What inspires me?

I have been asked by Wil, to write about what inspires me. Here is my eclectic answer.

I am inspired by many things. The first that comes to mind is success. I have a half dozen magazine subscriptions that all include articles and notes and blurbs about people doing amazing things. Success is a journey that includes humble beginnings, a dream, putting that dream into your heart and creating passion and then taking that passion, putting it into your feet and ultimately accomplishing it. That journey is seldom a straight path and often includes setbacks and failures. Success breeds success. Nothing increases capacity like success and nothing tastes sweeter. Success means that a goal has been reached and far to few people reach any goal let alone create one.

I am inspired by people that leave a positive legacy. Duplication is the hardest thing a human can do. Raise a child to be a contributor to society. Hire and train someone to replace you and watch them do the same and so on and so on, all going back to the processes you instilled in many people but in one it took.

I am inspired by people who are getting into shape. I love to watch a guest walk into a health club intimidated, overweight and deconditioned. Then watch them create a healthy lifestyle, get their desired results and increase years to their life and increase the quality of those years. All the self-help crap pushed by anyone writing a book is bull dookie compared to the level of self esteem that is created by someone who has lost thiry pounds and half their body fat.

I am inspired by my mother who at almost twice my age, watches her grandson four days week, nine hours a pop, without any complaints when I can barely manage a few hours at a time.

I am inspired by God and the miracle of a sunrise, the beauty of a rainbow and the sound of a bird. The words and storys of the Bible.

Inspirational creativity comes to me off the cuff. I am not the sharpest tool in the shed, though I have been accused of being a tool. I may be criticized for not being able to immediately think myself out of a paper bag but I am creative enough to rip it open.

I am inspired by silence, broken by the slapping of my shoes and the labor of my lungs.