Breathe In – The Inspiration Award

When you think of “inspiration” what or who comes to mind?

One of the people who comes to mind for me is my father. He was the first person who taught me about inspiration, and how to find it in unusual places. In his eyes a pile of trash on the side of the road could become a beautiful work of art.

This is a pic I took (moonvoodoo is my now defunct Da name) of some trash by the side of the road – it’s a slogan I dislike, and I liked that someone had thrown it away, leaving nature to deal with it.

My father was a professional artist.

When he was a kid, his teacher had noticed the scribbles he made in his school books, but instead of telling him off she had encouraged him to develop his natural ability and pursue the life of an artist.

His mother wanted him to be a bus driver, it was a respectable job, and to forget about his frivolous artistic ambitions because people wouldn’t respect him and he wouldn’t make a decent living from it – even though when he was a teenager during World War II he made quite a lot of money, which put food on the family table and bought many little luxuries for his mother and siblings, by sketching portraits of the G.I.’s who had come to liberate Italy.

My grandfather worked as a builder at the Vatican, but during the war he spent time in jail for repeatedly telling the Fascists to fuck off (he was a “capu tostu” = deeply ingrained hardheadedness), and my father as next head of family took over his role as provider. His experience earning money from his drawings made him determined to pursue his art regardless of what people said and thought about it.

My grandmother’s attitude was rather narrow and blinkered, but understandable considering they were living in the slums of Rome after having moved from the South of Italy where jobs were scarce. She never changed her opinion even after my father made it as a professional artist, bought her a nice house and made sure she was comfortably set for life.

So, what has any of that got to do with this… and what is this?

Rory, of A Guy Called Bloke, has gifted me with The Inspiration Award.

The Inspiration Award was created by The Eclectic Contrarian, and it “is a token of appreciation to blog authors who have inspired you, your blog, artistic influence and writing.“

The rules:

• You may use the picture above as you have received the Award
• There’s no limit on how many or few you wish to award. Simply appreciate those who have inspired you!
• I hope this is a blessing and everyone participates. But it’s not mandatory.

The “picture above” is this one below:

The story I told about my father… originally I shared it because of him teaching me to find inspiration in everything and everyone, including in things which may not be viewed as inspiring, or which may inspire a negative perspective and reaction in the eye of the beholder.

Negative muses can be just as inspiring than positive ones, sometimes more so.

But I could have said that in one paragraph as I have a just done. Why did I say more than was needed?

That’s a signature of sorts of my blog posts. I always write more than needs to be written… if I was just writing to share my stories, perspective, with others, but that’s not why I blog.

My posts are conversations which I’m having with myself. The more I talk, the more I listen and hear what I might miss if I didn’t say as much as I say. These conversations inspire me in a multitude of ways – sometimes I notice a blind spot, where I’m being narrow-minded and blinkered. Sometimes it highlights where my stubbornness is hindering progress, or maybe it shows me where my “capu tostu” is a blessing.

Being inherently hard-headed is rather useful for blogging.

I’ve been blogging on WordPress as Anupturnedsoul since March 2013. I was going to use Blogger instead but it had just been taken over by Google and I found it to be rather messy (if you think the WP glitches are bad… the Blogger glitches at that time were so much worse).

Before that I was on tumblr. Before that I had a previous WP. Before that I had a previous tumblr – that was my very first blog, and I was inspired to blog thanks to my niece who loved what I was doing on Facebook and told me to tumblr it.

I’ve learned a lot about blogging over the years I’ve been doing it. There are many phases and stages bloggers go through – many don’t make it through some of those. When I created this blog, I had not made it through some of those stages with my previous blogs… and I used that experience with this one. Still though, I’ve almost not made it through other stages and phases – but I did thanks to hardheadedness kicking in just as I was about to press “delete blog”.

Throughout the years I’ve had the pleasure of meeting many different bloggers, reading some wonderful posts, and have been inspired by the lives, experiences, perspectives and stories they shared.

Many of them are no longer blogging – some have deleted their blog, others have simply abandoned blog, a few disappear for months on end then pop back in for a “Sorry I haven’t been posting” post which may have a “but I’m back, now!” then they disappear again, a few have died.

This isn’t just on WordPress. I follow a lot of blogs outside of WordPress too.

Who I follow and why is random… although later on I sometimes realise it wasn’t random at all. I found them when I needed to hear what they were saying… sometimes it is positive inspiration and sometimes it is negative inspiration, both are of equal inspiring value.

