So many; as a teenager it was Martin Luther King jr, and later of course many teachers supporting and inspiring my professional life, as well as you all here, widening perspective and space in awareness of mind and managing emotional turmoil to finally letting go of fixed blockages of unfolding into the moment. Thank you for this question.
As a young physician, in 1975, starting internship/residency, I’d come across the works and life of Sir William Osler, now considered the “father of internal medicine”. By all accounts, not only a knowlegible doctor, but also a caring human being with a heart – A humanitarian. I was no Osler, by any stretch, but his wisdom and caring were always an inspiration for me.
No one I know personally
has inspired me in my work . . .
it is such a private thing.
Other people’s work has inspired me though . . .
people who are not afraid to say or see the hard things,
people whose work
courts honesty and truth . . .
people whose work I admire.
Mary Oliver
and Annie Dillard . . .
Andrew Wyeth,
Vincent Van Gogh . . .
Yusuf Islam,
and Joni Mitchell
writers and singers and artists,
some known,
some unknown . . .
many from the old days,
during the ‘age of aquarius’,
many from centuries ago.
These courageous beings
are not concerned with financial gain
or fame,
or power.
These people express their art with grace,
even when touching the hard truths . . .
their touch upon my soul is tender,
and they all inspire me
to put my heart into the work of my life.
What was the disconnect with those folks of the ‘age of aquarius’. I was around 12 and thought ‘when these people are in charge the earth may be able to take a well-deserved sigh’. Niel Young and Joan Baez have not yet given up rabble rousing though. I am glad of that, dear Sparrow.
I am too,
dear Joseph . . .
Joan Baez
has been one of my heroes
since I was a very young teenager . . .
would that there were more people like Joan and Neil,
There were people,
so many people . . . ♥
Kurt Hahan. He was the founder of outward bounds education philosophy. In short he believed:
“There is more in us than we know if we could be made to see it; perhaps, for the rest of our lives we will be unwilling to settle for less.”
Doing outward bound and education summer in Maine changed my entire life because it helped me believe in myself in ways that I never knew that I could. I grew so much in college the one summer that I actually got to do the sailing course to change my entire life and made me resilient because of Kurt Hann I have Really seen resilience in my life. I am not afraid to push myself through anything. Sometimes this can also be to a fault because I tend to over-do and resting is something I’m not good at.
Thank you for this question. I completely forgot about this amazing man and the outward bound moto : to serve, strive, and never to yield. And now I’ll add to the moto by saying never to heals to anything but TRUTH. In other words Kepp letting the false self die .
I am retired now from teaching art, but am now in a position to focus on doing my own art.
There is a young man, early thirties, in my weekly portraiture class who is very inspiring to me.
I have seen his work go from quite good to excellent.
He gotten there by having a laser like focus on improving his work by and putting in the hours.
His work is now displayed in with that of other excellent artists and he takes on many commissions.
I don’t think I want to have that laser like focus he has,
nor do I want to put all my free time into it. I
I do want to increase my focus and the time I put into it.
I’m thinking I may want to start working in oils again
and perhaps add some new elements such as collage to my work.
As I write this I’m realizing that I’d like to find ways to put my spirituality and my feelings
into my work, and writing this I am getting excited and seeing a new creative direction for myself
The young man who inspires me does his work in his own individual way.
It’s time for me to become expansive and incorporate more of myself into my art.
I had many who inspired me in my volunteer work, my spiritual growth and my community theatre work but inspiration from others in my paying jobs was few and far between. I just always tried my best to do the work I was given.
Carol, I too have found more inspirational presences in those other forms of work than paying work. It’s good to remember that life doesn’t revolve around paying jobs.
I used to identify with a certain skilled craft as my work. It paid decently, and I also did it on the side as my creative activity. The corporate American “do more with less” culture led to me stretching my inner resources to accomplish what, in a sane world, would have required more people. I grew burned out, and artificial intelligence came around to automate some of the tasks in my job that had fueled my motivation.
