Kiki's Delivery Service (Inspiration)

I love animated films, and Hayao Miyazaki, is one of my favorite animators/story teller. Kiki's Delivery service is one of the older films of his. But if your an artist, or even if you've ever felt as if you've lost your magic touch, it's the movie to watch.

Kiki is a witch. At the age of thirteen, on the night of a full moon, she leaves home to begin one year of training on her own. Which is a tradition for all witches. But, while her mother makes potions, and other witches read fortunes or cast spells, Kiki doesn't have any skill except flying on her broom stick.

When she ends up in a big city on the ocean, a place far away from home where many people haven't seen a witch for years, she opens up a flying delivery service. But all this isn't the heart of the movie, at least not to me. The heart of the movie, is finding your own inspiration, your own person, and trusting your spirit.

As it happens, Kiki begins to feel like an outcast in this big city. After all she's supporting herself, working, and all she has is one black dress. And she starts to question herself. When this happens, she looses her ability to fly, her magic. The whole point of her leaving home was to return a full fledged witch, and if she looses her ability, she's left with nothing.

Ursula has some of the least appearance time throughout the movie, but she's by far my favorite character. She's an artist Kiki meets during her first delivery, and it's this woman who teaches us the move valuable lesson to be learned.

"Without even thinking about it I used to be able to fly," said Kiki. "Now I'm trying to look inside of myself to see how I did it, but I just can't seem to figure it out." 

Have you ever felt like that?

Before I started writing, I drew. All the time.  Nothing made me happier. But one day I just stopped. I didn't draw anything for days, than months, than years. When I went to try, nothing came out right. I got so bent out of shape, so angry. I thought I lost something of myself. Whatever magic I had, was gone. Ursula had the same problem, and she tells Kiki, "Painting and flying don't seem that different to me."

She said that there's times where she can't paint anything at all, so it's best to take a break. Doze off at noon, go for long walks. She said, sometimes you just have to find your own inspiration. Turns out she thought she lost her touch too when she was young, and nothing she painted came out right. Kiki fly's with her spirit. Something inside her just lifts her up, and Ursula paints with her's.

It's the same with anything you do, anything your passionate about. You do it with heart, with spirit. Sometimes you need to ask your self why your doing the things you are. Why are you baking, writing, painting, creating?

I almost lost writing too. I felt it spiraling out of control like my art work and I was so scared because I had nothing left. Like Kiki and her flying. But I reminded myself why I do it. I took a break, and it came back. I'm even painting and drawing again.  You see sometimes your just trying too hard. You want it too badly. When that happens your not creating from your heart anymore. Your not flying through the night sky, with star dust in you hair like dew drops.

What inspires you? What drives you to create, to laugh, to love and live?

As you can probably tell, the night sky has always been a huge inspiration for me. Probably because my soul knows no bounds. I always imagine it's like a vast ocean up there. Some day I'll paint it right.