See the list below.
To look toward what is good and what leads us to seeing what we admire and want to go toward.
To remind us of who we can be.
To remind us of how great life can be (and is), no matter what.
All of them, in a sense, inspire, as they give us more breath of life, so I had to artificially draw a line, where the inspirers are the ones who have (or can have) an incredible effect on our lives and our perceptions.
Many have overcome things that put our problems into perspective, as little ones, not very consequential and very small compared to the joys of life.
Many have focused so greatly on developing wisdom that they can lead us to much greater happiness.
When you need recentering, regrounding, or reinspiring or just a boost, ponder these people and what they've done and what they stand for. Read about them, read their quotes of wisdom...
Think of who you admire, are inspired by, who you would like to be like - and then find out what it is that they have learned - and you'll be who and what you want to be, inexplainably drawn by simply deep exposure to these greater views and the higher wisdom. Post their pictures and you'll be drawn to being who they are simply by viewing their pictures.
Write out who your top models are, by area, being sure to identify who has the characteristics and result in life who you can copy from their lives and be inspired to follow such a way of living!!!
How To Get In Touch With Who and What They Are:
Read books on or by them.
Go to YouTube. Possibly some on netflix.com.
Nick Vijicic - Born with no arms and no legs, yet he lives with "no limits". Book Life Without Limits.
W. Mitchell - Burnt all over his body and face, later crippled in a plane crash, not an inspirational speaker...
John O'Leary - Burnt at 9 years old, 1% chance to live, now incredibly motivating speaker. Watch all of the videos, under "John's videos" ! Proof of the power of the human spirit. You won't give up so easy from a little discomfort in your life.
Helen Keller - Blind and deaf, great author and lecturer. She altered our perception of the disabled and remapped the boundaries of sight and sense...
Michael Oher (Blind Side movie) - Book: "I Beat The Odds". Be the best player, best person I could be... Success: Food, roof overhead, decent clothes on my back.
Stephen Hawking - Totally paraplegic, totally awesome. Zero-Gravity Video. "My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a bonus."
THE ADMIRED - Of course, we do not profile all of these people here, as you can pop into the internet, seeing excellent summaries of the lives of the famous people on Wikipedia.com. Read the best books, including biographies and autobiographies about them. The asterisked people are on my list of people who I think actually lived good lives - see Great Men, But Did They Lead Great Lives?.
By Category
Mom
Dad
Grandparents
Son, daughter
Teacher, coach
Happiest person you know
By Name (Political Leaders, Spiritual Or Religious Leaders, Thinkers/Scientists, Personally
Inspiring, Sports, Business/Money, Personal Growth, Creative/Arts, Philosophy (or
Psychology)
Political Leaders
Nelson Mandela
Tony Blair
Teddy Roosevelt
Mikhail Gorbachev
Vaclav Havel
Jimmy Carter
Winston Churchill
Bill Clinton (for his later life)
Hilary Clinton (for high intent and grit, but not for leadership abilities)
Dwight Eisenhower
Thomas Jefferson
John F. Kennedy
Abraham Lincoln
Colin Powell
Ronald Reagan
Condoleezza Rice
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Margaret Thatcher
Political Observers (Deep, fact-based, effective thinkers)
David Brooks, slightly right of center and he spans both sides' concerns
Charles Krauthammer, conservative and he values all the basics of Progressives
Spiritual Or Religious Leaders
Mahatma Gandhi
Dalai Lama
Mother Teresa
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Pope John Paul II
Jesus Christ
Mohammed
Buddha (Siddhartha)
Billy Graham
Desmond Tutu
Thinkers, Scientists
Dr. Mehmet Oz
Thomas Edison
Buckminster Fuller (From the brink of the lake...)
Stephen Hawking
Albert Schweitzer
Personally Inspiring
Helen Keller
Eleanor Roosevelt
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Princess Diana
Benjamin Franklin
Florence Nightingale
Randy Pausch
Mark Twain, far beyond just being a humorist, lots of wisdom
Business, Money
Andrew Carnegie
Henry Ford
Richard Branson
Bill Gates
Jon Huntsman, Sr (character) - Read his book Winners Never Cheat.
Warren Buffett
Charles Munger (partner of Buffett, also very, very wise)
Elon Musk - One of the greatest thinkers and implementers of our time
Peter G. Peterson - Business and public services, now Coalition For Fiscal And
Steve Jobs
Trump
Sports
Roger Federet
Joe Montana
Michael Jordan
Tiger Woods
Lance Armstrong (also fight with cancer)
Expansive Contributors
Personal Growth, Leadership
Napoleon Hill
John Maxwell
Dale Carnegie
Norman Vincent Peale
Marianne Williamson
Creative, Arts
Will Smith
Tom Hanks
Stephen Spielberg
Tyler Perry
Angelina Jolie
Yo Yo Ma - For his virtuosity, but more for his fun and spirit
Philosophy (or Psychology)
William James
James Allen
George Bernard Shaw
Richard Carlson
RESOURCES, SOURCES:
