To inspire a generation

To inspire is to stimulate to activity, encourage a feelings, cause to feel uplifted.

Inspire a generation was the strapline to the olympics games and unless you are completed blind to sporting achievements, this is exactly what the Olympic Games have achieved in London 2012. It made me think  about my own life and the same time what mental speed everything seems to go at. The fact is we spend too much time working and not enough time concertrating on our dreams. Some people may say that you need to be a teenage to have dreams, but I say that you are never too old to dream and the power to follow your dreams lies within you.

So with this in mind, here's what's been inspiring me over the last 7 days:

The Olympic spirit and watching so many people achieve their dreams over 16 days. There are some many medals, it is impossible to pull out any one person, but Tom Daley's bronze medal stands out because of his incredible journey being tinted with so much sadness with his Dad's death. Something, I can totally understand. Also, anyone who knows me will know the idea of jumping of a 10 meter platform is one of my worst nightmare.

Staying on the Olympics (sorry but I must say this), Oscar the Southern African runner - he showed that there is no barriers if you dream hard enough.

My friend Ed, who is writing a book on Gleneagles for the Ryder Cup. I know how much that means for him and his commitment to his dreams is awe inspiring and makes me realise how lazy I am about writing.

Foundationbridge Writing Group published Bleeding Ink this week - a collection of short stories and poems. It maybe small and just a drop in an ocean to the amount of published material out there, but part of being a writer and having a voice is sharing it. This is what we have done.

Finding Poems - it sounds such a cliche to be reading poetry, but I do and every time I do, I find something amazing in the prose. On Sunday it was The Raven by Poe. The rhymes are amazing - here's one of my favourite lines: "On the cuishon's violet violet lining that the lamp-light gloating o'ver." You may not read poetry but sometimes you can find magic there. I am loving the fact that we have one of my own poems to read at the wedding.

Knowing that good friends are just a stone throw away and there are some friendship that run deeper than the blood of family.

All of the above inspire me. To inspire is to stimulate to activity, encourage a feelings, cause to feel uplifted. I know I need only look to my friends and family to feel inspiration, and the fact they are there to catch me makes me feel as though I can achieve anything.