I won't be much help with suggestions in this thread (at least not yet!), but I am definitely in the same boat.. as if my most recent blog post doesn't tell you that.
I know that in terms of thinking abstractly, it comes a lot easier for me when I have someone to share with. Someone to draw on a white board with and explore different ideas and solutions to some problem we have both defined. It helps if one of us understands the concept being explored more than the other, because then he/she can act as a bit more of a "guide."
As far as inspiration.. my little dabble into poetry recently came largely as a result of a LOT of introspection, and a yearning to express some feelings in a more creative way than the same-old letter/email/card. I have been spending some more time reading and discovering new music (TFP, I love you for this), and some phrases get stuck in my head. And they help set the stage for new ones to come to me, I suppose.