When I stop following a blog… it may be because I no longer need to hear what is being said. That source of inspiration no longer inspires anything. That might sound a bit… but that’s the ebb and flow of life. People come and people go, sometimes they do that with us, sometimes we do that with them.

I’m often glad when people who have been following me stop following me… especially if the reason they were following was because of my posts about Narcissists. I like to think they are no longer in that place they were when they found my writing, they don’t need my blog anymore, they’ve moved on to a better and freer way of feeling.

Of course they could have begun to suspect that I’m a Narcissist… then getting away from me and my words is the right move.

If you’re into astrology… I’ve noticed that people often gravitate towards me when they’re going through an intense Pluto transit – undergoing a trek through hell of some sort which requires delving deeply into the uncomfortable dark and making friends with shadow.

I don’t follow everyone who follows me and don’t expect those I follow to follow me back – my style of writing and posting is definitely not for everyone, it’s a peculiar niche know as WTFuckery.

I go through periods of trying things out. I like to experiment, explore, challenge myself, see what happens if… If you happen upon my posts while I’m doing that and then later on I switch to something else or return to my regular programming… it can knock you for six, it’s not what you signed up for, you’re outtahere!

That’s fine, I get it… I might feel a bit hurt or pissed off or both but I’ll be fine once I’ve had a rant about it on my blog. I may be joking or may be serious, usually it’s a bit of both.

Everything is a prompt to a blogger… everything is inspiration!

That is not a Cherry

Recently I’ve been thinking about what I’m doing here and why – this happens every few months.

If you follow a blog regularly you might see the blogger going through a similar experience of reviewing and questioning why they blog and what they’re doing here.

I spotted a blogger doing that the other day – they were going through a version of that phase known as “Shit, people are reading my blog… maybe I should write for them instead of myself”. I’ve been through that phase several times… and written posts while arguing with myself about it. If people are reading your posts which you write for yourself, saying what you want to say, don’t change your blog voice for them – that’s not what they signed up for!

I could share loads of blogging advice with you but whenever I try to do that it goes a bit wrong… it’s more helpful if I stick to being unhelpful.

Besides the best advice is the kind you figure out for yourself while doing and learning while doing, because it’s the kind which suits you and what you’re doing.

So… enough of me, let’s focus on those bloggers who inspire me. I’m going to mention what inspires me about them, and link to a post of theirs which I liked:

Melanie of Sparks From A Combustible Mind – Melanie and I have been following each other for years. She’s raw and real. She’s not afraid to show herself in all her moods and frames of mind. That’s inspiring!

Just a Thought… – Sparks From A Combustible Mind

Scherezade of Scherezade’s Labyrinth – When I first blog-met Scherezade she was rather quiet, but then she came out of her shell like Aphrodite and revealed a depth of soul in her writing which is breathtaking. She has a way of seeing and saying which can hit a spot with a zap-wow. That’s inspiring!

America’s Worst Nightmare – Scherezade’s Labyrinth

Angie of King Ben’s Grandma – I’ve only recently blog-met Angie. I think it was through Rory. She gives great comments – she’s was a comment-artist, her style is unique, uplifting. She often says that she comments more than she posts, and wonders if her comments bother bloggers. They definitely don’t bother me, they’re energising and inspiring. Her posts are heartfelt slices of personal life being lived. That’s inspiring!

Missing That Drum – King Ben’s Grandma

The Reverist of Riddles & Reveries – The Rev is inspired by his muse. He writes posts like love letters, telling his muse of his love for her, wondering if she’s wondering about him, sharing stories of his life before and after their fateful meeting for her to read… is she following his blog, might she one day find it if she hasn’t already? His heart is a poet. That’s inspiring!

Sorry To Bother You – Riddles & Reveries.

I also find Rory inspiring. Even though he spams the reader with post after post, it’s never tiresome because each post is different, original, interesting. He’s had a very intriguing life, and continues to do so. He lives with passion and shares that passion through his blog.

He’s rather bull-headed… which is a positive, especially if you have a vision, a dream which you want to pursue and make real for yourself, and other people keep trying to push or pull you in another direction.

He had someone bullying him a while ago online, in connection with his blog… he soldiered on, and used that experience to inspire him creatively. That’s inspiring!

Thank you, Rory!