Words of wisdom
We need inspiration and belief to help us through the difficult times. So we asked six writers to tell us what inspires them.
My greatest inspiration is my wife, Anne-Marie Casey, who has a patient and accepting joyfulness and a fundamental love of being alive that makes me long to be around her when we are not together.
I had a lot of unhappiness as a child, but having Anne-Marie makes me feel my life is immensely blessed. Nobody makes me laugh more. There is no one I admire more. I am so proud of her, in every way, and I can’t believe my luck. If I weren’t married to her, I would want to run away with her, and some days I want to do that anyway.
Our children are also such an education to me in how to be happy. Aged 12 and eight, they already have a better and wiser perspective on everything than I have. To have been part of the lives of those three people has given everything in my life a meaning that could never be lessened. They make me feel that to have lived just once is miracle enough.
My favourite quote:
“Enjoy every sandwich.”
Every two weeks I go walking in Wicklow with a group of friends. There are six of us in total — it’s not like it’s a closed shop, there are open invitations to family and other friends but for some reason, no-one else ever comes, so we’ve become a lovely tight little group and we’ve stuck to the routine for at least three years.
Wicklow has hundreds of stunningly beautiful walks so we vary the length and toughness of our route — sometimes we push ourselves outside our comfort zone and while it’s hard doing it, we feel great at the end. Other times we go easy on ourselves, which is pleasant in a different way. About halfway through, we have our sangwidges. Sangwidge duty happens on a rotating basis and there’s a lot of one-upmanship, which is nice, because it means you can always depend on getting a superior sangwidge.
Because the weather in Ireland is so unpredictable (or maybe you could say that it’s all too predictable) we go even when it’s raining. On those mornings I admit I do wish I could stay in bed rather than hike up the side of a mountain in the wet, but I feel bad at the thought of letting the others down so I always go and I’m always glad.
The fresh air, the beauty of our surroundings, the bit of exercise and, best of all, the chats and the laughs are very uplifting.
My favourite quote: “Every mountain top is within reach if you just keep climbing.”
My wife and my children are my inspiration, but that, perhaps is a given. In the movie Up in the Air, all the people who’d been fired said it was their family that had kept them going; and kept them getting out of bed to look for another job. The character played by George Clooney, who was doing the firing, had no family, and felt he had nothing.
I’m inspired by music. It’s very important for me. It helps me to work and ‘has charms to soothe the savage breast’. If I like the mood I’m in, I can augment it with the right soundtrack, and if I don’t, I can change it with a bit of Kate Bush or David Bowie. If I’m working, and I want to do a fast action scene, I’ll put on the Queen soundtrack for Flash Gordon. That gives me the comic book feel.
I love driving along and playing an entire album of, maybe, Pink Floyd. It can change my outlook. If I listen to something that is total genius it makes me aspire to write at that level. I love the Wexford musician Pierce Turner. His new album Music for a Verry Small Orchestra inspires me.
My favourite quote:
“There is no such thing as humdrum. The most mundane event seen through the prism of the imagination can become a battle for worlds.”
My inspiration is always seeing the positive in any situation. I believe positivity is key in life. We can’t control the things that life throws at us, but we can choose how we deal with them.
I’ve beaten cancer eight times, and it’s that attitude that has got me through.
My children, now aged 12 and 11, are an incredibly positive influence. They were so little when I started with cancer, and they have that incredible upbeat innocence that children offer. They don’t know when the world is in turmoil around them. They’re just getting on with everything. I drew from that.
It is, of course, hard to be positive all the time. Sometimes life is very hard.
When I had a dark day, I would go and do something to take my mind off it. I would either eat chocolate, or buy something, like a lipstick.
Writing helped me too. And because I was writing fiction, it was a wonderful world of escapism. I was so engrossed in my books, there was always an alternate world that I could escape to.
If I felt very sick I would go to bed while the children were in school. My grandmother used to say, “There is not much in the world that doesn’t get better if you have a rest, then get up and have tea and a slice of cake.” If you’re physically exhausted, it does actually work.
My favourite quote:
“If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”
I love walking my golden retriever, Sasha, up Killiney Hill. I love being alone there, but that doesn’t inspire me. I’m inspired by people. Not necessarily the people who are impressive. Or the people who think the same way that I do. I will never learn anything from them.
A lot of the people who inspire me have opposite personality traits to myself. I like having long conversations with those people, especially if they disagree with me. I’m inspired by their notions and their ideas. They tend to be a little more quizzical, and ask, “Is that really true?” That scares me a little, but it inspires me too.
I was at a wedding in England five years ago, in the House of Commons crypt. I met a group of perfectly nice individuals, but they hadn’t a thought for the common good. Their very remoteness inspired me to write.
As an economist, I’m inspired by the different ways to communicate. I love the idea of economics in the theatre, and Kilkenomics, which is economics and stand-up comedy together. I like taking risks with my own work. That is inspiring.
I’m also inspired by games of five-a-side soccer. I play two or three times a week. It clears my brain of all the clutter. For that hour, or hour and a half, you don’t think about anything else. It’s really good for your head.
My favourite quote:
“I am inspired by the beautiful game played spectacularly badly by middle-aged men.”
Emails. Facebook. Twitter. Landlines. Mobiles. TV on demand.
They clog up our minds until sometimes you have to escape and remember there is so much more to life.
I only have to walk out into my back garden to be brought back to my peaceful place and a serene state of mind.
Even on a bitterly cold day there is so much to see and do in the garden. The birds are feasting on the apples under the apple tree. Two finches are investigating my nesting house. The robin and his wife are surveying their territory, and still, in spite of frost and ice, the fuchsias are heavy with blooms, the cyclamen and daisies are a glorious pink against the loamy soil.
Last night the full moon threw silver sparkles on the frost-glistened grass and a myriad of stars glittered like diamonds in a black velvet sky.
I’m always inspired by nature and find respite from the hectic treadmill of life just walking by the sea and listening to its lullaby or watching a field of barley as it ripens from green to gold.
Nature is one of our greatest gifts, it soothes and calms and lifts the spirits but so many of us take it for granted and never see its beauty. If people took time out to reconnect with Mother Earth and all her abundance our lives would be greatly enhanced.
My favourite quote:
“There are always flowers for those who want to see them.”
