Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

this makes me smile…
really big…
every time i watch it.
such freedom…
such joy…
such complete abandonment…
this is how life was meant to be lived.
whatever makes you feel this alive…
do it…
and then do it again…
and then invite the world to join you.

I summoned up my courage and asked, ‘Grandfather, do you think Yuriko is inspired?”
Grandfather looked out over the veranda at the large black pine and answered in no uncertain terms.
“Not whatsoever. Yuriko-chan is just too pretty a girl for that. She might be a garden plant. A pretty flower. But she’s no bonsai.”
“So, a flower, no matter how pretty, is not inspired?”
“that’s right. Inspiration is the bonsai’s trump card. But it’s a person who makes it that way, you know. Look over there, at the black pine. Now that’s inspiration. See there? An old tree gives us a lesson in life. Strange, isn’t it? The tree may look withered, but it’s living just the same. A tree can withstand the passage of time. Humans are the only ones who are at their most beautiful when they’re young . but a tree, no matter how many years go by, you train it and train it, and though the tree itself would naturally resist, gradually it bends to your will. And when it does? Why then it’s as if life has sprung forth anew, isn’t it? Inspiration resides at that point when you begin to feel the miraculous. That’s the word for it in English, right? Miracle?”
“I suppose so.”
Grotesque, Natsuo Kirino

Beauty causes awe and reverence. Sometimes it stops you mid step to admire and appreciate; it brings deep satisfaction or gives intense pleasure. It affirms life.

Inspiration causes action and movement. It arouses and elicits a response. It stimulates energy, ideals or reverence. It breathes life.

There are only a handful of times I have ever been described as beautiful.
But inspiring, being described as inspiring has been my prayer.

Beauty requires little from the subject and the admirer.
It often only exists in a memory, in a moment.
Inspiration requires the subject to reach in and live from something deep within and then it enlivens another to do the same.

You can experience beauty and remain unchanged.
You’ll never be the same after you’ve been inspired.
Inspiration resides at the point when you begin to feel the miraculous.