I got this idea a few months ago that I want to spread inspiration. What if we all went around inspired? Wouldn’t that be fantastic? I told some people about that and then forgot about it, but it keeps showing up everywhere!
Like today, for example. I got this email out of the blue from a Danish guy I met a few weeks ago. He told me he really wants to have a wife and kids; he wants to date; he wants to find a partner. I’d told him about the game board I made. Have I told you about the game board here? Well, here’s the short version of the game board story:
I knew I wanted to date and was not only not dating, but it didn’t even seem like a possiblity. Where was I gonna meet men to date? Blah, blah, blah… so I decided that to get into the game, so to speak, I needed a game board. I defined criteria for who could play, and I put names of men I dated on little spaces. Lori was a HUGE help there… thank you, Lori! My intention was to date five men by the end of the year, but I had about 8 dates with 4 men in about 3 weeks… and it was fun and easy!
So today I got this email today from my new friend, the guy in Denmark:
Dear Rebecca,
I didn´t actually make a game board, but I want to thank you for your inspiration, because it has made a huge difference. I had 2 wonderful dates in England and that would absolutely not have been possible before the weekend in Wiesbaden.
And can you help me? [Name edited] (also american in Schweiz) asked me, if we should hang out in Copenhagen, but I lost her e-mail.
Could you send it to me?
HA! HA! HA! Isn’t that great?
I also got an email from a student. He wanted a higher grade for last semester. I acknowlegded what he’s good at and what can improve and said I wouldn’t change his grade and he wrote back today thanking me and said the course not only was useful for school but also in his everyday life!
What a great day! I just love when people acknowledge how we make a difference for each other. The quality of the day just shifts, doesn’t it?
Who could you acknowledge today? What inspires you? And what do you really want to do with this one wild and precious life? That’s not my phrase, but isn’t it beautiful? It comes from a poem by Mary Oliver called “The Summer Day.” Here’s my favorite part:
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
wonderful post.. is there a ‘married’ game board that is as much fun as your dating gameboard??? what do you do with the conundrum of requited love??
actually, I am soooo lucky, I have found what I want do to with my one life, it is wild, and precious, and awfully non-financially rewarding…
but I look forward to each day with the drive of a predator.. (a non-violent one, but that kind of focus)..
and that is enough, for me, for this life..
phentermine nice
Hah, I got a kick out of Andrew’s comment, “the conundrum of requited love”. I love it!
I dreamt about you the other night. You had come to visit me and Luchi. You were with my friend Amelia from Boulder (don’t think you know her, but maybe…she and I did the wisdom course together). Anyway, it was great to see you and you said you were moving to London and I was so excited for you.
An update, years later: That Danish guy married within the year.