I just can’t find meaning or an identity in this line of work anymore, after nearly two decades of doing it. This shift in my work, as well as some fundamental shifts in my relationship to my family, opened up a lot of difficult emotions. Despair, disgust, emptiness, loss, abandonment, etc. A fractal of inter-generational rejection kaleidescoping all the way to job loss.
I practice what Vedanta calls jnana yoga, the yoga of knowledge. It’s about discerning the nature of reality for yourself. So I’ve become a student of the shadows. I have benefitted from authors who have written entire books about difficult states like envy, disgust, nihilism. It’s counter-intuitive, but honestly, what inspires my work right now is getting to know reality through these incredibly unappealing (but common!) sensations, emotions, states. Like Rumi said, if the visitors are at the door (or hanging out on the couch all the time), you welcome them, right?
So yeah, I do not feel happy, bright, hopeful, or ascendent right now, but I am in a fertile, rich, and difficult place. And this, too, is a part of being alive.
Drea, I’m so sorry you are dealing with difficult emotions.
Family relationships can bring up so much pain, I know.
And then ending 20 years in a field because the joy of it is gone is really tough too.
(I looked up Vedanta and found it to be very interesting and will probably read some more about it.)
You are so brave Drea, doing a deep dive into shadow work and painful emotions.
I hope you are balancing living with difficult emotions by doing some things you love,
and nurturing yourself, as well as being very gentle and kind with yourself through all of this.
I also hope you are doing this work with someone who can help guide you or at least support you.
Wishing you the best, Drea, in the hard work you are doing.
Sending love, Mary
Thank you deeply for your support, Mary. I do have good support, and am learning to find joy one day at a time. I could definitely stand to do more art and maybe music, I suspect that will help a lot too. Have a wonderful day.
Jospeh, I wish my ancestors were specialists in the art of loving human connection and acceptance, but alas. More nutritious mud for the lotus, I reckon.
Drea, what a very thoughtful post. I really appreciate your honesty and no frills way of expressing yourself. Sometimes I feel like when I have the dark visions showing up in the living room- like I did when I woke up with yet another migraine, that I almost don’t want to post anything here .
The no mud no lotus 🪷 comes up again lo and behold!
And thank you for saying that we are allowed to have these guests and welcome them .
When my migraines come they guests are always present dressed to the nines and I’m so overwhelmed and blinded by them I believe it until the storm passes.
Thank you 🙏
Antoinette, I am grateful that you could relate to what I wrote. What you wrote about “believing it until the storm passes” resonates. It seems to be in the nature of scary and dark things that they cloak as the only “real” and believable reality. I have found that welcoming softens the grip of that coercive threat. Wishing you peace and a handful of lotus flowers as we go into the weekend.
A few years ago, an attorney at one of the law firms I used to work at posted a ‘word for the day’ quote as part of her goodbye message to the firm on her last day. That’s how I initially discovered this site and I’ve been coming here every since.
I had a boss who really inspired me. She was always patient and positive with us, even while holding us to high standards. When there was a challenge, she would solicit feedback from the whole group of how to address it. If there was some unpopular rule we had to follow, she would explain the reasoning behind it. She was energetic and enthusiastic and had a good sense of humor. She was able to keep confidentiality. She listened well. She showed us that she trusted us and appreciated our work and cared for us as people. She inspires me to try to be like this in my interactions with people and when I am in leadership positions.
I named names a while back in response to a different question. I volunteered in transportation policy for a while, which led to work in the field professionally since 2012. I’ve been so fortunate in getting to learn from so many people online, and often meet them in person at conferences. They built my understanding of transportation justice and how far we have to go to achieve that. Too many to name, all greatly appreciated and genuinely me-changing, life-changing.
My approach thanks to them (and the wonderful grounding from my mom, who modeled empathy and belonging): Transportation work is health is opportunity is equity is climate is justice work.
As someone who bike commutes, thank you. It’s amazing how being outside in a (mostly safe) environment and breathing fresh air can make a huge difference in one’s life, while benefitting the environment.
