Personally, I've never found a way to 'be' creative. I really like The Oatmeal's take on creativity: when you read, do new things, explore, or whatever, you inhale. Creative outbursts are exhalations. You can't have too much of the one without a sufficient amount of the other. So I get inspiration from the things around me that I find interesting. More often than not, it is by being able to combine a bunch of disparate thoughts with something challenging that drives me to actually make something. My first article, for example, was a combination of a few articles I've read here mixed with my own thoughts and the challenge of writing for a larger audience. Another interpretation of your question is about what inspires hope in life, in the motivational sense. That is a much harder question - it's not one that I am good at articulating, let alone write a one-paragraph answer to. The first thing that comes to mind is to have something to work towards that you care about. Life is about the journey, but without a destination you won't get very far.
You might find Mark's essay on design useful.