Inspired BY is what moves and illuminates us.
Inspired TO is what we choose to do.
Think of a moment when something moved you so deeply that you wanted to do something about it. It could have happened after meeting a person, a place, reading a story, a piece of music, watching a film, a book, a spectacular achievement, or simply something beautiful in nature.
For a moment, something changed inside you. You saw something differently. A new possibility appeared. And somehow, you wanted to act on it. You did something you had not planned to do — and you loved doing it.
That is what inspiration feels like.
We experience moments like these more often than we realise. Inspired by a television show, we decide to visit a particular destination. Inspired by a TED Talk, we begin to embody a new value. Inspired by a teacher, a preacher or a friend, we try something new or choose to do something differently.
One of our team members found this recently while on holiday in Ireland, walking into a store that made custom-captioned T-shirts. The captions, the creativity and the lightness of it all were inspiring. A new possibility suddenly appeared. They bought a printer and started printing their little daughter’s crazy drawings — scribbles, honestly — and adding captions to them. It was a hit.
That was one recent inspiration story. Something seen opened up a new possibility, and it moved someone to put it into action. The result gave them hope, a sense of purpose and lots of happiness in seeing something imagined actually come to life.
Perhaps this is why inspiration is so powerful. It gives us hope and a sense of purpose. It helps us see what could be possible — and gives us the energy to do something about it.
At Beforest, we think about inspiration in two parts.
Inspired BY is what moves and illuminates us.
Inspired TO is what we choose to do.
If you look closely at a moment of inspiration, these two things often happen together. First comes an awakening — an “Aaahaa!” or “Got it!” moment when something becomes clearer or a new possibility reveals itself. Then comes the desire to act: to take that possibility and make something happen.
Something inspired our founders, and their inspiration created Beforest. Today, driven by what we have achieved, we too feel a sense of hope and a renewed sense of purpose. We want to create opportunities for others to experience inspiration — and, through that inspiration, to restore our living landscapes.
Visit our collectives with an open mind, and you may find yourself moved, connected or inspired by the things you see and experience: the people you meet, the silence and quietude, the fresh air and greenery, the calls of birds, the sight of fireflies, the croaking of toads, a sky full of stars, the sound and smell of rain, or simply the beauty of the terrain.
These experiences can unlock something within us. They can renew our sense of possibility and improve our wellbeing. This is what people who live and work at our collectives often tell us in the simplest possible words:
“We feel good.”
And perhaps that is where transformation begins.
Visit a Beforest collective. Come with an open mind. Become inspired, and take that inspiration back into your own life.
Let us create places of hope and wellbeing for ourselves and our children.
Let us together make our urban living spaces more livable, more inspiring and more alive.
