Category Archives: Inspiration

#AtoZChallenge: LOVE

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Teeheehee, a Little Late…

One year ago yesterday I launched this blog, Happy Blogoversary to me! 😀

It started as a platform to explore ways to reconnect patients and physicians in the increasingly divisive healthcare system.  And while that idea still stands central to the theme of the blog, I soon realized a much larger and more important principle:  The best practices apply across all relationships, not just doctor-patient relations.  The more I write, read, and explore, the bolder I have grown in my writing.

The very best outcome (so far) of starting this blog has been the LOVE I have received from others around it.  From the beginning, fellow bloggers have engaged, welcomed, encouraged, challenged, and nurtured me.  My friends and family have also held me up—following me via email, commenting on Facebook and the blog itself.  A vast community of support has stood up around me as I took this risk to share my mind publicly.  If they looked down on blogging, they kept it to themselves and encouraged me anyway.  If they thought I wouldn’t stick with it, I imagine they secretly wished me persistence, and then grace if I failed.  Because of all of these people, I have confidence to continue striving to bring forth the best in me, to share with everybody, in the hopes of creating something meaningful.

What if everybody had this chance?  What if every time someone wanted to do something bold and new, we met them with this much LOVE, cheer, praise, and affirmation?  Doing so does not mean blindly endorsing frivolous endeavors and wasted energy.  We can always offer LOVE along with tactful words of truth and pragmatism.  Even when, or especially when, projects fail terrifically, everybody can learn and grow.  LOVE from others at the outset makes us more resilient to failure.  LOVE from others at the moment of failure, as opposed to ridicule, shame, and sarcasm, makes us humble, grateful, and more brave, as opposed to defensive, angry, and humiliated.

Adequate words do not exist to express my deepest and most sincere gratitude to all who have LOVED me throughout my life, including those who have LOVED me through my blogging adventure so far.  May I pay it forward, and find ways to LOVE others whenever I have the chance.  If I can do that, then I will truly contribute to making the world a better place.

 

 

 

#AtoZChallenge: Kindness and Kickassery

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kick ass be kind

Image courtesy of Facebook/Pinterest.

I love this meme because of the unexpected juxtaposition of Kindness and Kickassery.  There aren’t many great ‘K’ words, but these are definitely my favorite. But what does it mean?  How can we apply this wonderful combination of words in everyday life?  My daughter gave me some ideas recently.  She has been interested in Japanese culture for a while, and recently got into the Inuyasha comic series.  I asked her why she likes it so much.  She said it’s helping her feel more brave, and that she likes the heroine, Kagome, because she’s “tough and kind.”  She is willing to go through hardships to help the other protagonist, Inuyasha.  That’s it!  Kindness and Kickassery!

We talked about some movie characters she also likes (I like them, too): Black Widow from the Marvel movies, and Ilsa Faust from Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.  We decided we thought they, too, were “tough and kind.”  We admire their Kickass fighting skills, their ability to hold their own among the boys, and their dedication to mission, as well as their ability to connect to other characters on an emotional level.  As I think about it I can’t say that kindness is their chief strength, but I can still apply this mantra to my own life.

Kick Ass simply means do it like you mean it. No holding back, be your badass self.  No apologies.  Because Kickass, and its cousin Badass, are the antitheses of Half-ass.

Kindness means do it in the service of treating others well, of holding them up—no matter who they are, no matter what you’re doing, no matter how hard.

So in a way, it’s the perfect combination. Because Kickass by itself has potential to harm—if we do things thoughtlessly, brazenly, and without regard to other people’s feelings.  Combined with Kindness, though, we are grounded in, once again, our connections with others.  Kindness channels our Kickass energy always in a positive direction.  Sometimes we may worry that being Kind will lead to others taking advantage of us.  But just picture it: Kindness with the force of a no-holds-barred-I-got-this-just-stand-aside-and-let-me-work-here-please attitude carries weight.  This kind of robust confidence, rooted in doing the right thing, commands respect and deference from would-be naysayers.

So let’s all try to practice some Kickass Kindness,eh?

#AtoZChallenge: Inspire. Imagine. Integrate.

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Inspire.

Dictionary.com:  To inhale.

Breathing: We can’t live without it (duh)!  But we take it for granted, or at least I do, until I can’t do it very well, like when I have a cold.  Oh, how I appreciate clear nasal passages and an airway free of mucus during those times!  But let’s take a closer look at Inspiration, the function of breathing in.

During the in-breath, the diaphragm contracts.  The chest inflates.  To do it fully we must sit or stand up straight.  The spine elongates, the sternum lifts, and the ribs spread, to accommodate three dimensions of filling capacity.  Negative pressure sucks in not only air, but venous blood, returning it to the heart.  Inspiration, then, constitutes expansion, loading, and readying for the next phase in a beautifully rhythmic, life-sustaining cycle.  It is necessary and automatic.

Dictionary.com:  To fill with an animating, quickening, or exalting influence.

How and when are we Inspired?  What then, do we do with our bodies?  We breathe deep, straighten our posture.  We feel steady and resilient, and we get to work.  We discover previously dormant or untapped creativity, and gears start turning.  Ideas flow; actions flow; we flow.  In addition to expansion, loading, and priming, Inspiration stimulates openness, Inclusion, and possibility.  We can move Infinitely farther, faster, higher, and stronger with Inspiration than without it.  Inspiration Ignites.  And, under the right conditions, I would argue it is also necessary and automatic.

 

Imagine.

Fueled by Inspiration, fully oxygenated and standing tall, we can then truly start to Innovate.  We can ask questions that might otherwise seem too hard:

  • What would I do if I knew I could not fail (clichĂ©, I know, but bear with me here)?
  • If I fail, how could that actually be cool?
  • If we collaborated rather than competed, what more could we accomplish?
  • What is the greatest good that could come of this Idea, how far could it actually get?
  • How does this relate to everything else that I am about and that I do?
  • How could I make this a win-win?
  • What needs to happen in order for this to really take off?
  • What if they’re not just fantasies, after all?

How Infinite is human Imagination?

 

Integrate.

Ironically, Inspiration and Imagination can feel Intimidating.  Too often we are held back by thoughts that resemble humility, such as, “Who am I to challenge the status quo,” and, “I’m only one person, what do I know?  The people in charge must know what they’re doing, I should trust their leadership.”  Or maybe it’s fear?  In a world that operates too often on an assumption of scarcity, we may mistakenly believe that our Ideas and Innovations might threaten others, and rocking the boat can have unInvited consequences.  Or, maybe, we simply cannot yet believe in our own greatness.

New Ideas and Innovations do not necessarily negate those that came before them.  Indeed, their evolution often depends on previous Iterations.  There is no need to disavow or Invalidate anything already existing in order to bring forth something Inventive.  Intoned with respect and proper deference, the new may be Integrated with the old—synergized.

If we can hold Inviolable our core connections, common humanity, and love, just think of how we could advance our world with Intense and unInhibited brilliance!