My amazing friend Howard Parsons wrote a beautiful inspiring post on his Hopeful Notes from Howie J this morning. He asks the question, “What inspires you?”

Life inspires me.

Every moment. Every day.

And then there are those moments where I just want to crawl into bed and wish the day over and sleep into tomorrow!

But they are not often.

Those days, the ones that don’t inspire me are mostly awakened when I take my attention off the wonder and beauty all around and let despair settle in for a visit.

And yes, there are moments in this life that I do feel despair. That place of thinking, what can I do? The problem’s too big. The issue too vast. The complexity too deep. What can little ole’ me do to make a difference anyway?

Lots.

But when I let my victim voice have its say, I think myself into powerlessness. I woo myself into despair.

I allow 100% of what happens in my life into my life. I am 100% accountable for me. And what I put my attention on grows stronger in my life.

Giving into my victim’s voice, giving way to despair does not nurture, nourish nor inspire me. It just brings me down into that place where darkness feels more welcoming than light.

It’s not about false optimism or faking joy. It’s all about knowing, I cannot change the world. I am not powerful enough to stop starving children in Africa dying. I am not powerful enough to stop war from waging.

I am powerful enough to change how I am in the world and in that change, I am powerful enough to create a ripple. In my ripple I want to be inspiring and uplifting. To live my ‘want’ on the other side of my fear — I am not enough to make a difference, I must live from that courageous belief that I am capable of doing my best to ensure whatever I’m doing and being is founded in my highest intention of being the change I want to create in the world.

We all can. Make a difference.

It’s like when I got out of that relationship that was killing me. While in it, I didn’t believe I was powerful enough to change him. And that was the truth. I wasn’t.

I cannot change someone else. I can change me. And in that relationship, I couldn’t change what he was doing or who he was — it is who he was — but… because I was so focussed on thinking about what I could do to stop him treating me the way he was, what I could do to change him, I didn’t see I had the power to stop abuse in my life by changing what I was doing.

Abuse hurts. Stop it.

War kills. Stop it.

We can ‘stop it’ when we stop believing it’s up to someone else to stop or change or be someone/something else.

And in the stopping it in our lives, we can create the world we’ve always imagined. As long as we don’t stop believing in our power to create change in our life, as long as we don’t stop believing in our capacity to make a difference.

We all have the capacity to make a difference. It’s up to each of us to determine what that difference is, and then to act on our capacity to create what we want to see more of in the world!

I want to create a world of beauty, a world where hearts open to the truth of their magnificence, where minds open to the wonder all around and where spirits soar in the freedom to become their most miraculous selves.

And in my desire to create, I am 100% responsible for me and my ripple.

What inspires me Howie J? Waking up to the beauty and wonder of life. Waking up to the magnificence of my being and becoming all I’m meant to be when I let go of believing, I do not make a difference.

We are each of us miracles of life. We are each of us magnificent.

Our very presence here on earth makes a difference. It’s up to each of us to make our difference a song of life we want to share. It’s up to each of us to live it up for all we’re worth and in our living it up inspire others to set themselves free to live from their magnificence shining brightly for all to see.

Namaste.