What does inspiration feel like? Last June, as I thought about the kids getting out of school for the summer, all I wanted to do was take a nap. I think of taking a nap daily, mind you, but I have not succumbed since the day after Christmas.
Somewhere in my well-conditioned brain, it feels like an accomplishment to ignore that voice. Aren’t I stronger if I do what I am supposed to do, not greedily following what my heart desires? I sometimes feel the need to justify if I am going to follow that little voice. I must work hard before I am deserving. I tell myself, things have been so busy and I have not slept in days, years, months! I send myself the message that listening to my inner voice is the last thing I should do.
Whatever it may be, the key to all joy and fulfillment lies in listening to that voice. It did not emerge for me to ignore it. It is waiting for me to remember what my kids know so well. Follow it and you will feel unbridled joy. The voice did not just start, and it is not going away. It is the inspiration that is inside me. It is my personal GPS and yet I rarely follow it. Why? Because I was taught, by others who were not following their own hearts, that it is selfish or irresponsible.
Inspired action can be scary because it comes from the deepest parts of who we are and it often does not align with what others think we should be doing, or what we believe, out of some sense of guilt, we should be doing. What I have found is that when I have the courage to listen, whether it is a desire to take a nap, or a desire to take my family of five on a wandering journey across the globe with no definite ending, it is the only way to live. The alternative means I am living someone else’s idea of life.
Nap time starts now!
