Creative Inspiration for Passionate Living

I strolled from the office to the train station at a casual pace enjoying the weather, pondering what early evening snack could satisfy my tummy without ruining my appetite for dinner.  I stopped at the street light and settled on a $1 fruit smoothie. As I waited for the walk signal, a blue car turned South onto a North bound one way street right in front of me.  At first I thought he was trying to access the parking garage at the corner, cars were in all but one of the lanes traveling in the opposite direction of his turn, but he sped down the avenue against traffic as if he was traveling in the right direction.  Midway down the street I saw him tap his break but then accelerate again.  Four neat rows of cars blocked his entry to the East bound one way. His options were to make a u-turn or continue in the wrong direction against traffic. As I crossed the street in laughter, I looked behind me wondering if maybe the one w...

One summer afternoon I was driving with my children to run a few errands. It was the summer that Jay-Z released The Black Album - one of my favorite CDs. My children and I often sing along to the radio or CDs to make our commute fun and relaxing. Jay-Zs new single (at the time) queued up and I got into it. "If you feelin like a pimp [ ], gone brush your shoulders off Ladies is pimps too, gone brush your shoulders off [ ] is crazy baby, don't forget that boy told you Get back TURN UP YOUR SHOULDERS you betta get, back turn up your shoulders" I had my bank head bounce goin as I cruised down the street. My kids were in stitches. At first, I figured they were REALLY enjoying my performance (I can be quite animated) until my daughter asked me to repeat what I was saying. "What?" I asked. Through tears of laughter she asked me again "Just sing the chorus one more time momma". I did. "GET BACK, TURN UP YOUR SHOULDERS. What?" I was gettin...

In Northwest Indiana, the high schools do not offer driver's education so I proudly took on the task of teaching my oldest son how to drive.  We started in sub divisions where there was little traffic and less opportunity to cause major damage if the lessons went sour. During one particular lesson, I told my son to make a right hand turn at the stop sign.  He stopped  without pounding on the break, causing the whole Durango to jerk forward - I was proud.  When he began to accelerate, he turned the steering wheel in the direction of a left turn.  I told him to stop in a very stern voice which must have startled him.  He heard and comprehended my instruction but for reasons  unknown to me, he did the exact opposite.  He attempted to steer the truck to the right while in the middle of maneuvering for a left turn and trying to stop. At the same time, a car was approaching the intersection where we danced an SUV Samba. We su...

I once had an eyelash fall into my eye.  I didn't realize it was there right away but once my eye began to feel like it had a rock under the lid, I knew I had trouble. I ran to the mirror, lifted my eyelid and began searching for the fleecy culprit.  I spotted it just under my brow bone - the highest part of my eye.  I washed my hands and prepared for a surgery of sorts. That single lash moved around in my eye back and forth, to and fro but would NOT come out!  Though I could always see it, I was unable to manipulate it to the safe place where I could pluck it without causing harm to my eyeball. I tried every tactic I knew - making my eye water, gently massaging the hair to the corner of my eye and even flushing it - nothing worked.  With little left in my arsenal, I was forced to grant the eyelash reprieve.  Both me and my eye had become visibly irritated but I could do little but leave it where it was and continue with my day. Within a half ...

Today is the first day I've written an inspiration in at least two weeks.  It wasn't that I didn't have anything to say or that I didn't have time.  I simply didn't feel inspired to write an inspiration - how ironic. At inception, I titled this blog "Daily Inspiration..."  a friend asked me if I'd have time to write daily to which I immediately answered "I'll make time."  And for a long, consistent while, I did make time.  Sometimes the words would flow as freely as bath water waiting to soothe aching muscles.  At other times, I was forcing the words onto the page like I used to when my parents served liver and peas for dinner.  The resulting works may not have revealed my internal struggles and some may have still even found encouragement. Still, I felt insincere and hypocritical on days I was trying to inspire without having first found my own inspiration. I cannot promise a daily post but I commit myself t...

When I was a girl of maybe 6 years, I would have a recurring dream about Raggedy Ann and Andy taking me through the forest to see the Wizz (not the Wizard of Oz).  When we arrived at the ivory castle, an evil witch would appear sitting high atop a golden throne (i.e., toilet).  We'd make our humble requests to the witch but she only scoffed at our pleas and told us we were fools.  This always angered me because my request was to use the bathroom. Because Raggedy Ann and Andy were my friends, they didn't take well to the witch's callous cackles.  They argued with her as I stood defenseless, legs crossed trying in vein to abstain from soaking my favorite baby blue pajamas with hot urine.  After unsuccessful  appeals on my behalf, they fought and defeated the witch and flushed her down the golden throne.  My fears were replaced with relief and elation as the village made me their new queen.   The lolly pop kids, Tom & Jerry, and other char...

Once when I was feeling a bewilderment about how my team fit in a changing organization, I sought input from a trusted mentor.  By the end of the discussion, which lasted less than 30 minutes, I was not only assured that my team had an opportunity to play a vital role in the organization's transition but also admonished for not seeking ways to ensure we were involved at the appropriate levels.  My mentor encouraged me to seek ways to add value rather than artificially asserting the need for involvement and complaining when the invitations didn't come. Today's Inspiration Seek No One's Permission to Fulfill Responsibilities That Are Yours Oh so many times we sit feeling like we're bound by the validation or acceptance of others.  In some cases, though we know (internally at least) that we have certain obligations, we wait for someone in our lives - oftentimes we don't even know who - to make a way for us or to mov...