The greatest test for inspiration is overcoming obstacles to create your best possible life.  This week, in difficult times, I found people with an impressive ability to cope with change.  

A man in town died of a massive heart attack at age 42.  I knew him as a family man, a husband, and father of  two boys, age 13 and 17.   This was a sudden, shocking death for all who knew him. 

The funeral was everything a person would want in a difficult situation.  The message of the funeral was that the family believed he was in a better place.  The 17 year old son remembered his Dad with grace and humor and love when he spoke.  If I had only one wish it would be for the family to remember the love.  The pictures showed his wife with her arms extended around him in cuddly hugs.  She gripped so tight and smiled so wide. She can never regret not showing her feelings, they jumped out of the pictures, each one looked like she knew how valuable he was and she captured that moment in time forever.  The 13 year old boy with the voice of an angel, sang so incredibly, it was a triumphant performance.  Though not an easy change, the family was so inspiring in that in the end, nothing was there except pure love.  They were a shining example for the rest of us. It left us with the feeling that if this is what he left behind, then he lived a tremendous life that would allow anyone to beam with pride.

Later in the week, a friend of mine had her husband of twenty years spring on her the news that he was unhappy for years, didn’t love her and was leaving her and the two children so he could be happy.   I was amazed at the honesty and courage she presented in this challenge in her life.  I thought of her as someone who was attached to labels or presentation and that she had defined herself as a mother and wife.  I was so wrong. 

She immediately was honest, caring, loving.  She told the children everything would be alright.  It may be for the best, things can even be better now.  I was so inspired by her amazing attitude.  This was a person who we all thought of, including herself, as someone that would be married forever.  That was the way it was. Now I watch as she absolutely puts into place one of Wayne Dyer’s 10 Secrets to Success - “Give up Your Personal History.” 

She knows there are several stages to grieving.  I volunteered my time when the anger phase comes around and she wants to sit and curse! Why not after the strength she has shown?

It may have been Helen Keller who said “Its not what you acheive in life,  its what you overcome.”  Today I am grateful for my friends who have shown me what they can overcome by focusing on love.

Michelangelo personifies inspiration.  I want to learn all I can about the genius, Michelangelo.  I have no rational reason for being so compelled by someone who lived over 400 years ago.  Maybe just being a fan of inspiration is a good enough reason to investigate his life.

A newspaper article recently prompted me to read “The Agony and the Ecstacy”, a biographical novel about Michelangelo written in the 1960s.  The book is over 600 pages and not the easiest to read.  When I glanced at the crazy thickness of the pages and small text size, my first thought was to skip the agony and go straight to the ecstacy.  Which reminds me I have had enough agony in the last week which I will write about soon enough.

I was enriched by the book.  It is comforting to know a great genius like Michelangelo faced agony in his lifetime.  I am not a note taker but wrote down one quote.  The biography shows his insatiable appetite for sculpting.  He loved getting his hands dirty in the marble and chipping away at what God put in it.  While he was growing up and wanting to learn sculpture, he found a place to learn his trade. 

 ”The message of the Garden is…..

Take your time.  Don’t make haste.  We have only one mission here:  To Learn.  We have nothing to sell but training, nothing to push to completion but your own skill and artistry.  You have only to grow .  Calma!  Prepare yourself for a lifetime of sculpturing.”  (The Agony and the Ecstacy by Irving Stone)

 Let that too be the message of InspirationReality.com.  I wish for you to live your life with the same patience and grace to prepare yourself for a lifetime of learning.  Calma! Grazie!

Welcome to InspirationReality.com on our first official day, February 29, 2008.

To take the Leap Year Challenge, fill in the blank in the following sentence quickly without overthinking:

On February 29, 2012, I see myself as…………………….

The purpose of this exercise is to help identify your priorities.  Write down your sentence and boost it to be a positive uplifting statement.  Is it surprising?  Does it inspire you?  Does it indicate an area of your life that you would like to improve?

My sentence is:  “On February 28, 2012, I see myself as doing work I love by using my creative unique gifts to help others.” This sentence is truthful because in all life areas, I am presently satisfied except for this feeling inside that hints of a mid-life crisis or an unanswered call.  Taking an action step today, I help launch InspirationReality.com

To participate in the Leap Year Challenge:

• Be honest.
• Find your inspiration.
• Take steps to make it a reality. 
• Don’t measure your progress until Leap Day in 2012. 

Feel free to share your mission in the comments section or the discussion board.  Or email me your challenge so I can send out inspiring individual emails to remind you just what you want to be.

Live in the present but prepare to be triumphant in the future!