HERO MAINTENANCE: Inspiration

Heroes are the bright lights of the world, the lamps in dark places.  Being positive & upbeat is often enough to make a difference in the lives of those around you.  

Now, when I say "being positive" I'm not talking about the fake face of positivity we plaster on to meet the world. "Fired Up Buddy!"  "Yeah, I just had a fight with my wife & my car broke down! Life is Good!"  "It took me a half-hour to get out of bed because I'd rather shoot my self then face another day at this office but I'm excited!" "Awesome! Couldn't be better! I haven't made a sale in 2 months! Business is booming! Fired Up!" 

I'm talking about deep down, honest to goodness, positive belief structure.  The true "can do" attitude.  The mindset that sees not limitations but opportunities, not walls but the buildings blocks of future success, not set backs but adventures!  This way of being cannot be faked & speaking all Fired Up! to convince everyone else you are positive doesn't work either.  It's in the core of you.  A true, positive outlook is often something others can feel without you saying a word.  One person described it as "What walks in the room before you do."     

Now, have you ever tried to be this sort of positive all the time?  I'm sure you have.  I am also sure you've come to realize how taxing this way of being can be, especially in our American culture.  Cynicism is the way of humor in our culture.  Speaking an inspiring word to someone can often get you the "stink-eye" look from them.  When everything around you is critical & down-turned it's way to easy to be critical of everything yourself.

  

Then there's Life, that unrelenting wench of bad circumstances who likes to trip you up, kick you when you're down & laugh while she's doing it.  Oh the pangs of circumstance!  How can you keep yourself positive in such environments?  How do you keep your light burning bright?

You can't.  At least not by yourself.  

Every human has their limitations.  Every rock solid hero needs to be inspired & rejuvenated.  I don't care how amazing the hero is, they are not a perpetual motion machine that never runs out of juice.  We need inspiration.  A definition for Inspiration found on Dictionary.com is: 

     World English Dictionary

      inspiration  (ˌɪnspɪˈreɪʃən) — n

1. stimulation or arousal of the mind, feelings, etc, to special or unusual activity or creativity
2. the state or quality of being so stimulated or aroused
3. someone or something that causes this state 
4. an idea or action resulting from such a state 
5. the act or process of inhaling; breathing in 

Solid inspiration is not just warm fuzzies & cute kittens, it moves you!  It wakes up thoughts & stimulates activity!  It is the gasoline of your engine.  With out it, you stop.  Find things that inspire you everyday so you don't stop in the tasks you hope to accomplish.  Maybe it's music, a file of YouTube vids, a selection of writings & poetry that moves you.  Whatever gives you that breathe of fresh air, hold on to it like a lifeline.  Remember, you cannot inspire others if you are down & out yourself.  To make the analogy that life is an airplane you need to get your breathing mask on before you can help anyone else with theirs. 

This video I saw on Facebook has so inspired me: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=535184355831 Maybe it can be an inspiration to you too.  It's never too late to start again.  It's never to late to get up one more time.  No matter who tells you you are done, it's not over until you give up.  

HERO MAINTENANCE: Do What's Important

10th July 2012 - "HERO MAINTENANCE: Do What's Important."

(Epic Pic, I know. We'll get back to that.)

So I just had my mind lifted by a friend & fellow Blog writer.  He wrote this article which is entitled "The Confidence of Doing". Honestly it could be the title of a self-help book.  In this article, the writer talks about how doing your responsibilities helps you to be in motion & basically get more done because you're doing.  Truly, action is a manifold cure. But, I do his writing no justice with a sentence or two summary, so go & read it yourself.  I connected with His post because like The Eclectic Runner, my wife & I have been going through a lot of crud.  To give you the short story, life draws a vacuum in a most house-less way.  (Long story to come later.)   

The Eclectic Runner's post specifically helped me think about prioritizing my day better.  I know, it's not directly related to what he wrote but it's what I thought of.  I'll take inspiration where I can get it.  DISCLAIMER: The rest of my Blog's entry will not really be related to what The Eclectic Runner wrote about.  I just had to give credit where credit is do & shamelessly promote my friend's blog :-D  Thanks for the inspiration bud!

