The Value of Inspiration

Have you ever felt inspired? Has someone ever inspired you?

Last night I took my son, who aspires to become a professional dancer, to see Rasta Thomas dance. Rasta Thomas has been his “idol” for some time now. He wants to dance like him…Rasta inspires him to be a great dancer. However, seeing Rasta on stage, up close and personal (we were in the second row) took that inspiration to a new level.

While some of us find inspiration inside ourselves or from our surroundings, others find it by seeing others do what we would like to do really well. We find it in seeing other excel at our sport, craft, profession, art form, or business. Such people give us a gift. The give us renewed energy to work hard and to become our best selves, to be as good as we can be, to reach our goals. They give us the drive to walk in their footsteps. They provide us — unwittingly sometimes — with mentors after whom we can model ourselves.

I’m so glad that my son has such a wonderful mentor and role model. Do I have one? Within my on profession, I’m not sure. I’m not sure, though, that we have to be inspired only be people within our own field.  So, today, I’m looking around for the people who inspire me…I can think of a few already. I think I’ll find pictures of them and put them up on the wall in my office along with a few of their best quotes–words that inspire me.  Maybe you should do the same.

It’s easy to fall into the rut of day-t0-day drudgery, the same-ol’ same-ol’ feeling that you have to simply get your work done, go to rehearsal or practice, churn out your art when instead you could be feeling inspired to do your best work ever. So look around. Find someone or something that inspires you…and begin once again moving towards your full human potential. Feel inspired. Act inspired. Turn out inspired actions and products.