What inspires YOU?
Think about how you feel watching the end of the movie Rocky, or Chariots of Fire, or the Miracle on Ice, or Scent of a Woman, or The Warrior... or An Officer and a Gentleman...
Think about how you feel after reading the poem IF by Ruyard Kipling or The Road Less Traveled by Robert Frost...
Think about how you feel after watching the video of the Susan Boyle when she belted out that song so unexpectedly on England's Got Talent.
Or watching the handicapped boy who plays in his basketball game and scores the game ending basket... or watching the pictures of the young woman who just died of breast cancer and the visual relationship and closeness that she had with her husband the photographer...
Think about how amazing you feel in those moments.
We believe that those movies, those poems, those videos, those speeches, those moments INSPIRE us...
I love the feeling of inspiration. I DELIBERATELY LIVE AN INSPIRED LIFE.
The question may be better asked, not "What INSPIRES you?" but rather, "What do you BELIEVE?", or "What do you VALUE?", or "What do you DREAM about?".
Because, I find myself inspired...
... by the single woman who smiles everyday while she holds down a job and raises her children lovingly.
... by the will of my friends who push me to workout at 5:30 in the morning every Tuesday.
... by the optimism of my business partner who believes that anything is possible.
... by the dedication of our HR person who is committed without question to providing the very best that she can.
... by the new mother, the loving woman, whose daughter has a very sad illness, but she showers her daughter with love and hope and strength.
... by my son's initiative to solve his own problems and take responsibility for his own journey.
... by the sunrise and the sunset...
... by more and more things as I commit myself more to gratitude and to mindfulness and to a meaningful existence....
You see, I often wonder why not all of us see the inspiration in almost everything around us...
And, I realize, things, moments, words, songs, those things DON'T INSPIRE US.
Inspiration, like gratitude, EXISTS in us. And, while we recognize it in certain moments more than others, it doesn't mean that it "goes away" when we aren't feeling it.
In those moments when we see Susan Boyle shock the world, or we see Rocky survive his first fight and realize his love for Adrianne, or think about our "Road Less Traveled", or whatever that moment may be...
We see THAT WHICH WE VALUE.
We see THAT WHICH WE BELIEVE.
We see that which we dream about - come to life in some form.
Those "things" that "inspire us", don't typically create or introduce a new thought to us... those moments allow us to see through the noise of every day into the best of who we are.
INSPIRATION is not a passive, altered or artificial state of mind introduced by some great artist or author.
INSPIRATION is the celebration and the recognition of our greatest self.
So how is this relevant to achieving HARMONY in your life?
Next time you are inspired and you feel the magic of a moment...
Next time you are inspired and you believe that anything is possible...
Next time that you are inspired and you see the awesome strength of the human spirit...
Know that you are looking in the mirror - at the ABSOLUTE TRUTH of who you are, at the purest vision of your own values, and at your greatest self.
And from that vantage point of inspiration... OWN THE AWESOMENESS IN THE POSSIBILITY OF YOU... and get after it!
LIVE DELIBERATELY INSPIRED!
Nestor Benavides