Today, I’m honored to be a featured Luminary at InspireMeToday.com, a website that provides daily inspiration to people around the world. As you might remember, I interviewed Inspire Me Today founder, Gail Goodwin earlier this year, and I was thrilled when she wanted to include me on her site.
To hear my interview over at Inspire Me Today, you need to be a member, but Gail has been kind enough to give me nine year long memberships to share with my friends and listeners. To enter for your chance to win one of these memberships, all you need to do is leave a comment telling us about a person who inspires you. For a second entry, tweet this contest, with a link to this post, and leave a separate comment letting me know you did it.
The contest will close on Friday Sunday, January 4th at 5pm MST. Winners will be chosen at random and announced as soon as possible. Please make sure we have a way to get in touch with you if you win!
Tags: contest, gail goodwin, inspire me today
It would be hard for me to choose only one person that inspires me because I have found so many inspiring people on Twitter, and for so many different reasons. You could pick any one of them and have an amazing story.
Twitter: ableo2
The person who has inspired me most this year has been Barack Obama. Everything from the way he has embraced social media to spread the word to his inspirational speeches. Despite the major challenges and obstacles he will be facing as president, his strong sense of hope for our country is contagious and makes us believe that together “Yes We Can” overcome these challenges. He has inspired me to soulsearch and make personal changes that will enable me to be the best I can be and inspire those around me.
Paul Potts is my inspiration of the year! I save the link to this video in a folder called “Motivation.” If you don’t think this is the most inspirational video you’ve ever seen, send me the video that is, it must be good! 39,248,937 views & 65,723 comments. http://tinyurl.com/2agwpt
My 94 year old grandfather inspires me daily. He is still in the house he bought with my grandmother 60+ years ago. Every morning begins the same, prune juice while his rasberry tea is steeping. He reads the paper, has breakfast which always includes fresh fruit, then, business as usual.
A typical day includes a walk with the fluffy black semi-feral cat, review of some legal documents, reading, reading, reading, calls to check on one or two of his 8 adult children, and some media outlet to update him on his investments.
He’s been practicing law so long, people continue to come to him for insight not realizing, he’s not 70 anymore. His brain confirms daily that he’s as sharp as he was at 70 and daily ignores the clues his body gives to the contrary.
Just this weekend, he donned his tuxedo for some big deal in New Orleans.
I want to be like my Paw Paw, live, love, learn and have fun!
The person who inspired me the most this year was Ryan Zinn, a 35-year-old athlete who was given a life saving heart transplant when he was dying a slow death at the age of 15. In all these years, Ryan has never taken that gift for granted. Although he has never had the privilege of meeting his donor family, he thinks often about their generosity, and their 20-year-old son who died in a tragic car accident. “Grateful” does not begin to describe his feelings for the donor family that made the conscious choice to give their young son’s heart to a complete stranger in what must have been their darkest hour.
Today, Ryan considers every day a gift, and lives life like there’s no tomorrow. Because Ryan knows that he’s living on borrowed time. That the heart pumping inside him has lasted twice as long than most transplanted organs. When I interviewed him earlier this year for a newsletter I write for Cleveland Clinic (http://www.clevelandclinic.org), he kiddingly told me he must be doing something right, because most hearts don’t last as long as his. Truth be told, Ryan works tirelessly to keep his body (and heart) in shape, exercising regularly, and competing in a variety of athletic events annually, including the US Transplant Games.
A big believer in giving back to the community, Ryan speaks often to children and adults about the importance of making a difference in the world, whether that’s through organ donation or working in a soup kitchen.
The truth is that Ryan is my inspiration. His fierce determination to live life to the fullest inspired me to become an organ donor this year. The fact is that there are so many people in need of organs, these days. And while I hope to live a long life, when I do die, I’d like to help someone else live a healthy, active, meaningful life. I hope this story will inspire some of your readers to give the gift of life to someone else when that time comes. While it’s admittedly difficult to think of what will happen to our body when we die, organ donation is a generous way to give the gift of life to someone in need. Signing up to be an organ donor only takes a few minutes, and can save dozens of lives: http://www.donatelife.net/index.php Won’t you consider, giving the gift of life?
This year my inspiration was Ron Paul. Not for political ideology, but for the incredible integrity with which he’s conducted his life.
The man is so painfully honest and consistent in his beliefs that he has returned a portion of his congressional budget back to the treasury every year he’s been in office.
As a co-founder of a start-up, I strive to meet that standard every day and am thankful that people like Ron Paul, rare as they may be, are willing and able to teach by example.
It is funny how we use the word ‘inspire’ to mean that someone or something ‘fills us with an animating, quickening, or exalting influence.’ The word is derived from the word to breath. In Hebrew the word for breath is ‘rouach’ which is also translated ’spirit.’
My greatest ‘historical’ inspiration is Christ. My greatest present day inspiration is Joyce Myer.
It is the inspiration of Christ, who has caused me to work diligently to help others understand and deepen their relationship with Him, to create ‘The Christian Success Institute.’ It is vital for us to know that God wants us to be successful so that we can convey His blessings to others. We can accomplish this through the diligent study of His Precepts and Promises.
Thanks for the opportunity to express this.