you might have noticed that your breaths were bigger and deeper, more profound, so to say. You were in spirit.
Because when you draw inspiration, you physically draw in breath or several breaths. On a more spiritual and metaphysical level, inspiration is in fact truly considered “the breath of life”. It has been known for ages in the eastern philosophy that when “Prana” (breath, life-giving force) runs freely through the body, one is more likely to experience calm, focus, happiness, and enthusiasm. Inspiration is breathing correctly.
How to become inspired as an artist?
No matter what stage of your career you are, a newcomer or a seasoned veteran, inspiration is perhaps the most valuable asset you can have in music production. It is, therefore, vital that you prioritize inspiration. The ultimate trick is to breathe as if you were extremely excited about something.
How do you do that? Well, the simple way is to do something that really excites you, and that may be literally anything. Whether it is doing something daring such as jumping off a cliff or playing high-intensity video games, whatever your excitement is, it should make you automatically draw in bigger breaths and turn you on. The better and slightly more challenging way is to imagine that you have already achieved your goal. Let’s say that your dream is to produce something so wonderful that you’re invited to play on the main stage at the biggest festivals in the world. Imagine you are there performing for countless people who came to see you – how does that make you feel? If that is truly your dream, you should feel highly excited and inspired. When you daydream and fantasize about success, your body assumes that you have reached success because it cannot distinguish fantasy from reality. It is only your mind that can do that. What your body does, instead, is that it becomes the vehicle of an excited soul, one who is going through something exciting and therefore is drawing in bigger breaths is drawing inspiration.
You see, you may draw inspiration from your idols or other successful people who you look up to. Their energy affects you in a positive way, you may even feel compelled to imitate them because their demeanor seems so attractive. That is normal and completely accepted, but you should not imitate their art. Every artist is unique and plagiarism is, first of all, morally wrong but also unhealthy because it is not true. You should focus on your creation and stay true to that. You may draw inspiration from other creators, but you do you. In the end, people can smell BS, and you don’t want to be the one connected with it.
Once you have created the excitement in your body, it’s only a matter of directing the energy into your work. Start producing and know that your creation will be amazing – it will because you have already imagined it becoming so. When you work with excitement, it also shows in the outcome. Stay conscious of your breath and see how you feel, are you truly excited and inspired or are you looking forwards to something else? Those are the key questions and tricks to work under inspiration.
