When you are looking for inspiration, you can see it. It can be everywhere, and if you are looking for a typical motivational inspiration, you can find it if you pause and look closely.

Yesterday I shared a great quote from David Attenborough that inspired me into adopting a new phrase – ‘Who shook the jar?’

(Check out yesterday’s post to find out more)

That was the right thing to read at the right time and for the right mood.

The quote from yesterday grabbed me and pulled me back into clarity of thought, almost like Michael Corleone in the Godfather 2, but without the resistance. Yesterday, I was glad to get pulled back in as I was getting rattled by some frustration within my day. That quote forced me to ask insightful questions, and from that, I got the clear and precise direction on the next step. It was a perfect moment of clarity for me. Cheers, David A. You will always be one of my true heroes.

Inspiration and clear directions are everywhere if you look for them with a critical and creative eye. Look closely and ask the right questions. 

What is this ‘thing’ telling me? 

What am I looking at here?

Can I see a story, a deeper meaning?

What does it remind me of?

If I squint my eyes and move perspective, does it take another shape?

Sometimes it’s obvious… like the table cloth I am looking at while I grab a quick, fly beer.

It is pretty apparent what inspired me here. The sentence: Collect moments not things.

This phrase captures everything I believe in and everything I want to do… I saw the sentence as I contemplated spending some money on a new piece of equipment I know I don’t need, but I was in a place of want!

Why am I in a place of want?

(A crap day/week can drive that in me)

Basically, it looks like I will not get home to the U.K. and allowed entry back into China next month, so I will have to cancel my trip home to see the family. That will be almost 18 months and more that I have not seen my children. 

A sh*t day indeed.

So with that, I was off to spend some money on some stuff I know I do not need. That is a fact. I know that I don’t need it. But I was going to spend it anyway, in a desperate attempt to make me feel better.

But, that was when I saw the sign on the table cloth, and so, I decided to look for an experience rather than buy a thing.

That was when I saw this picture in my memories in my phone photo app. This picture stirred a new thought in my head. Travel. Experiences. See new places and meet new people.

This is a picture of a trip across China that I took last year. The memory (stack of photos) was all about the travelling I had done across China before the pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns.

So the upshot of seeing these two signs…

The table cloth and the photo memory has inspired me to organise a trip across China if I definitely can not get to travel home!

I almost feel like a rabid Christian preacher… roll the frantic music, the dancing orchestra and the enthusiastic backing vocals!!

Boom, boom, shake the room, oh lordy, oh lordy…

‘I have seen the signs, I have seen the signs’

I believe that you too can see them if you look for them.

Open your eyes and let them find you. 

See the light.

It might lead you into a whole new life journey or a train journey across China!

Both are alright.

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