3 most important sources for your next blog post

This blog is about self-improvement, inspiration, creativity, spirituality and ideas which expand the horizons of your mind. However, as writing is also a creative expression which all of you use, I thought adding ideas for blogging would be a great idea.

This is my first post about blogging/writing. This post answers the question:

Where do my blogging ideas come from?

I reflected on this question and found 3 fundamental sources for my ideas for writing.

1.) Experience

Your experience is yours only. It is the most unique thing about you. No one else on the planet has exactly the same experiences as you. Your experience is the wisdom you have gained through years.

Your experiences are the most original sources for your blog posts. Look into your past. You have seen countless of sunrises and sunsets. You have been a part of endless interesting stories since your childhood which can amaze your readers. You have been to many places and experienced those colours of life which your readers may find very interesting.

So here are some questions to bring back to surface your moments which have a potential to become your next blog post.

• What are the 5 best experiences I had as a child?
• What stories of my childhood had a huge impact on me?
• What is my favourite feeling? When did I experience it at its highest and what did I learn from it?
• What is the one phenomenon I have experienced that the world needs to know about?
• If my life was a movie, what is the most important message it gives that the world needs to know?

….

The list of questions can go on. But the idea here is to bring out the deepest experiences of your life and to express them in words. We all have a great treasure of experiences with us but very few bring it out, express it and let the world know about it.

Try to go as deep and in detail as possible. Relive those moments and come back with an idea worth sharing! 🙂

We change a lot through years. Sometimes when I go through my old diary, I feel those emotions of my past self and really wonder if I was the one writing all these!

Here are example of a post coming from an experience and I myself find it amusing whenever I read it!

3 Life lessons I learned from observing the shadows.

Useful life ideas from my meditation experiences.

When natural light met trees!

2.) Reflections

Reflecting on events and experiences is my favourite source.

I have this habit of talking to myself sometimes. When I want solitude, I go to the terrace and talk. This talk is generally in forms of questions and answers reflecting upon my life, recent years, future, career..etc. This conversation brings out most beautiful ideas that surprise me!

How do I reflect on an event, object, experience or an idea?

Reflecting means processing your information to find meaningful connections. Try to look at the event from various perspectives and shape it into a really beautiful idea.

Here are a few examples of what I mean by reflection:

• For one person the sound of birds is a noise, but for a musician it can be a beautiful melody!
• An architect can find inspiration for space designing when he looks at randomly composed garbage.
• A rock for you and me is a sculpture for someone.

Think about how you can shape something ordinary into a beautiful idea and present it to the world.

My blog is full of reflective ideas, but here are my favourites:

The illusion of time.

My reflections On the Nature of Mind

3.) Research

reading books and articles relevant to your topic is a research. It is the external source for your ideas. It is always helpful to keep getting new information everyday and reflect on it.

Your experience is your database. When you research your topic, you add value to your database. It enables you to connect your experiences to other similar and more authoritative information and thus make them more valuable.

Set aside at least 15 minutes everyday to read something new about your topic. When you mix your reflections with what you read, you create a unique content.

On my blog, learn from the masters is the category which is an example of research and reflection combined.

Put them all together

As you would have realised, the best way is to use all three sources. Your experiences and reflections make your content unique and the research gives it the authority and trust of your readers.

Whenever you are stuck and don’t know what to write next, tap into one of these sources and I am sure the idea will come!

Thank you for reading. At the end, I would leave you with some questions to trigger new ideas.

Ask yourself:

• Which is the best post on my blog and where did I get the idea to write it?
• What is my process of writing the blog posts? Which elements can I add/remove to make my posts more valuable to readers?
• Which external sources can I refer to trigger new ideas for my next post?
• What is the best way to mix my research with my ideas and experiences?