A source of love and inspiration…

My life is driven by a profound sense of love and  inspiration for those around me and helping them live their best lives.

To give you some context, I have an eclectic palette when it comes to reading or listening to audiobooks and I’m often drawn to the likes of Wayne Dyer or Gaby Bernstein.

Each, in their own way focus on how we live our lives and the importance of being authentic and living in spirit.

I find myself totally aligned with these concepts and how living an authentic life is vital to both your happiness and personal success.

For me the underlying foundation for living a complete and abundant life is love.

Starting with oneself!

It took me years of counselling to be able to look in the mirror and love and appreciate the person staring back at me…

Life is not a bed of roses for the vast majority of us, and it takes a concerted effort and sense of self to embark on a journey that enables you to love yourself unconditionally.

Often, we’re the only ones who know how long and perilous the journey has been to get to where you are today.

Not surprisingly, it’s also not a once and done thing.  Focusing on yourself is an ongoing act of love.

As I mentioned Wayne Dyer has been an influential person in my life, and although never meeting him in person prior to his passing listening to his audiobooks over and over gave me insights into his life the importance of being true to yourself.

It’s clear that his inspirational life where he helped so many people was driven from a sense of love.

During my time as a football coach, both of junior players and adults my focus was the importance of making a commitment to yourself to be the best you can be no matter what was a core message that I reinforced regularly.

This meant bringing your best each and every day.  Whether it be for training or playing was irrelevant as each individual was committed to always putting their best foot forward.

Another core concept that I focused on is that our team was family.

It’s a well-worn cliche in team sports, but I always wanted to inspire others by promoting the sense of something greater than yourself and this was my vehicle to do it.

Never letting your mates down when it got tough, putting yourself on the line for the team and inspiring them to be selfless brought each of my teams closer together.

To this day I still have past players remember and reinforce the lessons learned during those years with their friends and family, and so has been passed on to others.

Inspiring and motivating others often brings people together to form a sense of community and provides a level of connectedness that we don’t often feel.

For me it’s been an anchor point that has helped others but also something that I totally believe in.

Inspiring others has been in my DNA since birth.

I learned quickly who and what motivated and inspired me versus the people and things that didn’t.

From this early age I knew I wanted to a force for inspiration, motivation and love although I probably couldn’t have articulated quite like that at the time.

These early experiences created who I am today, so for that I am thankful.

A deep sense of positivity and the associated mindset that comes with this type of approach has been a big factor in my life and will continue to do so.

Providing love and inspiration can sometimes feel like a one-way street where you’re giving, giving and giving yet receiving little in return.   Sometimes, you just need to accept that this is what your job is…

Personally, I find bringing love and inspiration to others deeply fulfilling especially given I know how much of a positive impact it can have them and those around them.

Love and inspiration are contagious as it spreads given the right climate and nurturing.

Can you imagine if you dedicated just five minutes of your day to exclusively providing love and inspiration to others.

Before you know it, they are unconsciously providing the same to others around them and so it goes…

Nothing speaks louder than spreading love and inspiration to those that don’t or least expect it.

It can be something as simple as engaging with someone, wishing them a great day, opening and holding a door for someone, or even buying coffee for the next person in line at a coffee shop.

Just putting these small acts out into the universe makes you feel better about life, but also brightens someone else’s.

These moments of giving say a lot about a person and who they really are.

Are you up for the love and inspiration challenge?

Try this today – spend five minutes or provide a couple of interactions where you give authentic love and inspiration to someone else and see how it feels.  Remember simple is best.

Notice the difference it makes in both the interaction and feelings that it generates.

Next is to see if you can make this a daily ritual…

Over time these daily acts of love and inspiration will become subconscious and part of the fabric of who you are.

Until next week.

Ciao!