Joe Cianciotto knows that there are so many ways to find inspiration in daily life. It does not require a lot of money or time. The only requirement is to open your spiritual eyes and choose to see life and life’s natural wonders in a new light. One way to do this is to feed your curiosity. Noticing new details is a perpetuating cycle. The more we pay attention to details around us, the more we discover and want to pay attention. It can be that tree with the pretty leaves that you never noticed before. Or that your neighbor is now an Asian man. These are everyday things that we might take for granted because they’re around us all the time. Find the time to really observe and look around you. Even your old neighborhood might surprise you.

When looking for insight, encouragement and stimulation, notice the people surrounding you. Watch the loving husband gently put his arm around his bride, the doting mom rock her infant to sleep and two kids who meet for the first time yet are able to seamlessly play together. Recognize these tender moments, but also look for the distraught face indicating the depth of human emotion. Watch a documentary or read a biography about someone’s life. Notice the nuance and identify what ways you’re like that person and what ways you can’t actually relate to their circumstances. Stir up those feelings of empathy, sympathy and love that reside within you–those universal emotions that are within each of us.

To get your creative juices flowing, let the arts inspire you. Go to a museum, watch a play, catch a movie, listen to a CD, pick up an art book from the library, or visit a local gallery. Experience something new and ponder what the artist, creator or musician was thinking when she produced such a work. To find inspiration, you don’t have to schedule a trip to some foreign and exotic place. Likely, there are plenty of adventures awaiting you in your own neighborhood if you start to look for opportunities to really experience your surroundings rather than stick to what you know and are already comfortable with. Even in the midst of the most mundane life, you can find masterpieces all around you. If you go through life with your eyes wide open and don’t take anything for granted, you’re sure to be inspired constantly.