How Inspiration is Transferable

I always held that we can unknowingly inspire others just by being ourselves. The following is a simple illustration of how between inspiring and being inspired, the process of transference of inspiration works both ways.


Last year, I watched a Ted Talk by Joe Smith about using only one paper towel per person to dry our hands. Since I was mid roaming the U.S and using lots of public bathrooms, I loved the idea. Like many, I would always use two or three paper towels. But since watching that video and learning how it’s done, I use only one now.

I remember sharing it with the world on Facebook to spread that novel idea, which I thought was brilliant. I have already written before on why I like to share stuff and you can check it out on Here.

A couple of months ago, I happened to watch a simple 36-second animated Video about water conservation. It informs you that if you leave the tap water on while brushing your teeth, you waste about 10 to 12 litres per person every day. Again, that was something I was always guilty of, and I know I’m not the only one. This made me think of all the water I have wasted throughout 37 years.

The video, however, had a double impact on me since I’m currently in California where there is a serious water issue. So naturally, I decided to save those 10-12 litres by shutting the tap when brushing. Wanting to spread the useful idea once more, I shared the video all over online, as well as with my bungalow-mates. I even sent it to my parents in a private message. Because it doesn’t matter if you’re in California, Bangladesh, the Atacama Desert, or elsewhere,  water conservation is a serious matter everyone should be conscious of.


Now getting to the point of this exemplum, I was speaking recently to my sweet mother on Skype when the topic of that teeth-brushing video was brought up. She told me that all her life she had always left the tap water on as she brushed. I reminded her that us living in a 5-star hotel for 20 years certainly didn’t help, and she agreed.

“But now every time I’m brushing and, out of habit, I’m tempted to leave it open, I remember you. So I shut it,” she told me.

How lovely. So the simple video inspired her as it has inspired me.

The final twist is that sometimes, out of habit, I’m also tempted to keep the tap open. So then I remember my mother remembering me and I automatically turn it off. I feel compelled to do so. In fact, this now happens in the kitchen as well when sometimes I would get distracted while doing the dishes. You see here, having inspired someone comes back to you in the most positive and influential way.

Further, I cannot spread a message and not follow it; for that would simply be hypocrisy — practice what you preach kind of reasoning.

On a similar note, check What Being Conscious Means, a later piece with examples that could be considered a sequel. 


Contemplating the above from a big-picture perspective, this is how real change comes about. Ingenuity and creativity inspire ideas, which in turn inspire change. It’s the collective of tiny individual changes that eventually makes the difference. In our example here, it’s through the medium of the Internet that ideas are communicated between different minds, who will then be enabled to create that sought-after change. Because if it’s not them — us — then who?

Inspiration, ideas, insights, and perspectives are transferable energy. This energy can be contagious if one is attuned. Fortunately, the virtual world today is making the experience easy attainable and highly convenient for us. A video, an article, a quote, or even a simple word can indeed change a life. That is precisely why we should thrive on exposing ourselves to novel ideas and positives influences as much as we can. For it is through reading, learning, and sharing that we grow through life while remaining young at heart.

“Aspire to Inspire before you Expire!”
― Eugene Bell Jr.

*Article originally published on Conscious Life News in June 2015


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