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Lots has been said and written about the current mood in the country right now. I recently got a chance to delve into the consumer psyche regarding banks recently and the experience was an interesting study in contrasts.

Regarding the financial world: people are incredibly angry, no surprise.  They feel betrayed and violated by the greedy banks, the government for failure to protect them and the foolish people who knowingly got in over their heads.

But there is an optimism that things will get better.  We’ll work harder to replace what was lost.  There are small signs of recovery they try to see in their everyday lives.  People will emerge from their spending paralysis, but with a renewed and hopefully more balanced perspective.  Hope springs eternal.

But that’s not the best of what I learned.  I found out that despite everything, people are good.  Kind to strangers invading their homes with obnoxious cameras and probing questions about their spending habits and lifestyles.  Every home or business welcomed me graciously with offers of beverages.  One woman, a teacher on summer break, baked a fresh batch of cookies and brewed a pot of coffee for my interview visit.  One small business owner who ran a beverage carryout and car wash walked me to my car after I interviewed him and insisted I drive it through their car wash.  He personally helped clean the rims.  One couple that talked much longer than we had scheduled offered to make me a sandwich for lunch knowing I was off to another interview shortly.

People are good.  And in my line of work, Blanche DuBois and I have a lot in common.  We both have to rely on the kindness of strangers.

(Note: I am overlooking the part of the story where someone shattered my car window at the Cleveland airport only to find nothing of any importance to steal.  But when I took the car to a local dealer and explained what happened, they agreed to fix the window while they gave me a rental off the lot to use for the day, complete with navigation since I was in foreign territory…the wilds of Cleveland, you know.  So a bad thing, followed by a good thing.   And a newfound love for my car brand.)

One day when helping a 7-year-old with spelling words, we came across the word “inspiration”.  Not only did we have to know how to spell it, we had to fit it into a crossword puzzle and create a definition.

Here’s what we learned about it: (thanks to wikipedia)

There’s a definition:  “Inspiration: Stimulation of the mind or emotions to a high level of feeling or activity. An agency, such as a person or work of art, that moves the intellect or emotions or prompts action or invention.”

There’s scientific theory: “In modern psychology, inspiration is not frequently studied, but it is generally seen as an entirely internal process. However, whether empiricist or mystical, inspiration is, by its nature, beyond control.”

There’s a movie: “Inspiration is a 1915 American silent film starring Audrey Munson. It is notable for being the first non-pornographic American film to feature full nudity of a woman.”

There’s lots of music about the word, including Inspiration, the debut album of William Hung recorded following the early 2004 broadcast of his failed American Idol audition where Hung received notoriety and a cult following.

There’s even Inspiration software: “In 1987, Inspiration Software began to develop products for brainstorming, thinking and organizing ideas. The visual learning and thinking software tool is most widely known for its use in building graphic organizers, such as concept maps, diagrams and webs.”

We’re in a creative business that requires day after day of inspiration (and perspiration, according to Thomas Edison) and we expect it to come to us like turning a faucet on and off.  How do we do it?

Here’s what I learned when I asked four Engauge experts about inspiration:

It’s Random:
Seeing someone do something they have done a thousand times and you can suddenly imagine a way to do it better.  People watching is very under-rated.

Walk Away:
After spending lots of concentrated time on something, leave it alone for a while and come back to it with a fresh perspective.

Google:
Amazing things await us out there in the internet world and when one thing leads to another and another and another, you can end up very far from your original search into a whole new way of looking at something. 

Side with Edison:
Be willing to fail, stay on it like a dog with a bone and work, work, work.   Nothing works like thinking and puzzling something over.  Besides inspiration is only 1% of genius, right?

There’s a lot we don’t know about inspiration, but there’s one thing I know for sure.  It usually comes when it’s hard to write it down…like during the mundane life activities of driving, showering, pre-sleep or middle of night tossing and turning. 

What inspires you?