“Inspiration” is the prompt for day 24 of #Gratitude30. I went down a rabbit hole trying to figure out what I wanted to share here. This is a bit of what happens to me when inspiration hits, when there is an excitement to discover or create or share. Then I work at whittling down, at focusing on that core thought or idea so that I can share with others.

From the Merriam-Webster dictionary I learnt that the word “inspiration” comes from the Latin inspiratus (past participle of inspirare, “to breathe into”) and has been in use since the middle of the 16th century by doctors to refer to drawing air into the lungs. Since the early 14th century however, inspiration as a sense of divine influence upon a person has been in use.

This makes me think of the breath of the Divine, and stories of the Divine breathing life into mankind. It makes me think of prāṇa, which has multiple definitions according to context, but can be loosely thought of as life force, as breath, as subtle energy. It makes me think of chi or qi, the vital energy within us.

What happens when we are inspired? We connect to that subtle energy of creation flowing within and around us. We connect to the Divine, of which we are a spark.

Grateful today for this particular prompt. We can look at words again and again, just like we can encounter situations again and again, and each time find something new or deeper to explore.

What do you think of this prompt?

~Renee Arundhati

*these posts are also being shared on my social media (Instagram and Facebook) as I have shared there over the past years.