My friends and family, my yoga therapist and fitness trainer, my regular therapist, y’all on this site, coworkers, people passing by. I am in awe of everyone and everything and for that I am grateful. 🧡
My work doesn’t require a whole lot of inspiration.
Mostly it requires determination. Putting myself out there, even when it’s difficult, or scary, or inconvenient.
Now, having said that, I have worked with some amazing people over the years, many of them were young at the time, who were/are inspirational. Mostly because of there fearlessness, or what seemed to be fearlessness. They were willing, and even eager to try new and difficult things in a way that made me question my own fearfulness. And for that I am so grateful. 🙏
My work: becoming the best human I can.
Who: many authors but more the everyday folks here and in the lounge who walk daily the walk and share experiences.
My work: a teacher.
Who: Maria Montessori and many peers.
My work: a spouse.
Who: our members in a marriage encounter image group and members of support groups.
My work: a mother.
Who: My mother died when I was very young but my maternal grandmother was an inspiration. I know spiritually my mother guides me.
I love how you listed several different definitions of “my work”, Yram! In a society where we often define ourselves by our jobs, it is neat to break out of the boxes and think of the different areas of our life in which we “work”
I’m in school right now, and one of my inspirational people is my professor, Amy. She teaches the First Year Experience course. I find her course helpful because it opens up many school resources that students don’t know about, and the way Amy teaches the course inspires me.
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So many; as a teenager it was Martin Luther King jr, and later of course many teachers supporting and inspiring my professional life, as well as you all here, widening perspective and space in awareness of mind and managing emotional turmoil to finally letting go of fixed blockages of unfolding into the moment. Thank you for this question.
As a young physician, in 1975, starting internship/residency, I’d come across the works and life of Sir William Osler, now considered the “father of internal medicine”. By all accounts, not only a knowlegible doctor, but also a caring human being with a heart – A humanitarian. I was no Osler, by any stretch, but his wisdom and caring were always an inspiration for me.
No one I know personally
has inspired me in my work . . .
it is such a private thing.
Other people’s work has inspired me though . . .
people who are not afraid to say or see the hard things,
people whose work
courts honesty and truth . . .
people whose work I admire.
Mary Oliver
and Annie Dillard . . .
Andrew Wyeth,
Vincent Van Gogh . . .
Yusuf Islam,
and Joni Mitchell
writers and singers and artists,
some known,
some unknown . . .
many from the old days,
during the ‘age of aquarius’,
many from centuries ago.
These courageous beings
are not concerned with financial gain
or fame,
or power.
These people express their art with grace,
even when touching the hard truths . . .
their touch upon my soul is tender,
and they all inspire me
to put my heart into the work of my life.
What was the disconnect with those folks of the ‘age of aquarius’. I was around 12 and thought ‘when these people are in charge the earth may be able to take a well-deserved sigh’. Niel Young and Joan Baez have not yet given up rabble rousing though. I am glad of that, dear Sparrow.
Me too,
dear Joseph . . .
and there are some new ones too,
so there is hope. ♥
I am too,
dear Joseph . . .
Joan Baez
has been one of my heroes
since I was a very young teenager . . .
would that there were more people like Joan and Neil,
There were people,
so many people . . . ♥
Kurt Hahan. He was the founder of outward bounds education philosophy. In short he believed:
“There is more in us than we know if we could be made to see it; perhaps, for the rest of our lives we will be unwilling to settle for less.”
Doing outward bound and education summer in Maine changed my entire life because it helped me believe in myself in ways that I never knew that I could. I grew so much in college the one summer that I actually got to do the sailing course to change my entire life and made me resilient because of Kurt Hann I have Really seen resilience in my life. I am not afraid to push myself through anything. Sometimes this can also be to a fault because I tend to over-do and resting is something I’m not good at.
Thank you for this question. I completely forgot about this amazing man and the outward bound moto : to serve, strive, and never to yield. And now I’ll add to the moto by saying never to heals to anything but TRUTH. In other words Kepp letting the false self die .
