Inspiration: the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative. The million-dollar question: Do you wait for it to come to you or do you seek it out? Sadly, the answer is neither. I know, I started with a trick question. In my defense, I am not feeling very inspired to write this and that was the best thing I could think of. However, here I am, pushing through.

I recently read an article published by Tobias van Schneider, titled "The Inspiration Lie." At first I was drawn in just by the title. Unfortunately, by the time I finished reading it, I was a little, well, angry. I didn't understand what van Schneider was trying to say about inspiration and I finished his article feeling a little confused. However, after allowing the author's advice to sink into the depths of my cranium over a full night's sleep, I awoke agreeing with his proposed outlook on finding inspiration.

The author uses the diagram below to explain to his readers that trying to force inspiration is just as bad as sitting and waiting for inspiration to come to you. The more linear your path is, the less likely inspiration will strike.

For example, it's like trying to force inspiration when you're writing a paper: you sit down at your desk, whip out your laptop, and you realize the infamous writer's block is in full effect. To cure your writer's block, you start doing some research, hoping it will cause your neurons to start firing off signals that mobilize your fingers into magically creating an A-plus research paper. Unfortunately, we know that it doesn't happen that way.

The truth is that sometimes just doing something -- literally anything else -- will cause inspiration to strike. Try going for a walk. Call a friend. Go to a local coffee shop. Stop thinking about how much it sucks that you're not inspired and do something else to help clean out the cobwebs in your brain. Pablo Picaso once said, "Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working."

This is an interesting concept that is difficult to grasp because it goes against our logic. We believe that in order to work, we must be inspired. After reading van Schneider's article I began to think that maybe that is the problem. So, here I am. Writing to you all about inspiration when at the beginning of this article I had none. The truth is I have done one million and three things between the start and finish of this draft. I have done 15 minutes of gentle yoga, I've called and complained to my best friend, I've typed up two new recipes, and I even managed to unload the dishwasher. I guess the key is to just start working. Create your own inspiration and the rest will follow.