Today is the 5th anniversary of our legal wedding,
or as my clever friend Ruth calls it, our “Otherversary.”
Our actual anniverary is in JAN (it will be 27 years…wow).
(cake-cutting photo from our wedding)
Isn’t he handsome?
In the animation vernacular, he is my prince charming.
I still feel this way after all these years.
I found someone who is good to the core, through and through, a beautiful human being. I’m lucky. He inspires me every single day.
Ok, enough mushy stuff, on to the content of the post. . . .
Staying Inspired
The good and bad choices of those around us are equally inspiring.
I often forgot to be grateful to those whose bad choices inspire my good choices.
Without them, I might fumble about a lot longer. This is not a left-handed compliment. It’s genuine gratitude. Often, good and bad inspirations come from the same person or source.
Negatively Inspiring
I watched 4 siblings who made spectacularly bad decisions and choices.
I crossed those choices off the list, avoiding their pain.
The man at the restaurant who was so rude to the waitress…
inspired me to be even kinder to her, adding something positive to both our days.
My mom whose hard-knock life has accrued so much regret … I see the toxic effect it has on her… I see what holding onto regret does to someone’s twilight years. I know I need to let stuff go, and arrive at my golden years with foregiveness …if I want my brain to focus on the good memories instead of the bad when I get there.
My father who was obsessed with paying bills off early. I inherrited that very inspiringly good habit.
The Pho waiter who cares so genuinely about being of good service…at a job so many people write off as not worth the effort… it makes me try harder at my own work.
The teacher whose less-than-supportive style inspired me to let go of my “need to please” and just take from the class what I need to get from it, releasing a huge weight from shoulders.
The friends who suffer and survive misfortune– I am reminded just to be grateful for manageable problems. To embrace everything from appliances and cars that break down to the common cold or even insomnia. These are problems that are annoying and stressful. . . but they are the best kind of problem: solvable. I am grateful for my solvable problems.
Practice People
I wonder… how much more inspiration I would find in the most annoying and awful examples that surround us? I can rail against them and point lots of fingers. It helps me move on. But I can also look at what life is telling me by placing them squarely in my path.
My friend Wendy and I call these people “Practice People.”
Without them, we simply don’t get the opportunity to grow.
If we’re still breathing, we need the practice!
Inspiration has a beneficial biproduct: gratitude.
And it makes our lives feel full of meaning and purpose.
If we can feel meaning and purpose, our lives feel more positive.
It’s a forward momentum that keeps us focused.
Rather than focusing on what brings me down,
I try to focus on what inspires me.
So I gave this part of my website the title “The Inspired Life.”
Yet another reminder to focus.
Stay inspired,
~Shephard
(UPDATE: bare with me! Soon, people will be able to click on the subscription link.
I can manually add you if you’d like now, just ask.)
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