With reading The Eclectic Runner's post I got inspired to start my first Blog-series, which is titled HERO MAINTENANCE.  The basic concept for this series will be to provide tidbits of info for maintaining you, the Hero of your life story (or the protagonist at least).  So here we go!  Do you know of the old self-help concept of "make time for the important things".  A classic parable for "doing what's important" is this one:

A college professor started his class one day by pulling out a tall glass jar & placing it on his desk.  He then grabbed a bucket of rocks & started to put the rocks in the jar until it was full and asked the class, 

“Do you think I can put anymore in this jar?” and the class seeing the jar full of rocks said “No.” 

The professor grabbed a bag of pebbles and poured them into the jar, filling the gaps between the rocks. The professor asked the class, “Do you think I can put anymore in this jar?” and the class seeing the jar full of rocks and pebbles thought there was definitely no more space so the majority said “No.” 

The professor then grabbed a bag of sand and poured it into the jar filling all the small gaps between the rocks and pebbles. Then the professor asked the class once more, “Do you think I can put anymore into this jar?” and the class, not desiring to be duped again said “Yes” but nobody knew how. 

The professor grabbed a beer, hidden in his desk, opened it, and poured it in the jar of rocks, pebbles, and sand. Then he asked the class, “Do you know what this represents?” 

A young man responded right away, saying, “There’s always room for beer?” The class chuckled as did the professor. Then the professor responded, “No. Always put the big things in first. If I had put the beer or the sand in first there would have been no room for the rocks; the important items in life.”

I'm sure we all have days like I had today.  Days where things are popping at work at a non-stop pace.  I had one of those crazy busy work schedules where, as soon as I get on top of my 'to do' list, poof, more urgent things jump on me.  But some how I keep it all together & I get it all straightened out. Then poof, more, & poof more!  I kick it into high gear & I knock it all out of the park.  Like The Eclectic Runner said, I feel good cause I've gotten a lot done!  I'm taking care of business!  

Then I get home & poof, I have even more tasks that beg my attention. Finish designing a website for a friend, get some phone calls done, get some progress on one of my many projects, do the dishes & laundry, blah, blah, blah.  

I'm sure you've been there.  And when you come to this crossroad you have a choice: knuckle under & keep doing the little tasks or say you've had enough for the day & take a slice for yourself.  I find it's hard to know what to choose & not feel guilty.  I have a hard time knowing when I've done enough in a day.  Are you like that at all?  Well today was a rare occasion for me, because I chose instead to say no.  Sometimes you just gotta let the chores lie & do what you gotta do!

Sometimes you have to yell "I will not be under the tyranny of the urgent!"  I will not let the 'important' little stuff eat up my life.

So tonight was that night for me, & so I went for a run.  But for me, running often involves many . . .   

 . . . detours.

Yep, that's me, bouncing from one wall to the next and back.  (sorry for the fuzzy pick, my cellphone is not the best camera.)  

I train in Parkour & Freerunning.  I have for many years.  I even taught the art for a couple years at a local gymnastics gym.  I love it!  It's one of the few things I can call mine.  Parkour is a great escape.  Tonight I decided I had to go run & it ended up being a good reward for a long day.  

This particular area in the picture features two outdoor walls that are close enough together to perform a Tic-Tac, as it is called in Parkour, where the athlete run-jumps from one wall to another & keeps going.  It's a combination move that can be fairly tricky & it's one of my favorites.  The Tic-Tac is one of the moves that drew me into Parkour in the first place.  All you have to do is see one good Jackie Chan movie & you'll wanna do it too. 

Anyway, back to my night.  I almost literally ran into this location today, when I had that 'ah-HA!' moment, like "There you are! Where have you been?"  I had forgotten this location, which is surprising because it's perfect to train the Tic-Tac, one of my favorite moves.  It's sad to think I had forgotten such an awesome place.  

In truth, I had forgotten how good it feels to do those things that help you breathe deep, release pressure, & just be who you are supposed to be.  It is so easy in this busy life we lead to get pulled away from the things that bring us alive, that make a heart sing.  It's so easy to get caught in the urgent & forget what's truly important.  And that's what happened tonight, I got a chance to remember what's important not just do what I enjoy.  It was like a breathe of fresh air.

So, to those other neurotic people, who like me, are more likely to get caught up doing the little stuff, instead of the important stuff, i ask: What keeps you going?  Why do you work so hard?  What's your reward at the end of a long day? 

What walls are you leaving empty?

Go find them!