Everyday I drink tea and lately I’ve been leaning towards herbal teas by Yogi Tea. Their tea is pretty tasty, and organic, but the draw for me is mostly their tea tags. Each tea bag has an inspirational phrase or sentence on its paper tag. I’ve been saving these and keeping them around me, sometimes using them to spark some ideas for things to write about. I also have been sharing them with my friends by taking pictures of them and posting them for all to enjoy. I hope they like them as much as I do.

I’ve been thinking lately that it would be such an interesting job to come up with these inspirational quips. I decided to check out the Yogi Tea website and they have an area on their site called Inspirations that you can browse. It’s full of more “tea tag quotes” and you can even contribute your own to the mix.

I’ve wanted to write my own for a while now, so I will. Here are some of mine that I especially like:

Have courage to be the true you.

Embrace simplicity or a friend.

Learn to see the invisible.

Wonder about everything.

Find your song. And sing it.

Love endlessly, honestly, every day.

Believe in the magic in yourself.

Create something.

Celebrate your flaws.

Find your path.

I could come up with more but for now I’ll leave it at that. I wish I could create personal quotes for everyone I know, so that each day they stumble across a tea tag with their quote for the day written on it. As if by magic, it would appear as a bookmark in a book they are reading, or they might find it in their desk, or one could fall out of their purse. Little surprises of inspiration.

I tend to look at the world as if everything could be inspirational. In everything I do I try to find the hidden meaning behind it, even if there isn’t one. Well, to me everything does have meaning, no matter how small it is. I’m a dreamer. Some people may not see how the simple things in life make an impact on who they are or where they are. If I can awaken people enough to see the small things, to pay attention to the tiny details they might overlook, and really see things, then I am satisfied.

Out of pure curiosity, and my own interest in looking up everything, I found the definition of inspiration. It’s something that is the “act of drawing in” or “to breathe in” but also “a divine influence directly and immediately exerted upon the mind and soul.” All of which I find fascinating. Because this word has a double meaning. It describes breathing, but it also describes drawing something within, as in an idea, or a thought. You could compare this with persiration, which is the opposite form—expelling something from you, sweating.

I like thinking about inspiration as the act of drawing something within you. Because that’s exactly what it is. It’s vague but I think it has to be, because anything can provide you with inspiration. Anything can be inspiring.

I dare you to go out into your world, and find the things that inspire you, the things that are inspirational. It could be anything. A person, a quote, a book, a pet, a flower. An image. Whatever. Go out and gather the things that really affect you and keep them close. And tell others about them. Maybe our personal inspirations can inspire others. And we can all draw inside us little pieces of joy, and happiness, and smiles, and laughter, which we all need to get through our days.

While you’re at it, check out the Yogi Tea website and add your own inspirations, as I soon will: http://www.yogiproducts.com/well-being/inspirations/