Connect
To Top

Living Inspired, Not Tired

“Most of us are living the life we were taught to live instead of the life we want to live.
It’s time to wake up and be free.” ~ Bo L. Arnold

Inspiration vs. Desperation

Are you sick and tired? If you are, it may be because you are living a life that does not resonate with you. What is a life that resonates with you? It is life that is energizing, healthy and inspiring. But, many of us are stuck in a rut doing the same thing day in and day out in a desperate attempt to be somebody or to collect material things. We think the more we have, the more we are. We do all of this in an effort to fill a misperceived lack in our lives. And what an effort we put forth. Work, work, work. Though some of us may say our work is inspiring, the balance between inspiration and desperation is often lost in the shuffle. We get caught up in the business of making money and gathering stuff and end up bogged down, sick and tired. And let’s face it, most people aren’t working in jobs that inspire them .¨ they’re just working, waiting for the next paycheck and waiting for Friday to arrive. And when it finally gets here, they don’t have the energy to be inspired by anything anyway.

How many times a week do you do something different than you did the week before? In general, we get up every day and repeat the same patterns we have been repeating for a long, long time. And so we get the same life we have gotten before. We are certain our past creates our future. But, it doesn’t, not unless you want it to. Most of us want things to change.

How do we get things to change? We have to be willing to see life from a different perspective. We must be open to another point of view. We have to change how we think and how we act .¨ or more correctly, how we react. It’s time to stop the sickness that is a product of being tired, rather than inspired. It’s time for us to trust our inner voice .¨ the one that is directly connected to our heart. It’s time for less doing and more being.

The Undesirable Effects of Being Tired

The undesirable effects of living a tired existence is evident everywhere we look. From work to relationships, no stone is left unturned where stress is the business of the day. Being tired drains us making tempers short and understanding non-existent. We are wiped-out from all of the drama, mainly self-created, that saturates almost every aspect of our lives. Not only does this kind of a life separate us from loved ones, it separates us from ourselves. This disconnection from our heart center leaves us open to preventable illnesses that plague our nation today.

The top five preventable illnesses in the U.S. [i] today are:

  1. Heart disease
  2. Stroke
  3. Cancer
  4. Diabetes
  5. Arthritis

It is obvious we need to do something different than what we have been doing. It is time for us to heal each other and ourselves. One way to do this is to get inspired with life. It certainly holds unending wonder and beauty; we have just forgotten how to see this.

The next time you head out to work, do something different. Don’t go directly to your car, bike or bus. Walk out in front of where you live and look up, then look around. Look for something different .¨ something you haven’t noticed before. If you don’t see it the first time, look again tomorrow. It is there. Some beauty, something interesting you haven’t seen before is there. Perhaps it is a flower pot with beautiful flowers sitting tirelessly at the front door or snow piled precariously on a bike looking as if it is defying gravity. Maybe there is a person who walks alone every day hoping for a friendly, connecting smile and today is the day it is given and received. Maybe, just maybe, there is more inspiration out there than what we remember. By looking for it, it will appear. There are so many ways to live an inspired life. Open your mind.

5 Steps to Living an Inspired Life

An inspired life is one that is filled with love. What does that look like? Well, it doesn’t look like a life that is sick and tired. You won’t find it in material items or your ego’s point of view about life. You will find inspiration within. Sound clich‚àö¬©? Sound too good to be true? It’s not. Don’t think for a moment that you don’t deserve a happy, healthy life filled with love and peace. You do. And you can easily kick start your inspired life with the following:

  1. Be Kind. Few things inspire a life filled with good health and love like kindness. Kindness is the gift that keeps on giving, because, like love, the more you give, the more you have. Others are inspired to be kind as well because kindness is compelling to all of us on some level. It is a basic element of our life support system. No one really needs to tell you how to be kind to others. Kindness is normal for us. You’ll know if you are being kind because it will feel good in your heart, it won’t cause you stress or separate you from loved ones. Oh, don’t forget to be kind to yourself, too.
  2. Break Old Patterns. If we are sick and tired, it stands to reason that we must do something different if we are to live an inspired life. It is time to break old patterns. Start with just one. Think of an old pattern that is holding you back, blocking what you really want or is draining your life from you. Ask yourself what the inspiring alternative is (there is always an alternative). Choose the inspirational path and believe that you deserve it because you do. Now, don’t give up. Do one thing each day that frees you from the old pattern and creates an inspiring point of view. You can do it!
  3. Focus on Being, Not Doing. Materialism keeps us from being connected to what is real and true. When we are working to buy this or that, we expend an enormous amount of energy and mind time straining to acquire it. What a waste. We don’t need more stuff, we need more love. Stuff doesn’t heal and inspire us .¨ love does. How can you focus on being? Unplug from everything that requires electrical or battery power. This, in fact, keeps us powerless. It’s not that great creations don’t come from these material, electrical wonders of modern science, but they take up so much of our mind time that we have nothing left for inspiration. Most of us become zombies between the TV, the laptop and the endless supply of apps to explore.
  4. Calm Your Ego. First, know that we all have an ego. What is the ego? It’s your false self. It’s the person you were taught to believe is you and it is consistently uninspiring. The ego, based on fear and lack, sees the world through a viewpoint of non-love. But, you don’t have to follow this line of thinking any longer. How can you calm your ego? Be aware of what it sounds like and how it acts. Your ego holds grudges, judges everything and worries a lot. It is full of anger, blame and fear. When you hear these thoughts in your mind, you have a choice .¨ you can throw fuel on the fire or extinguish it by letting them pass. It is not always easy to do, but with practice you will become a master of your mind and leave room for thoughts that truly inspire you with anything you wish.
  5. Allow. So many of us fight life. We act as if it is happening to us rather than for us or with us. We think situations and people are against us and we react to that which has happened. This is a point of view that doesn’t provide us with much inspiration. In fact, all we really get is frustrated, angry, desperate and sick. And though we can’t change what happens a lot of times, we can change how we let it affect us and how we respond to it. We can practice seeing the benefit of all situations and believe that all experiences are meant to assist us in some way. Even if we can’t see that at the time, know that it is the truth. Our greatest struggles have brought us our greatest personal growth. You can embrace life and allow it to carry you on a magical journey filled with twists and turns, surprises and gifts. Now, that is inspiring!

Making the shift from tired to inspired takes practice since you have to do something different than what you have been doing. You have to walk counterclockwise to the old patterns of thinking and doing that most of us have been taught and obviously aren’t working for us. But, you have the power and creativity within you to do so. You can live an inspired life. It is, in fact, your birthright.

 

 

 

  • Save

More in Great Mind

Share via
Copy link
Powered by Social Snap