Can you say today, ”I inspire me.”

What does the word inspiration mean to you? Over the last couple of weeks I heard this word so many times, that I had to come to the point of asking myself what is inspiration to me. During the course of the competition these last few months I had to deal with my understanding of inspiration..

Inspiration is not found outside of ourselves, it is NOT measured by how many people say “she/he is so inspirational.” Inspiration is what we find in ourselves and the beauty of life around us, when you can wake up in the morning and say, “Today I am going to inspire myself, I find myself inspirational.” Let us stop measuring ourselves and feeling that we fall short. That we don’t have the experience, expertise, education, money or opportunities to follow our dream. That our dream is NOT just a dream. We seem to find all these things that we feel we lack and then we just accept that maybe it is not possible, or fall into that place of doubt.

Let us look inward and realize that each and every one of us in this world is an inspiration. If you are a mother, a student, a child, we all overcome so much each and every day. Looking at the color of a flower is inspirational, feeling the rain is the purest form of inspiration. I am not perfect, never will I ever be, but I am willing to learn each day and sometimes I learn a lesson more than once. Let us find the power within ourselves and stop feeling that we do not measure up to others. Be your own inspiration! Thank you to everybody for being a part of my journey, and for life for taking me on this journey. Now let’s make some art!

 There was a seagull who flew with the seagull flock, like good seagulls do. One day he got separated – he wondered why none of them liked him. He found the flock once again, and joined them once again … but one day he found himself falling behind at the end of the flock – he wondered why he wasn’t as good as them.

Then a moment came … he went out on his own to make his life an adventure rather than nothing …. and soon thereafter, he found himself leading a large flock of seagulls in flight – he knew the truth - ‘we are all marvelously made and destined to win at whatever we set our minds to’.