Life Inspirations

Neil

Senior Member
I just wanted to hear about who people are inspired by, not necessarily in a musical/drumming sense but on a life aspect.

So for me,

Ayrton Senna, not because I want to be an insanely fast F1 driver but because is mentality. He was very hard working and dedicated yet very inquisitive. He was very aggressive in achieving his goals yet incredibly religious and sensitive.

Anne Frank, despite being caught up in world events was able to pen an insightful look into a life of a teenager, a young mind which such a tragic ending. It's deeply moving and certainly showed me a took take precious care of my time and people I care about.
 
I have heros, does that count?
Ben Franklin
Michaelangelo
Da Vinci

All 3 of these guys had both halves of their brain highly developed, they were hitting on all 8 all the time.

Anybody who can paint the Mona Lisa and also design a submarine....that's what I mean. All those guys had the logic part down and the artistic part down as well. Usually it's one or the other. These guys had it all going on.
 
Great question Neil,

Outside of music I'd have to say:

1) My family and friends for being so supportive in everything I do

2) Bruce Lee for his physical abilities, work ethic and philosophical writing.

3) Richard Branson for his business insight and ability to create value in so many industries

Anne Frank, despite being caught up in world events was able to pen an insightful look into a life of a teenager, a young mind which such a tragic ending. It's deeply moving and certainly showed me a took take precious care of my time and people I care about.

Anne Frank is a great one. I visited the museum in Amsterdam two years ago and she really was an interesting and inspiring young lady.

Thanks man!
 
Inspiration comes from so many sources it is hard to pinpoint, but I had this Rudyard Kipling poem taped to the inside of my closet for many many years, and drew great strength and succor from it over many many crossroads in my life. Happy to share it with you guys here:

'If'

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

...
 
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I find a lot of inspiration in poetry as well,

a blatant attack on society for it's time and lyrically inspiring,

William Blake - London

I wander through each chartered street,
Near where the chartered Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet,
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every man,
In every infant's cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forged manacles I hear:

How the chimney-sweeper's cry
Every blackening church appals,
And the hapless soldier's sigh
Runs in blood down palace-walls.

But most, through midnight streets I hear
How the youthful harlot's curse
Blasts the new-born infant's tear,
And blights with plagues the marriage-hearse.
 
Poetry is a great source for inspiration when the world gets ontop of you a little, my personal favourite is by WB Yates, An Irishman Foresees His Death:

I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love;
My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan's poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.

It's obviously about a Fight Pilot during WW1 I believe, I love the rhythm of the words and it's message.
 
If you ask me, song lyrics are one of the greatest sources of modern poetry if you know where to look, a lot of lyrics are intensely poetic,

One from Agalloch,

I Am The Wooden Doors

When all is withered and torn
And all has perished and fallen
These great wooden doors shall remain closed. . .

When the heart is a grave filled with blood
And the soul is a cold and haunted shall of lost hope
When the voice of pride has been silenced
And dignity's fires are but cinders
. . .their grandeur shall remain untainted

It is this grandeur that protects the spirit within
From the plight of this broken world, from the wounds in her song
I wish to die with my will and spirit intact
The will that inspired me to write these words
Seek not the fallen to unlock these wooden doors
 
My Grandmother (Mum's side). She is 85 years old, strong and flexible woman that drives passion into life. She makes me to value and appreciate the meaning of life.....Love her.
 
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