Hold on to your source of motivation. Because in times like these, you will need it. There is a Gail of depression spreading around and if you allow it, it will pull you down.
The pit is the lowest ebb in life, the point of depression is where it ends. Nobody deserves to be there. But many people find themselves there because they could not hold on. I have seen people who have been so low that alcohol and drugs are the only things that held them up and enabled them to function properly. But substance cannot keep a man or woman from falling.
The only power that can stop us from falling is the inspirational word. For some people,
iIs a song that helps them get by. Songs that go right to the heart of the matter and makes them feel that the writer and the singer know what they face. Ironically, its the sad songs of life that get the most attention because they express the deep fleeting emotions of the sufferers at a scale that is difficult to fathom. Jazz singer and trumpeter Louis Armstrong sang the Afro American spiritual: ‘ Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen’ .
And even though it was rooted in the travails of the Afro American in a country ladened with colour bars and racial discrimination, the song served as a mode of expression that gave an escape from torment. A song has the power to snap you out of a dangerous reverie and cast you into modes of power and determination. Afro American Rhythm and Blues star, Alicia Keys sang ” This Girl is on Fire!” and the lyrical content appealed to hundreds of thousands of women who felt suppressed by a society that tends to neglect women and deprive them of their rights and acceptable recognition. For many people, the hit song ‘ I’ll Rise Up, is enough to get them going on a bad day. Perhaps movies or plays are your source of inspiration. There are great script writers who can summon deep feelings of encouragement and place them into a dialogue or emotions expressed by a character. Movies and plays just like music are able to lift our spirits, teach us some new perspectives about life and give us a natural high. Old time movies like ” Lean On Me”, Rocky and many other feel good movies have the general message of when you are down, you don’t have to stay down, you can get back up again. Remember your source of inspiration when you feel down and out. Because I promise you, no matter how rich or poor you are, no matter how educated or enlightened you are, a day is coming when you will feel that the whole world has left you behind and you are on your own. But if you can find solace in a word somewhere, then you can rise up before you hit rock bottom and get the power to continue to strive. No victories are too small. No conquest of unfavorable conditions should be belittled. We all have our battles to face. You may lose a few battles, but in the final analysis make sure you win the war. Life is war when you think about it. So in our war chest, there could also be a book. Unpleasant results from research show that reading culture is declining in major countries of the world. Technology in many cases, rather than be a help has become a hindrance. Often in certification classes I get to make a free offer of ebooks to whomever is interested. The results are very discouraging. When you ask adults what they are reading, they fall back on scripture. Scripture is good for us all but in this busy world of development, its not enough. Even the clergy have to know the trends of the World and learn how to handle them. The brain is like a muscle. It constantly needs nourishment to develop. If we leave it to atrophy then we become rather limited. Brain dead people are not only those who sit mute unable to express them selves.They are also people who have refused to use there minds constructively to solve a problem or create a benefit mutually useful to mankind. We are influenced greatly by our association and that includes what we read. Jim Rohn, business philosopher and speaker rightly notes that our leaders need to read good books to be inspired properly. ” So you say you want to be a great leader. We ought to go to your home and check what you are reading. If its junk, then we are in trouble!” After University or High School education, the reading ends for many people. The trend is growing mostly in the Third World cultures where the vagaries of life are so volatile and swing mostly to the negative side of life. Reading time and book purchases become a luxury. But no matter how we are wired, we must stay inspired.Scripture comes handy as the ultimate source of inspiration, but let us not forget the others. No matter what we face let us stay inspired. Its the best way to live.
