At the onset of my writing this- my first blog, I have to admit I spent 2 full days in bed, in pajamas, with mylaptop, writing, researching and rewriting. I had a full 12 pages (yes, I realize this is ridiculous) which I reluctantly whittled down to two. A bit of a perfectionist - Ok..Ok, I’m obsessively perfectionistic - my hope was to inspire you to become inspired.
Tonight at last, I had my final draft and needed only to make some editing changes. I was good to go! For some 'reason' I decided to take a break and watch a saved Oprah show from December. Uh.. huh…you guessed it - it was about Inspiration. As the show's two featured stories unfolded, I realized they delivered a powerful message and more impact than the two - or even the twelve pages I had labored over.
So there it is, exactly what I wanted to write about happened very appropriately and right on schedule.
I will offer a bit of my own thoughts on living an inspired life, however the stories from The Oprah show say it all.
My question is:
Can you really live without knowing what inspires you?

Why would you want to?

Maybe inspiration resides in the 'zero point' field- that place of unlimited possibilities.
When we are inspired things take on a magical quality. We all know that feeling – We don’t eat, maybe we don’t sleep, we lose track of time and space. Hours fly by that seem like minutes. Perhaps, you've had a 'lightening bolt' experience that compels you to do or say something that even to yourself, you find surprising or even startling.
Although inspiration can come with lightening speed, as it did to Genevieve Piturra and John Wood as reported on the Oprah Show, it is more likely to come as a whisper and not a yell. Maybe we hear it at the edge of sleep or deep within a dream. I believe within each and every one of us is a soulful craving, a passionate desire that breathes life into our being. It is in part 'why' we are here. Maybe you had a glimpse of it when you were growing up. What did you aspire to be when you were a child? "Queen of the Universe" you say? Don’t be so quick to dismiss it. Trust me...somewhere within the absurd is a clue to what inspires you.
You are Unique. There is only one You. The world is waiting to hear and see what extraordinary gift you have to share. Inside of you something incredible is waiting to be known.
Be Inspired… Today.

"Aspire to Inspire before you Expire"

---Author Unknown

The following stories are excerps from The Oprah Show 12/07

Genevieve Piturro -The Pajama Program
For Genevieve, realizing her passion took a little bit of soul searching.As a single woman in her 30s, marketing executive Genevieve Piturro was focused on climbing the corporate ladder. Then at age 38, she met her husband and the pair started settling into a life together—but she says something was missing. Though she never felt the pressure to have her own kids, Genevieve knew she wanted to have kids around her. "I started to volunteer at night," Genevieve says. "I'm a big reader, so I'd go around and read [to kids]. I'd call shelters and group homes and different organizations and volunteer."As she worked at different shelters, Genevieve started to notice that none of the children owned pajamas. They would go to sleep in their regular clothes."I said, 'Where's the bedtime? My mom was a great mom, and everybody has a mom who reads them a story and puts on their pajamas. Soon after seeing the children's bedtime routine, Genevieve had an Aha! moment. "I was sitting on the subway, and like a raindrop, the words 'pajama program' went into my brain," she says. "And I said, 'That's it! That's it! Pajamas.'"Genevieve got to work right away. She approached an after-school program for child victims of abuse and pitched her idea. "[They] said, 'That would be great! Nobody thinks of that. Nobody gives pajamas,'" she says.The next time she visited the shelter, Genevieve had a shopping bag full of pj's—a pair for each child. "[A] girl came in, and she must have been 6 or 7, and she looks and she says to me quietly, 'What are these?'" Genevieve says. "I said, 'They're pajamas. You wear them to sleep. What do you wear at night?' And she said, 'My pants.'"After that, Genevieve knew that one shopping bag of pajamas wouldn't cut it. She told everyone she knew about her mission, and she gathered as many pj's as she could. Five years later, Genevieve has collected 85,000 pairs of pajamas for needy children!

The Story of John Wood
Few individuals choose to walk away at the height of their corporate career to dedicate their life to a social cause.
At age 35, John Wood did just that - quitting his position as Microsoft's Director of Business Development for the Greater China Region in order to found Room to Read. He has never looked back.
John's career at Microsoft spanned 1991 to 1999, where he ran significant parts of Microsoft's international business, as the Director of Marketing for the Asia-Pacific Division, Director of the Internet Customer Unit for Microsoft Australia, and Director of Marketing for Microsoft Australia.
In 1998, John took a vacation that changed his life. Trekking through a remote Himalayan village, he struck up conversation with a schoolteacher, who invited John to visit his school. There, John discovered that the few books available were so precious that they were kept under lock and key - to protect them from the children! Fewer than 20 books, all backpacker cast-aways, were available for more than 450 students.
What started with a simple email requesting friends donate used books has grown into Room to Read, an award winning non-profit that over the past eight years has established over 5,160 libraries, donated and published 4.3 million books, built 442 schools, and funded over 4,036 long-term scholarships for girls - impacting the lives of over 1.7 million students worldwide.
John strives to bring the lessons of the corporate world to the non-profit sector. Room to Read combines his passion with the discipline of a well-run global company. He has been described by Fast Company Magazine as "all heart, all business."
John has received countless honors for his work, including recognition as a "Young Global Leader" by the World Economic Forum and as one of Time Magazine's "Asian Heroes." Room to Read is a five-time winner of Fast Company Magazine's Social Capitalist Award, a recipient of the Skoll Foundation Award for Social Innovation, and a recipient of Draper Richards Fellowship for social entrepreneurs.
John holds a Bachelors of Science, magna cum laude, from the University of Colorado, and a Masters of Business Administration from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. He lives and works in San Francisco, CA.