Inspiration and Creativity

Even though my blog is christened "Himalayan Highway", the miles I travel are not actually on a road--they're in my mind. Sometimes I wonder if I'm actually traveling forward, or just around in circles, or worse yet, backwards! About this point in a semester I especially begin to wonder. I write little notes to myself about quiet time and creativity--along with the notes I write to myself reminding me to call the grocer for a delivery, and to get tomorrow's lesson copied, and to talk to X about Y. I guess I'm hoping that if I keep moving my pen, my brain won't actually stop....
All that to say, I was inspired today by a few lovely, yellow, juicy, slide-off-the-bush raspberries that I picked and ate on my way home. The reason they inspired me was because I had to climb the khud to get at them. I abandoned my chiffon dupatta and my homework on the edge of the path so that I could get a closer angle on the ripe berries. It let my mind travel years and miles over khuds I've climbed in the past.
I guard a little time every week to focus, also hoping to keep my brain alive. The pace of life here, and the intensity, make me feel like I don't have any creativity available to me. (I miss the luxury of automatic editing while typing in WORD.) I feel as though I have to think of anything creative I'll need for the next four months after about three weeks of vacation. If I find I need a creative inspiration during the semester, I'm pretty much sunk. Hoping to tap into a reserve of latent creativity, I seek quiet time. But it's hard to find time for anything, especially when it's not in my Outlook calendar.
That's why you don't see the inspirational epistles in my blog that you will find in my brother-in-law's blog "Blinding Insights". I was almost blinded tonight while reading it, by my own tears because I was laughing so hard. Jeff, I add my thanks to those of your other million readers a day...