What Inspires You?

Home
>
Inspirational
>
What Inspires You?

Have you ever thought? What inspires YOU? What is it that drives you day in and day out? What is it that inspires you?

We think of creative people as being inspired and ask about their work. What inspired you to paint, draw, produce this piece of work? What inspired you to make this? Usually the answer is: a book, poem, film, experience, person, a place or in Cole Porter's case the 'phone call from the director'.

Something else or someone else inspired the artist, the songwriter. But what about the person in a regular job? What inspires you?

"Inspiration is a desire to live life without flinching. To take a risk and possibly fail. To act on your emotions, creativity, ability and beliefs. To take criticism but have the faith in yourself to do it anyway. Bloody hard work, but then hard work never killed anyone (or so my Dad says). Oh, and I find foster parents inspiring. They pick up the pieces when the fundamental teachings and rules of our society fail. If I were religious I'd ask God to bless em." Carolyn Tomley (Sydney Morning Herald website).

What is it that inspires you?

You can begin to see that if nothing inspires you or excites you or lights up your life you are really missing something. You are just like a robot performing task after task. We believe that deep down you have a place where you can be touched. You have a place that is solely ours. Solely for you to show the world. Can you name it?

What inspires me, is the thought that I am more than my body. My limitations are only down to my thoughts. Thus I want to keep pushing the boundaries to find out what is there. Find out what I can communicate to the world. I am inspired by the fact that through what I do I may enable another person to open their mind. To remove the blinkers and reach their possibilities.

Julie is inspired by life. All that is around her. To Julie, inspiration is a rush of adrenalin, a rush of energy that creates a clearing in her thinking. It's that time when you see something from a different perspective and say to yourself, Why didn't see it like this before?

For Julie, inspiration is like the prisoner who says you can do whatever you like to my body but you can't touch my soul, my reason for living.

But what inspires you? What makes you go to that space where you continue to do what you do for hour after hour, when you forget the need to eat and drink. What is it that inspires you?

Some artists suggest that it is their imagination that inspires them. The need to tell the world what is going on in their heads. The links that they make. The different ways of viewing the world. After all literature, music and visual arts are all about the originator communicating with the rest of us.

So inspiration appears to be linked with the need to communicate with others. It may not be in words. But we feel it is about communication. What about you? What are you inspired to communicate?

Inspiration is linked to innovation. To introduce new ways of seeing things. Inspiration is a way of understanding the essence of ourselves. Understanding who we are and what we dream about. Whatever it is that inspires you, it is the core of your very being. So what is it?

Perhaps the role of inspiration is to wake us up from a big sleep. A sleep where everyday is the same. Where we contribute to the world but at the same time we don't contribute because there is nothing of us in there. Perhaps the role of inspiration is to get us to become involved with the world rather than be a bystander, an observer.

This was definitely the situation for Alice Foote MacDougall, an American Business woman before the second world war. Like many of her era she was driven by her husband's financial failure and the necessity of supporting her three young children.

...the opportunity offered by life to women is far in excess of any offered to men. To be the inspiration is more than to be the tool. To create the world, a greater thing than to reform it.

When we tap into whatever it is that inspires us we become a full member of society. We are able to share our ideas, thoughts and emotions. As we share and show our dreams, emotions and ideas and thoughts then we gradually become to understand the person we truly are.

So, the role of inspiration is more than we first thought. More that just a drive to action. It actually enables you to understand the very essence of yourself and what you have to offer the world.

Inspiration gives you understanding.
Inspiration gives you an identity.
Inspiration gives you a way of being.

Can you really live without knowing what inspires you?

Good luck

Graham and Julie
http://www.desktop-meditation.com

To improve your intuition, initiative and energy levels. Please go to: http://www.desktop-meditation.com It's free.

In The News:

Yahoo! News: Top Stories

Obama OKs modest tax changes after seeking ideas (AP)

AP - Pushed by fellow Democrats, President-elect Barack Obama agreed to modest changes in his proposed tax cuts on Friday after inviting lawmakers to "just show me" ideas for fixing an economy shedding jobs at an alarming rate.

Ill. House impeaches governor, who vows to fight (AP)

AP - Gov. Rod Blagojevich was impeached Friday by Illinois lawmakers furious that he turned state government into a "freak show," setting the stage for an unprecedented trial in the state Senate that could get him thrown out of office.

Israel and Hamas ignore UN call for cease-fire (AP)

AP - Israeli jets and ground troops hammered at Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip and Islamic militants fired barrages of rockets at southern Israeli cities Friday, ignoring a U.N. resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire after two weeks of combat.

