The Cost of Influence, The Gift of Inspiration

There’s a strange moment that happens in any space meant for healing, growth, or self-understanding. It starts as something raw and honest: a hunger for clarity, a wish to feel better, a longing for meaning. But as soon as someone figures out how to make money from it, it changes shape. What began as a human impulse becomes a product. A lifestyle. A brand.

I’ve felt it. I still do. I catch myself wanting to be seen a certain way, mindful enough, well enough, awake enough to belong to the very world I say I’m questioning. That contradiction lives in me. Maybe it lives in you too.

I heard someone say recently, seek to be inspired, not influenced. That idea kept echoing in the back of my mind — hence this blog. I needed to get it on paper. Maybe to remind you, but mostly to remind myself.

The truth is, there’s no profit in you being inspired. Not really. Inspiration is free. It reminds you what you already know. But influence sells. Influence is repeat customers. Influence depends on you believing you don’t have enough, don’t know enough, aren’t enough unless you buy someone else’s blueprint for your life.

Sometimes I forget this too. Inspiration doesn’t make you feel small or lacking. It makes you feel more alive. It’s that moment when you read something or hear something and instead of wanting to copy it, you want to go live it. You don’t feel like you need more; you feel like you are more.

It’s that quiet buzz under your skin when something clicks and you remember you’re not here to be someone’s version of you. It’s the sudden rush of energy to do something simple but real: take a walk, call a friend, write a few true words, sit with yourself without the need to fix anything. Inspiration stirs movement. Influence keeps you circling the same questions while someone sells you the illusion of progress. Inspiration reminds you that what you’re looking for isn’t out there. It’s already woven into you, waiting for your attention.

So how much of what you’ve bought was really yours to begin with? How many times have you traded your own quiet knowing for a plan or a fix or a formula because it looked easier than trusting yourself?

Sometimes I wonder what we’d see if we traced the money behind every wellness trend, every life changing practice, every bite sized piece of spiritual advice. Who profits from your self-doubt? Who profits from you forgetting how simple this can be?

What if it’s not complicated? What if the next step isn’t another program, another ritual, another five step plan? What if you questioned every cost and remembered that what matters most has always been yours to begin with?

I ask myself this all the time. Am I trying to be impressive, or real? Awake, or just performing the part? Do I trust my own discomfort enough to sit in it without looking for someone to sell me a shortcut out?

Help can be good. Teachers can be good. But it’s worth asking: Does this wake me up, or keep me dependent? Does this pull me deeper into myself, or just hook me into someone else’s idea of who I should be?

If you’ve forgotten how to trust your own knowing, that’s not your fault. This world is built on convincing you that you don’t have it. But it’s still there. It doesn’t need to be taught back to you for a fee.

So keep questioning. Question every offering, every teacher, every promise. Question me. Question this. Maybe the real practice is simple: Notice what makes you feel more alive and more yourself, and notice what makes you feel like you need to buy your own wholeness back.

What would it feel like to let your mind be unscripted, not just as an idea but as your daily practice? What would it feel like to stand in the simplicity of what you already know?

I’d love to know what truly inspires you. And what part of you still remembers how to come home to yourself, no payment required.

I hope that inspiration is what the Unscripted Mind brings to the table. I hope my words in this and all my posts inspire you to take a breath, to think, to question, to come back to yourself.

Live your life.

This is the Unscripted Mind.

If this message resonated with you, I invite you to share it forward.
Wellness expands when we pass it on, a moment of stillness, a shift in perspective, a reminder to pause. I can’t tell you how many times someone has reached out to say, “Your message came through just when I needed it.” This is why we share. You never know whose day, or mindset, you might help shift with a single post or message.

So if something here spoke to you, don’t keep it to yourself.
Send it to a friend. Post it on your feed. Mention it to someone who might need to adjust their script. One small action can ripple in powerful ways.

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Always Remember... Just Breathe!
The Unscripted Mind