What is it in your current life that inspires you? What was it in your past life that inspired you? Are they the same thing? In times of low inspiration, where do you go to become inspired? Was it easier for you to become inspired when you were younger? Is there an age, which once passed, we can no longer be inspired? Is it easier to be inspired in good times or in bad? If you are honest, would you say you were inspired today? What exactly is inspiration?
In looking at definitions of inspiration on the Internet, I found the way I think of inspiration in one of the synonyms. That synonym was “stimulus.” What stimulates you? Is it money, success, love, hate, or material things? Or is it fear? Whatever it is, the result of inspiration is a feeling, not a state of being. It is not a static thing, but a physical reaction to the stimuli brought on by the source of the inspiration.
There are a lot of minor inspirations that we deal with in day to day life. The inspirations to eat, drink and rest are examples of run of the mill feelings we count on to keep us alive day to day. They are merely inspirations with their roots in survival, rather than examples of inspirations that help make our lives great. The inspirations that help make our lives great are few and far between, and can often be hard to find. They are often in places we do not expect to find them, and are almost impossible to find unless we are honest about who we really are and what really makes us happy.
So often, the search for happiness leads us to things and people that are not good for us – like a drug addicted mouse to a feeder that will only give him as much cocaine as he can eat. The desire for immediate gratification allows us only to be minimally inspired, and the inspiration we find is often fleeting and short on fulfillment. True inspiration allows us to see a bigger picture and to experience a fulfillment that can sustain us through both good and bad times.
Are you willing to be inspired? Sometimes, I think we merely live our lives day to day and forget that what we need to be doing is LIVING our lives. Survival is not really good enough, unless that is your only option. Most of us have the ability to do far more than survive in our day to day lives, but so many of us do just that. We forget that each day is nothing less than a new opportunity to take what we have and make it better. Each day is another round in the prize fight; that it is our life that allows us to try to be all we can be.
While it is possible to be inspired by your standing in life compared to others, the person you should really be worried about is yourself. Are you a better person today than you were yesterday? Have you found the thing that will inspire you to be a better person than you were yesterday? If not, will you get up tomorrow and try to find the thing that inspires you to be the person you can be? What will it take for you to step up to the challenge of living your life to the max? The answer is not always easy, but it is worth trying to figure out.
It is not always easy getting up every day and facing life challenges; but every day you do it and do the best you can, you will find that it becomes that much easier. Not because life itself becomes easier, but because you have become stronger. Sometimes the inspiration you seek is found within. Being able to inspire yourself is the gift that keeps on giving. Everyone likes to get gifts. That is true for everyone, especially those of us way up in the CHEAP SEATS!
Bill James is a co-founder of the James Law Firm with offices in Little Rock, Conway and Fayetteville, Arkansas. His primary area of practice is criminal defense. He can be contacted at Bill@JamesFirm.com.