What inspires us most as ordinary people having a human experience is the stories and knowledge of those who have become before us and those who have done extraordinary things, had a hand in changing the world, through their abilities, passion, choices, willingness, creative innovation and ideas with a selfless heart to be authentic, inspiring, and just plain different! Abraham Lincoln, Mozart, Princess Diana, Mother Teresa, Winston Churchill, Gandhi, Jesus Christ, Thomas Jefferson, Muhammad, Rosa Parks, Nikola Tesla, Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, Krishna, Galileo, Constantine, Nelson Mandela, Marcus Aurelius, Cicero, Joan of Arc, Dalai Lama, Bill Gates, Aristotle, William Shakespeare, Steve Jobs, Confucius, Mohammed Ali, and Martin Luther King Jr. just to name a few on a very long list of inspiring people.
All of those inspiring people listed above were "ordinary" people of their time who decided that they would make a difference in the world and share their gifts despite nearly impossible odds, tremendous opposition, personal sacrifice, suffering, loss, judgement, and opinions. Inspiring people are true leaders who believe in themselves, their cause, their passions and plans and are willing to live an authentic life in service to others, society, our planet and make a real change in the human condition. There are many people not listed that make a difference every single day and do things that inspire all of us! Those are the people we want to be around who inspire us to be better, bigger than ourselves, kinder, more caring compassionate and make a difference in the world one day at a time. The beautiful and amazing thing about inspiration and inspiring people is the "ordinary" part of the human journey becomes "extraordinary" through the powers of free-will, determination, passion, purpose, positivity, desire, focus, mindfulness, education, knowledge, wisdom and most importantly to power of choice for the many roads of life. What inspires us? Who inspires us? What tires us? Who tires us? The choice is always our own to make.
We all come from diverse and authentic backgrounds of poverty, wealth, different belief systems, ways of thinking, ideas, opinions, suffering, pain, with difficulty and uncertainty in the human experience. All humans during the course of their life will be presented with choices; face decisions, and have mountains to climb. We can always look to history, inspiring stories and people, our friends, family, mentors, guides, and books to help us with our many decisions in life or to see a more clearer path up the mountain to the summit, but all of those are just opinions based on another's perspective of life. The true "guidance system" and power to make change will always come from within through the internal whispers of the heart and soul and the "choice" to either listen and follow, or ignore and walk away. What inspires us? What tires us? The inspiring people who make changes in life whether from the past, present, and those still yet to come in the future are not born into greatness or become instant inspiring leaders of change, they all make a choice at some point in life that they will no longer be afraid to be who they are, how the world sees them, and start to live life with determination, heart, purpose, passion or what some would call "living an authentic life."
No matter what we feel, what we have achieved, where we come from, or where we currently are on our own journey, all of us have the ability to inspire, make change and give back leaving a legacy that will live on a lot longer than we will. Inspiring others, helping others,
"paying if forward,"
or giving back is some of the most amazing and powerful experiences we can have as humans. We never know who we are going to impact through the power of giving back and inspiration, but if all of us
"give it a go,"
not for the sake of being remembered by history or being famous or in a book, we leave behind not only a blueprint for making real change in the world, but also a ripple effect that can be felt for generations to come. We have the potential and choice to be a great inspiration to ourselves and those around us on a daily basis.
So we should ask ourselves daily, what inspires us, who inspires us, what tires us, who tires us? When we know and see the difference the path up that mountain of life to the summit becomes a much easier and smoother path to follow, while inspiring yourself and those around you.
"Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible."
-Francis of Assisi
