Inspiring Minds Want to Know

Greetings Friends,

I'm blogging today from a different Starbucks, here in sunny, springy Toronto.

CBC News Network (or whatever they're calling themselves these days) showed one of my favourite documentaries last week, "Super Size Me", by Morgan Spurlock. I've never been a big eater of fast food, particularly McDonalds, but watching that man go from the pinnacle of health to a train wreck with a fatty liver and chest pains will make anyone think twice about ordering up that Big Mac, fries and a shake no matter how hungry you are. Well, maybe not if you're on an extended road trip and it's your only choice, but generally I do my best to avoid it...not counting occasional, unreasonable hormonal cravings; those cannot be helped.

At the beginning of his iconic documentary, Spurlock explained that his inspiration for making the film was the American obesity epidemic, and the prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes in children. That in itself is inspiration enough, but to sacrifice your own health in the bargain might be a fair bit of agenda-pushing; but it was pretty fascinating agenda pushing, in my opinion. Watching this film got me thinking about what it is that inspires us, and what we are capable of when bits of inspiration present themselves.

As a writer, I get inspired by a lot of things. They could be my personal experiences, the experiences of others, things I read, things I watch, things I hear, and so on. Sometimes, writing about what inspires me isn't always easy. I'm not the kind of writer for whom the words are always blowing out my...um, posterior. Sometimes, I need to pace, go for a walk, play 50 games of Windows solitaire, have a cup of coffee, play with the cat - basically any number of things to try and capture some inspiration. But, no matter how blocked I sometimes get, inspiration in some form will always arrive. Today, just watching people and traffic go by in the gorgeous spring sunshine is enough to inspire me to feel positive about the future and the things that are in store for me.

What inspires you? Tell me, please. I really want to know.

Nava