Pastor in gay scandal: I'm back from 'wilderness' (AP)

AP - Speaking out two years after being embroiled in a gay sex scandal, former evangelical pastor Ted Haggard said Friday his sexual identity is complex and can't be put into "stereotypical boxes," but that his relationship with his wife is stronger than ever.

Palin: Is Kennedy getting 'kid glove' treatment? (AP)

AP - She messed up her first interviews, didn't show much of a grasp of the issues and, dontcha know, had a speech pattern that was widely mimicked.

Texas death row inmate pulls out eye, eats it (AP)

AP - A Texas death row inmate with a history of mental problems pulled out his only good eye and told authorities he ate it. Andre Thomas, 25, was arrested for the fatal stabbings of his estranged wife, their young son and her 13-month-old daughter in March 2004. Their hearts also had been ripped out. He was convicted and condemned for the infant's death.

Rare 'dinky' bird migrates to US for first time (AP)

AP - Birders with binoculars and cameras are flocking to a remote state park in search of a small yellow-chested bird that apparently crossed the U.S. border for the first time from its high-mountain habitat to the south.

'Dexter' brother and sister are husband and wife (AP)

AP - They play brother and sister on "Dexter." Now in real life, Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter are husband and wife. Hall's spokesman, Craig Bankey, said on Friday that the couple eloped in California on New Year's Eve. They'll walk the red carpet together at the Golden Globe Awards on Sunday Â— the first time publicly acknowledging their relationship.

George the lobster gets new lease on life at 140 (AP)

AP - A new lease on life Â— at 140? That's what a Manhattan lobster got Friday, when the 20-pound crustacean named George was released from a swanky Park Avenue restaurant's tank. City Crab and Seafood agreed to a request from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to let the lobster return to the Atlantic Ocean.

Stimulant exemptions in baseball on the rise (AP)

AP - Baseball authorized nearly 8 percent of its players to use drugs for ADHD last season, which allowed them to take otherwise banned stimulants. A total of 106 exemptions for banned drugs were given to major leaguers claiming attention deficit hyperactivity disorder from the end of the 2007 season until the end of the 2008 season, according to a report released Friday by the sport's independent drug-testing administrator.

Citi, M. Stanley in brokerage talks; Rubin quits (Reuters)

Reuters - Citigroup Inc is in advanced talks to sell its Smith Barney brokerage unit to Morgan Stanley, a person familiar with the matter said on Friday, in a move that would further dismantle the financial supermarket that has been bailed out by the U.S. government.

Illinois House votes to impeach Gov. Blagojevich (Reuters)

Reuters - The Illinois House of Representatives impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Friday for abuse of power, including a charge that he tried to sell President-elect Barack Obama's former U.S. Senate seat.

Israel, Hamas press on with Gaza war (Reuters)

Reuters - Israel pressed on with a punishing Gaza offensive and Hamas sent more rocket salvoes into southern Israeli towns in a two-week-old war that continued to defy international efforts to stop it.

Obama team, Rep. Frank eye bailout fund overhaul (Reuters)

Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama and a key Democratic lawmaker revealed plans on Friday to overhaul the government's $700 billion financial rescue fund as a way to aid struggling homeowners and speed the flow of credit.

Jobless rate at 16-year high as payrolls plunge (Reuters)

Reuters - The unemployment rate surged to the highest in nearly 16 years last month as a deepening year-long recession forced companies to axe more than half a million jobs, government data showed on Friday.

Supreme court to decide voting rights law challenge (Reuters)

Reuters - The U.S. Supreme Court said on Friday it would consider a challenge to a central provision of the 44-year-old voting rights law aimed at preventing states and local governments from making it harder for minorities to vote.

Bank industry slams lawmaker-Citi mortgage deal (Reuters)

Reuters - A top bank industry group said on Friday that it opposes an agreement between Citigroup Inc and Democratic senators that would rewrite U.S. bankruptcy law to help troubled mortgage borrowers avoid foreclosure, saying it could make home loans more expensive.

EU seeks to finalize Russian gas monitoring deal (Reuters)

Reuters - The European Union sought to finalize details on Friday of a gas monitoring deal to allow the resumption of gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine, which have been cut off for days over a pricing row.

Defiant Israel presses Gaza offensive as toll passes 800 (AFP)

AFP - Tanks and warplanes pounded Gaza on Friday after Israel defied a truce order from the UN Security Council as the death toll from the two-week-old conflict against Hamas passed 800.

Somali pirates say they have released Saudi supertanker (AFP)

AFP - Somali pirates said Friday they had freed a Saudi-owned supertanker, whose capture nearly two months ago caused panic in international shipping and spurred the world into tougher anti-piracy action.

What Inspires You?

Inspirational Inspirational