Oh, the Humanity!

Oh, the Humanity!

People. There sure are a lot of us. Each of us has his own way of being with people, thinking about them, interacting with them. We have general feelings about people; opinions, prejudices, biases. Some days we love ‘em, some days we hate ‘em, often we forget that we are ‘em.

So, how do people inspire you? Do people inspire you by doing good works? By producing great works of art, or music? Do people inspire you through religious or spiritual works? Or through small kindnesses?

How do you inspire people? Do you inspire through loving kindness, or through a hobby like music, or painting,  or cooking? Do you inspire with words, or with deeds?

Each of us needs inspiration for many little things, and inspiration for big things. Inspiration connects us, like a fine web, creating Humanity, beyond the notion of “people.” The idea of Humanity contains compassion, care, love, nurture, generosity, gratitude, and so many more characteristics, and when we connect to it.

And the act of inspiring others is so powerful for us. When we give to “people” from our hearts, we spin strands for that great web of Humanity, we become a part of, instead of being apart from.

And when we feel a part of, we can feel so supported. We can feel loved. We can feel motivated to move out from our comfort zones, and into a realm more rewarding, more enjoyable, more profound that we could ever imagine.

But here’s a weird thing. We won’t feel supported until we choose to feel supported. And we won’t feel loved until we choose to feel loved. Nothing will inspire us unless we are ready to be inspired, and nothing will motivate us until we are ready to be motivated.

So here we are, back again, with the responsibility for our own well-being in our own laps. Dang. On the other hand, would you really want someone else to be the boss of you? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

We want to live lives that feel happy and productive, we want to feel inspiring, we want to be inspired. This end of the see-saw, we have to take responsibility for the quality of our life, and choose to make the changes we need to make it better. That end of the see-saw, we need to find trustworthy people, and trust them to help us by teaching us, or showing us, or inspiring us, or helping us, so we can get done what we need to get done.

We can’t do it without people. Even the great spiritual teachers need someone to teach.

When I choose to let trustworthy people help me, I choose to support myself. When I choose to feel supported by the people around me, I choose to empower myself. When I choose to feel loved by the people around me, I choose to step out and show up in the world in a way that let’s me inspire and be inspired.

How have I changed from thinking I must do it alone to being a part of Humanity?