Ideas in action can create our world. We are a species with the capacity to shape our lives creatively. If the direction the world is taking and your circumstances are making you fearful, nurturing inspiring ideas can help raise your spirits, expand your world, and inspire others. 

Here's a great example of how an inspiring idea is changing a community: In Michigan, the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office introduced an experimental Teen Court Program where the juvenile appears before a jury of their peers represented by a teen "defense attorney." The positive results of teenagers broadening their horizons by wearing different shoes are staggering. 90% of defendants who complete the program are never re-arrested, and teenagers are involved in their communities while learning about the criminal justice system. In the words of sixteen-year-old "defense attorney" Cayden Brown, "Making change is the number one goal."

Because ideas can be so powerful, where they come from is a question long posited. Plato was one of the first philosophers to explore ideas, and centuries later, there are still numerous theories about where ideas originate. History shows many ideas evolving from precedent. As animals evolve to adapt, our brains create ideas from what we inherit in a steady creative building up of what has come before.

This accounts, in part, for one person having an idea and somebody, worlds apart, the same idea around the same time. Extraordinarily, Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray submitted patent applications for the telephone hours apart. This has been endlessly controversial, as many others, such as Antonio Meucci, have pursued the idea for years.

Elizabeth Gilbert, author of "Big Magic,” believes there are additional components to having an idea. She believes many ideas are disembodied, energetic life forms swirling through space, looking for available and willing humans to bring the concept to life. This theory could partly account for "out of the blue" ideas that appear to have no direct link with knowledge, experience, or environment.

As a result of the mysterious nature of ideas, thousands of experiments are conducted to explore the connections between creativity and memory, knowledge, imagination, and dreams. With no definitive answers, I believe all these factors play a part.

Putting inspiring ideas into motion helps well-being. Constant worry makes the world feel insular and claustrophobic, like being trapped on a Ferris wheel fueled by spiraling fears of the past and the future. This mental posturing is limited in reach and finite because it occurs in the vacuum of your mind. When you take time to create something (however modest) from an idea, it takes you out of fear and into the present. With imagination, dreaming, exploration, and curiosity, you can enter an expansive and infinite realm of surprises and treasures, both life-affirming and thrilling.

Ideas need room to land and grow. Many people I know have their best ideas when unplugged from distractions like in the shower or on a quiet walk. Take note of when your ideas show up and incorporate more of them into your routine. It may be driving a different route, reading inspiring books, collaborating, and brainstorming with open-minded people. And always jot it down, which turns a fleeting idea into something more tangible to avoid getting lost.

Once you decide to pursue an idea, the challenges of transforming it from something vague into something solid takes discipline and fortitude, so break it down into manageable steps and take the first step, however small. Starting is challenging, but don't be discouraged because adding to something already in the process becomes easier the more you do, particularly if you have collaborators who share your vision.

Then comes the challenge of finishing. Finishing can be tricky because nothing ever feels good enough, but not perfect is better than not completing because a feeling of progress can be intoxicating. And never let yourself be discouraged because if you are courageous enough to share your ideas, you will inevitably face criticism, so try not to take it personally because, in the words of the writer Neil Gaiman, "The world always seems brighter when you've just made something that wasn't there before."