I’ve never done Outward Bound, but it sounds like it has had an amazing impact on so many people. What a great and empowering memory that must be.
I am retired now from teaching art, but am now in a position to focus on doing my own art.
There is a young man, early thirties, in my weekly portraiture class who is very inspiring to me.
I have seen his work go from quite good to excellent.
He gotten there by having a laser like focus on improving his work by and putting in the hours.
His work is now displayed in with that of other excellent artists and he takes on many commissions.
I don’t think I want to have that laser like focus he has,
nor do I want to put all my free time into it. I
I do want to increase my focus and the time I put into it.
I’m thinking I may want to start working in oils again
and perhaps add some new elements such as collage to my work.
As I write this I’m realizing that I’d like to find ways to put my spirituality and my feelings
into my work, and writing this I am getting excited and seeing a new creative direction for myself
The young man who inspires me does his work in his own individual way.
It’s time for me to become expansive and incorporate more of myself into my art.
I had many who inspired me in my volunteer work, my spiritual growth and my community theatre work but inspiration from others in my paying jobs was few and far between. I just always tried my best to do the work I was given.
Carol, I too have found more inspirational presences in those other forms of work than paying work. It’s good to remember that life doesn’t revolve around paying jobs.
I used to identify with a certain skilled craft as my work. It paid decently, and I also did it on the side as my creative activity. The corporate American “do more with less” culture led to me stretching my inner resources to accomplish what, in a sane world, would have required more people. I grew burned out, and artificial intelligence came around to automate some of the tasks in my job that had fueled my motivation.
I just can’t find meaning or an identity in this line of work anymore, after nearly two decades of doing it. This shift in my work, as well as some fundamental shifts in my relationship to my family, opened up a lot of difficult emotions. Despair, disgust, emptiness, loss, abandonment, etc. A fractal of inter-generational rejection kaleidescoping all the way to job loss.
I practice what Vedanta calls jnana yoga, the yoga of knowledge. It’s about discerning the nature of reality for yourself. So I’ve become a student of the shadows. I have benefitted from authors who have written entire books about difficult states like envy, disgust, nihilism. It’s counter-intuitive, but honestly, what inspires my work right now is getting to know reality through these incredibly unappealing (but common!) sensations, emotions, states. Like Rumi said, if the visitors are at the door (or hanging out on the couch all the time), you welcome them, right?
So yeah, I do not feel happy, bright, hopeful, or ascendent right now, but I am in a fertile, rich, and difficult place. And this, too, is a part of being alive.
Drea, I’m so sorry you are dealing with difficult emotions.
Family relationships can bring up so much pain, I know.
And then ending 20 years in a field because the joy of it is gone is really tough too.
(I looked up Vedanta and found it to be very interesting and will probably read some more about it.)
You are so brave Drea, doing a deep dive into shadow work and painful emotions.
I hope you are balancing living with difficult emotions by doing some things you love,
and nurturing yourself, as well as being very gentle and kind with yourself through all of this.
I also hope you are doing this work with someone who can help guide you or at least support you.
Wishing you the best, Drea, in the hard work you are doing.
Sending love, Mary
Thank you deeply for your support, Mary. I do have good support, and am learning to find joy one day at a time. I could definitely stand to do more art and maybe music, I suspect that will help a lot too. Have a wonderful day.
🌷
”So yeah, I do not feel happy, bright, hopeful, or ascendent right now, but I am in a fertile, rich, and difficult place.”
more mud,
bigger lotus,
dear Drea . . . ♥
Yes, thank you for the reminder Sparrow.
“A fractal of inner-generational rejection kaleidoscoping……..” that phrase dear Drea is finally a way to conceptualize those feelings. Thank you.
Jospeh, I wish my ancestors were specialists in the art of loving human connection and acceptance, but alas. More nutritious mud for the lotus, I reckon.
