INSPIRATION

How do you move through life? Do you yearn to be motivated to accomplish various goals, waiting and hoping that the spirit will strike you and it will be effortless and easy and you’ll have a blast working out at the gym?
How often do you feel stuck in a project or area of life, lacking the motivation to complete a project, begin a new one, or just get some chores checked off your list?
Do you feel the need to push yourself to do things you don’t want to do, or “should do”, instead of freely realizing the things you want in life? If so, you might be looking for stimulation outside yourself to create positive change: other people, motivational tapes and books, bigger goals. And of course we all know that if we wait long enough, we can motivate ourselves with adrenaline. This is not a healthy routine.

There is another way to look at this. It’s called inspiration. Instead of external pushing, prodding, and forcing ourselves to accomplish or achieve, with a big consequence if we fail, we can access our inner drive. This is our deep personal passion that fuels our soul, stimulates our thinking and comes from who we really are and what we want for ourselves, not what we think we should want or do for others.
Motivation is difficult. Inspiration is effortless. Here are some ways to move from motivation to inspiration:

1. Get rid of all the shoulds in your life: “I should go to that meeting.” “ I should do more for my kids.”  And that means eliminate all the could haves, would haves and ought to's too. How about focusing your life on what you really want to do, design your life the way you want it to be?

2. Figure out what YOU really want. Often writing these down can help achieve clarity that will come in handy the next time you have a challenge or decision to make. It can help you find other ways to accomplish or solve a situation besides “the only way” you thought of before.

3. Take a break from the situation that’s pushing you. A little distance can give you more perspective and you may find inspiration renewing itself.

You can learn to shift from motivation to inspiration and reap the rewards on many levels.

**THOUGHTFUL QUESTIONS**

• What are you most proud of having accomplished thus far in your life?
• What would you most like people at your funeral to say about you?
• What do you feel your purpose in life might be?
• What is in the way of putting this ahead of what you are presently engaged in?

And a favorite from Marianne Williamson:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light not our darkness, that frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone.
As we let our light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fears, our presence automatically liberates others.”

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