We love asking the folks that inspire and excite us about what inspires and excites them. Check out their responses below.

Lexi Weege | Singer Songwriter

As a touring musician, I am constantly in awe of our country’s natural beauty and the people I meet.

These last few years especially, I’ve been greatly inspired by the desert and always come home with new songs and poems. Read more>>

Christopher Kenji | Pop-Rock Artist & Award-Winning Fashion Model

I think in general, I’m inspired by anything that makes me feel something. I guess that probably sounds pretty vague, but for me, it’s really that simple. It could really be anything but lately, it’s been dreams. I somehow keep writing songs in my dreams. I don’t know how or why but it’s been happening. Read more>>

Nelson Gary | Poet-Author and Associate Professional Clinical Counselor

I’m inspired to better my relationships with the Holy Trinity, other people, places, and things, and myself through mainly pancultural methods of healing. I’m inspired to do what it takes to develop more empathic understanding, which is meeting others where they’re at and following the Golden Rule prescribed by Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” As far as myself, I don’t have warm, happy, peaceful emotions about all of myself all of the time, but I am! inspired to love myself by treating myself well. This includes addressing where I’ve gone wrong with others and/or myself and mending matters. God in need of healing? Yeah! As above, so below, y’know. That’s right, as above, so below. God’s broken heart is related to the suffering in the world in more than one way. In terms of psychospirituality, I’m inspired by shamanism, Western psychology, Christian mysticism, Kabbalah, Kundalini yoga, Tamil Siddha twilight language (conversation about the void), Tantra, Tibetan Buddhist Chöd and crazy wisdom, Taoism, and one Orisha of the Yoruba religion, Aja. In Pharmacy Psalms and Half-Life Hymns—for Nothing, my current book, spirituality intersects with not only the Homeric tradition itself, but also what it has inspired in multiple fields, including psychology with respect to gaining insights into major changes in the history of human consciousness, particularly as it relates to religious beliefs and practices. As sure as the sun is hot, this has relevance today in most areas as a result of technological progress, which, like the invention of writing before it, has radically altered human consciousness in more ways than we know. Therefore, naturally, I’m inspired by consciousness and the unconscious mind as well as their verbal and nonverbal relationship. I’m also inspired by the relationship between the spiritual and material, and this is clearly shown in Pharmacy Psalms and Half-Life Hymns—for Nothing. Since the 1990s, I’ve been inspired to understand how people have communicated with deities, otherworldly beings, and a host of spirits (the conversations that form different amounts of the bedrock of major religions) in order to, at this point, have altruistic and evenhanded insight into revelations, delusions, visions, and hallucinations. This has resulted in having a theia mania (“divine madness”) practice. This practice guided the creation of Pharmacy Psalms and Half-Life Hymns—for Nothing. I took dictation from Lady Wisdom of Proverbs 8 in the Bible, whom I regard as the Holy Spirit, for the sake of healing others and myself. She and I have had a relationship for many years; I sometimes call her Helen Aja Hammersmith-Bond. My mother, grandmother, father-in-law, 17 friends and fellow strugglers died within a short period of time, most of them within 9 months; therefore, in Pharmacy Psalms and Half-Life Hymns—for Nothing, I was inspired to process loss and grief–belt out the blues!!! While there is writing about those who died, there’s much more of a focus on the experience of saudade, the presence of absence, with respect to my loved ones who are no longer physically here, breathing. When I started the book, I had recently earned a Master’s in Forensic Psychology. What inspired me most when I entered graduate school was to find ways to remove the revolving door between homelessness and incarceration, and replace it with something much, much better. I’ve found some ways to do this through the work of others and my own ideas. I’m inspired by R.D. Laing who stated, “Madness need not be all breakdown. It may also be break-through.” Madness needs to be worked with, not only worked against much more than it currently is. Far too often, there’s a wholesale dismissal of people’s experiences and even personalities because they voice their significantly individuated spiritual beliefs and practices. When revelations have delusional aspects, it’s these aspects that must be treated, so people can heal and enjoy their revelations more fully. To the tragic extent that madness is not being worked with and worked against evidences systemic cognitive distortion (all-or-nothing thinking), so I’m inspired to change this line of “unreasoning.” Pharmacy Psalms and Half-Life Hymns—for Nothing is many things, including a book of divine madness written to change this line of “unreasoning” and others. I’ve had three art shows, and I’m inspired to do more visual art for myself, yeah, but also because Lil Gary, my beloved, loving wife, would really like to see me do that. There’s no real getting around it: I’m inspired by nature, particularly the Woodland Hills-Topanga Canyon area where I live. Read more>>

Darian James | Event Expert & Director of Catering & Events

I’m inspired by change and opportunity. It’s rear that anyone come across an opportunity that can be life changing. So when a change in my life or career occurs, I’m thrilled to welcome it. I love watching America’s Got Talent or Britain’s Got Talent for example because these people go on this show and share their talents and it’s a huge opportunity for them to be discovered and possibly change their entire life. Anytime I’m given an opportunity for anything it fuels me to want do it the best way possible. I’m also inspired by my family., especially my mom who had me at a very young age and had to sacrifice a lot to make sure I never needed anything. My family has always been a pillar of strength growing up and has inspired me to want to be my best at everything in life to one day repay them for everything they have done for me. Read more>>

Ailyn Lee

I find inspiration in objects and furniture that show signs of age or faded colors. When traveling or visiting a new place, I enjoy exploring nearby antique shops because I immediately envision the type of work I want to create upon seeing certain objects in such shops. I love everything about objects found in antique shops. I prefer items with wood grain and frayed edges over those that are overly polished and pristine. I find comfort in the distinct scent of wood and dust carried by old items. Disassembling, painting, and adding clay to create new forms excite me. Some items even bear labels indicating when and where they were found. They spark my imagination and make me wonder about their previous owners and the stories they hold. Read more>>

Alessandra Acierno

I am most inspired by ambiguity. I remember my first powerful reactions to art and literature were to those works that left me questioning. With books from my adolescence, for example, I would be aroused by a certain indefiniteness of experience, by a character whose intentions and actions existed outside comfortable moral and social dichotomies. This is still something that speaks to me. I often gravitate towards literature with morally ambiguous characters – like the Magistrate in Coetzee’s ‘Waiting for the Barbarians,’ or Meursault in Camus’ ‘The Stranger.’ The notion of The Absurd is also something that inspires me. I am intensely drawn to coexisting incompatibilities. I feel that this is the closest approximation of truth. Read more>>