“May you find serenity and tranquility in a world you may not always understand. May the pain you have known and the conflict you have experienced give you the strength to walk through life facing each new situation with courage and optimism. Always know that there are those whose love and understanding will always be there, even when you feel most alone. May you discover enough goodness in others to believe in a world of peace. May a kind word, a reassuring touch, and a warm smile be yours every day of your life, and may you give these gifts as well as receive them. Remember the sunshine when the storm seems unending.

Teach love to those who hate, and let that love embrace you as you go out into the world. May the teachings of those you admire become part of you, so that you may call upon them. Remember, those whose lives you have touched and whose have touched yours are always a part of you, even if the encounters were less than you would have wished. It is the content of the encounter that is more important than the form.

May you not become too concerned with material matters, but instead place immeasurable value on the goodness in your heart. Find time each day to see beauty and love in the world around you. Realize that each person has limitless abilities, but each of us is different in our own way. What you feel you lack in the present may become one of your strengths in the future. May you see your future as one filled with promise and possibility. Learn to view everything as a worthwhile experience. May you find enough inner strength to determine your own worth by yourself, and not be dependent on another’s judgment of your accomplishments. May you always feel loved”.  ~ Unknown

I started out with this quote because I wanted to offer something inspirational for you and for me because to start the day I wasn’t feeling very inspired. For me today is one of those funky days.  I think we probably all have them and I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but perhaps I am just tired.  Today, tired means many things.  Physically I am tired. When E ripped her canula/oxygen off her face twice before 8 am, I felt tired of having to deal with the tube and tired of wondering when we wouldn’t have to anymore. I drank 2 cups of coffee…no caffeine rush and still tired. I think as I continue to stretch myself and dive into my emotions I become drained as I am out of my comfort zone which makes me tired.  So since this morning tried all my tricks to get myself out of the funk I knew I was going to be facing today. I started by grabbing my red heels (not my Louboutins, but they are just as fab) and slipped them on my feet to go to work, nothing.  I tried singing Justin Bieber to Q and my voice must be tired to, because it was all raspy, not at all inspiring.  I went online to see what was happening in the world, also not so inspiring. I went to Facebook and looked at the news feed and while I enjoyed peoples posts, I saw my friend N’s little girl is sick and felt badly for them, so not so inspired.  I realized I was going to have to dig deep today. I looked for quotes on inspiration and being inspired, I couldn’t find anything that had the message I felt I needed, but I found a quote about what I wanted to feel like and decided I would make one more pitstop on my mission: “get out of my funk,”  So, I headed over to my friend’s website Offourchests.com which has such a unique voice about, what he describes as “hates on our happy”.  As I did this, I started to think about him and his lovely wife E. S had been a very successful entertainment and marketing executive for many years.  About 2 years ago, he came to me with an idea about what he was going to do.  The idea I thought was a little edgy but he is incredibly smart and talented and I believed in and was inspired by his passion for the project. The origin of the idea was from he and his wife, and is based on their daughter.  A beautiful young girl with so much imagination and spunk, but they want a world for their daughter that allows her to express herself and not feel weighted by stereotypes that face women today such as self-image, motherhood, and working and playing in a formerly man’s world.  What also makes them so inspiring is that they are a mixed race family.  I know this shouldn’t make a difference but it does because not everyone is as evolved as we would like them to be and they are giving their children a life they could never have had without them, they were fated to be together (yes, I know, but Fated can be a verb if you want it to be) and by sending their message (Share your story, change hers) they are hopefully giving her a platform so that when she is our age she will not have to face and deal with some of the same issues that women deal with today.  Now, back to the story thread. At the time that he spoke to me about he was the CMO of a high-profile company and I never really saw him quitting his role there to pursue his entrepreneurial interests, specifically offourchest.com, but he did!  It’s truly amazing as I watch him and E build their brand and platform through their message.

Last night, he sent me a link a blog that Glamour magazine blogger had posted and I was so genuinely happy for him, for them, for their daughter (and son too!, I haven’t forgotten you O even through I know you won’t be reading this post).  They have been extremely supportive of KSP and I through our journey and as I sit here typing this post tears come to my eyes and I feel the funk lifting because I find love, peace and inspiration in their story and them as a family.

I had originally planned to talk about instincts again as the stories from friends and family have flooded in and I will do that in the next few days, but today, I wanted to be inspired and what I found was that by stepping out of myself and into someone else’s story I could find inspiration and as I did this more inspiration has flowed in in the form of emails from long lost friends who are dealing with their own struggles but continue to see the miracle moments of each day.  Sometimes, when we are truly in a funk, the traditional things that are supposed to make us “happy” just don’t work, but sometimes by taking one extra step of going into someone else’s world we can refocus our lens for the day and find just a nugget of inspiration which can help reshape the whole day so that today can be our new favorite day.