Inspiration. We know it when we feel it. Perhaps we hear a song, whose lyrics touch us in remembrance of someone; or a child, burrowed deep in her stroller, smiles at us with her eyes, as all babies do; or an actor on the stage, who in playing his part, influences us to make a change in what we’re doing with our lives. Or maybe it’s the street beggar with the cardboard sign whose face is really God, in all His distressing disguises.



I only write about this now, because I feel inspired…now. And I don’t want to let it pass me by. I’ve done that too many times…felt something and then did nothing about it. I want to heed the call. To write something – something that will impact you to think about stuff, to do something, to share your own thoughts and inspirations, I don’t know.


I do believe that when we are inspired (Latin: To Breathe In), we are in tune with what others need, including ourselves. The words flow from our mouths and we say the right thing at just the right time. The mind is at ease and is fully accepting of ourselves, just as we are. The senses are sharp and finely focused. And the anxiety of believing that we will fall short in any of these aforementioned endeavors is not even within the subset of our thinking. We are “in spirit.”


One of the least strenuous, inexpensive and most powerful ways to inspire others (and ourselves) is through a smile. It conveys that we have taken notice and have acknowledged their presence. Think about it. When we smile at someone, we connect with them, if only momentarily. It’s powerful. Sure, it passes, the smile and the feeling. But contact was made and the goodness in it, etched. The moment, seized. And our expression, though brief and fleeting, is logged with all those other little cozy, warm nuggets of niceties they get (hopefully) that day; and they with yours. It can change things, let us not doubt that.


We all want our lives to be meaningful, I think. We want to reinforce, for maybe no one but ourselves, that we are here for a reason and are, in fact, adding to the collective good. Moments are continuous; a steady stream of lights, sounds and movements. We are destined to live them, one at a time. Each one brings possibilities to serve and to connect. I remember reading, somewhere, that only the poets and the saints enjoy each and every moment. Though an interesting point of view, who knows if it contains any truth.
But whether we’re a saint or a sinner, our decision to help someone feel special and important is always a choice. And in so doing, we say to ourselves, others and God that we have a purpose and that our lives are available for usage. And that inspires. That connects us. And the changes, big and small, that we want to make in our lives, depends upon all of us breathing in whatever goodness others choose to offer us...knowing all along that we are never alone.

Jerry Nehr


http://www.creativediscoveries.net

Key West, Yoga and Dreaming

If it was just me, I would move to Key West for one year, rent a one bedroom house and write. I'd probably need to make money during that time, so I'd have to get a job doing something. I've been a bartender, that might work. Though I don't know if that's me anymore. I've been in sales, maybe real estate. But I hated sales. Wait, this is just a fantasy anyway. I'd already have a boatload of money, so I wouldn't have to work! Whew, ok, back to the story.

I would live very casually...which is just about the only thing ya really do down there. I can see it now, write in the morning, just like Hemingway did, then spend the rest of the day talking with strange people, taking yoga, eating lots a conch fritters, and drinking rum. I don't even like rum, but it goes with this story. I'm sure there's a shark in there somewhere too...

After a year, I'd submit my book to a publisher. It would be a bestseller, right? And I'd then begin the book signing and, of course, speaking tour. Maybe it's a self-help book...who knows....details, details....

Then I'd come home. Back to Michigan. Family, friends, work, Sunday night basketball with my buddies, community theatre with another group of friends (these two groups don't intersect), and Caribou Coffee, where I'm at right now.

See, when we dream, we create a new mental picture in our minds of what is possible. It may or may not happen in the world of tangibility....only God and the gods know that.

But what dreams do (waking ones and those in our sleep) is they take us to places where our imagination is free to explore, fantasize and let go, if you will. That is what we want for our children, yes? The freedom to travel mentally? To entertain the infinite possibilities of this world? To be unafraid to dream and hope and, well, believe in the power of themselves and God?

I may never write that book in Key West, or maybe I will. But that's not even the point. I am open to it. I am not closing any doors. And I know I am not alone in this type of thinking. You all have stuff like this tucked away in your hearts. Whether you are 18 or 80.

So I encourage you to dream. To suspend your disbelief. To never let go of that little kid in you who knew she could fly and who knew he'd save the planet from evil.

It's not the outcome that matters; though pragmatists may differ. It's the courage of our faith. Our corner of freedom is to think and dream the way we want. Nothing on this planet began without these predecessors.

