I look for inspiration. Constantly. It is not hard to find. It is always there in your surrounds. But depending upon your mood, it is easy to get blind to it.
I find that when you yourself are uninspiring, it is then the hardest state in which to encounter positive inspiration. Seems sort of unfair to yourself, as it means that the rope to pull you out of your own hole disappears as soon as you start to dig it.
This is an argument for remaining positive in general -- it's the best insurance.
A new professor here Ed Boyden explained to me that feeling happy has no discrete mapping in the brain. He went on to say that feelings of depression, and sadness, and so forth map to particular parts of the brain that are dedicated for such introspections. But happiness is not -- it's mapped in a share way to the motor system in your brain.
I've always heard that when you exercise and so forth, it makes you feel happier. I know this by personal experience from my random bits of exercise that I try to sneak in here and there. When you're moving, you're happier. When you're not moving, you shift back inside your own head.
I took this as an argument to think less, and move more.
A team functions better as a group when they experience realizing a common goal together. I've noticed that the beginning of summer ritual we have in the PLW of moving all the desks around into a new configuration often achieves this goal. You can work on software projects and other intangible things together with a difficulty of establishing the value of teamwork. But the simple activity of a shared physical exercise with co-workers can make an extreme difference. Out of the head, into the body, and outwards to others.
Now, out of my head, and moving back into the world.
Reader Morgan Sutherland writes, "A good thing to read, on the topic of happiness, is Bertrand Russell's The Conquest of Happiness." Thank you for the suggestion Morgan.