Drea, what a very thoughtful post. I really appreciate your honesty and no frills way of expressing yourself. Sometimes I feel like when I have the dark visions showing up in the living room- like I did when I woke up with yet another migraine, that I almost don’t want to post anything here .
The no mud no lotus 🪷 comes up again lo and behold!
And thank you for saying that we are allowed to have these guests and welcome them .
When my migraines come they guests are always present dressed to the nines and I’m so overwhelmed and blinded by them I believe it until the storm passes.
Thank you 🙏
Antoinette, I am grateful that you could relate to what I wrote. What you wrote about “believing it until the storm passes” resonates. It seems to be in the nature of scary and dark things that they cloak as the only “real” and believable reality. I have found that welcoming softens the grip of that coercive threat. Wishing you peace and a handful of lotus flowers as we go into the weekend.
Drea, I hear you. Sometimes those three words have been more important to me than “I love you.” We all have a need to be seen and heard.
Thank you Carol, I really appreciate those words right now.
A few years ago, an attorney at one of the law firms I used to work at posted a ‘word for the day’ quote as part of her goodbye message to the firm on her last day. That’s how I initially discovered this site and I’ve been coming here every since.
I had a boss who really inspired me. She was always patient and positive with us, even while holding us to high standards. When there was a challenge, she would solicit feedback from the whole group of how to address it. If there was some unpopular rule we had to follow, she would explain the reasoning behind it. She was energetic and enthusiastic and had a good sense of humor. She was able to keep confidentiality. She listened well. She showed us that she trusted us and appreciated our work and cared for us as people. She inspires me to try to be like this in my interactions with people and when I am in leadership positions.
Your boss sounds like a treasure. I’ve met few such people, but when I have, even if they weren’t my bosses, they stuck in my mind.
I named names a while back in response to a different question. I volunteered in transportation policy for a while, which led to work in the field professionally since 2012. I’ve been so fortunate in getting to learn from so many people online, and often meet them in person at conferences. They built my understanding of transportation justice and how far we have to go to achieve that. Too many to name, all greatly appreciated and genuinely me-changing, life-changing.
My approach thanks to them (and the wonderful grounding from my mom, who modeled empathy and belonging): Transportation work is health is opportunity is equity is climate is justice work.
As someone who bike commutes, thank you. It’s amazing how being outside in a (mostly safe) environment and breathing fresh air can make a huge difference in one’s life, while benefitting the environment.
My friends and family, my yoga therapist and fitness trainer, my regular therapist, y’all on this site, coworkers, people passing by. I am in awe of everyone and everything and for that I am grateful. 🧡
My work doesn’t require a whole lot of inspiration.
Mostly it requires determination. Putting myself out there, even when it’s difficult, or scary, or inconvenient.
Now, having said that, I have worked with some amazing people over the years, many of them were young at the time, who were/are inspirational. Mostly because of there fearlessness, or what seemed to be fearlessness. They were willing, and even eager to try new and difficult things in a way that made me question my own fearfulness. And for that I am so grateful. 🙏
A former boss inspired me by introducing me to Louise Hay’s wisdom.
I am inspired by some of the yoga teachers whose classes I take regularly.
My work: becoming the best human I can.
Who: many authors but more the everyday folks here and in the lounge who walk daily the walk and share experiences.
My work: a teacher.
Who: Maria Montessori and many peers.
My work: a spouse.
Who: our members in a marriage encounter image group and members of support groups.
My work: a mother.
Who: My mother died when I was very young but my maternal grandmother was an inspiration. I know spiritually my mother guides me.
I love how you listed several different definitions of “my work”, Yram! In a society where we often define ourselves by our jobs, it is neat to break out of the boxes and think of the different areas of our life in which we “work”
My mom inspired the approach I brought to being a mother, Yram. Thank you for inspiring me to think about that.
I’m in school right now, and one of my inspirational people is my professor, Amy. She teaches the First Year Experience course. I find her course helpful because it opens up many school resources that students don’t know about, and the way Amy teaches the course inspires me.
My Ngoc, Amy sounds like a nice teacher.