Every now and then, we all need to be kids. My son, age 10, truly believes he will be a rock star, professional actor and Zoologist. Not either or, but all of them. I have never once told him he won't.

The messages we send to ourselves and our children our life changing. I send you all dream-filled messages today....



Jerry Nehr
www.creativediscoveries.net

www.creativediscoveries.net

We Are Not Our Past

We live linearly, most of us. We use calendars, clocks, and other time measurement devices to separate things as they occur. Something happens, then something else happens, then another thing, and another thing and we say, “oh, this happened then, that happened at that particular time, this is happening now, that is taking place tomorrow” and so forth. It’s quite an invention, time. It keeps us on schedule and moving in a direction of which we can track. The thing about time is that it moves forward. Watches do not go backwards, nor are they 360 degree orbs, and calendars have names of months which are always in order. April follows March, always. So what we have, then, is a continual assortment of past moments which are at our disposal to think about, judge, and make assessments as to their impact on us. “Yesterday was awful.” “I had a good year last year.” “My childhood was rotten.” “I’m glad the month is over.” “Man, the morning was awesome.” ….and so on. It also helps us determine how old we are, and, for many, when to go to bed and when to get up. It surely keeps the greeting card business thriving. Where would they be if there were no calendars to indicate important dates throughout the year?

So this past is ever-present in our lives. We cannot help but have one. Even the infant born just now has a past, which now is 2 seconds old. But it, this past, is not reality…not anymore. It was real when it happened. Now it’s just something that happened that is not happening now. What’s happening now is now. But here is where the tricky business of time comes in. Because the past is made up of moments we lived and now have memories of, we can use them as guides in how we will live now. In other words, this trail we leave behind becomes an energizing force for our present moment decision-making. But just as the wake of a boat – the trail left behind – cannot drive the boat (only the present moment energy of the engine or wind can move the boat), so too is it not possible for past events to drive our present moments. But I believe that that is exactly what many of us do, myself surely included. That is, allow “yesterday” to determine how we live today.

In reaching back (mentally and emotionally), we might think about what we have done, how things turned out, the decisions we made that caused us to think and feel in a particular manner, and what our mind, body and spirit went through at a particular time. We can look back at all the joy, pain, heartache, unfulfilled promises, ecstasy, grief, loneliness, unconditional love and conditional love, death of loved ones, divorce, disease, addiction, moments of heavenly bliss and the innumerable thoughts and feelings personal to only us and use that, if we wish, to decide how today will go.

I’ve had many clients tell me “this is just how I am,” “it’s always been this way with me,” and “I’ve never been able to do that.” All of these statements indicate a reliance on what happened in their past which subsequently influences what they believe will occur today.

Now, the events of yesterday occurred. I am not suggesting we discard them and pretend they did not happen. We can honor them for all they did and were. In fact, everything in our past has gotten us to this very moment. Everything. That is important. We are only here now because the past happened. But it needed to go. If it stayed, there’d be no now. Ok, just a bit more.

In asking you to believe that you are not your past, I am really asking you – and me – to find the strength to overcome whatever happened to us yesterday and move to a place where NOW is the energizing force for change, acceptance, love and growth. Just put all my eggs in now’s basket, eh Jerry? Uh, yes. There is no basket for anything else. The basket of a moment ago has been used, you used it. And tomorrow’s basket is not ready yet; you’ll fill that then, which will really, then, be now...hmmm.

My own evidence in our ability to move past the past lies in my own story and the stories of those I’ve been privileged to hear. You have your own evidence as well; your own story. People do stop drinking and using drugs, though their past was ridden with it. Real love is found, even if eluded in earlier years. Passions are found daily, from individuals who had never thought it possible to love something as much as they do today. Weight is lost, marathons are run, sicknesses are cast out, and the infinite nature of our being are uncovered in our darkest hours because we made a decision to not allow what happened “before” to happen “now.”

So, do you have a tendency to emphasize the “then” more than the “now?” If so, try succumbing to the belief that all of our energy for change and whatever we wish to be and do, exists only in the moment. That’s the fascinating thing about energy – it fills only the now, not the past or the future. In our neglect of the moment, we pass up the opportunity to tap into this present moment energy, which I believe is God. But you call it what you wish.

I write this today only because I have known myself to dwell on the past and think that things will always be the same. Then, something happens. I focus on the moment, where all of my living actually occurs. And I get a glimpse into the wonder and miracle of being open to whatever this energizing force has to offer, here and now. Only here and now…

Jerry Nehr
www.creativediscoveries.net