A Crumb of Inspiration

By Steve Gwisdalla

My wife. Her favorite band growing up was Motley Crue. She went to their concerts, had all their albums, and had their posters on her wall as a teenager. I did not know her back then, but any girl who liked “The Crue” in high school was just fine by me. One of their band members posts inspirational things on his social media from time to time and my wife tagged me in one of them. It was a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Nikki Sixx is a founding member and chief songwriter for Motley Crue. The poem by Emerson was nice and all. What struck me was Nikki’s question about the poem, when he asked, “Find a crumb of inspiration anywhere in here?”

A crumb of inspiration. All too often we like to wait for inspiration that hits us like a bolt of lightning, or a water balloon upside the head. How many truly inspiring things do we miss because while we search and search for inspirational meals, we neglect the little crumbs of inspiration all around us. We in the Tribe of Up are constantly trying to top off our emotional fuel tanks so we can share energy with others. Instead of waiting for big emotional and inspirational meals, seek the crumbs sometimes, my friends. I read that poem Mr. Sixx shared half a dozen times. It was nice and inspiration could easily be found. I kept coming back to Sixx’s question. “Find a crumb of inspiration anywhere in there?”

When my police officer father taught me to shoot when I was young, he had a simple message for me. “Aim small, miss small.” That has helped me navigate life in far more ways than when only at the shooting range. Sure, I will take huge grandiose inspiration any day of the week. Those days are easy. It is when we feel like we are in an inspirational wasteland and no big inspiration is present that the crumbs not only find us but can sustain us. Sometimes those tiny crumbs can turn into great big awesome ideas. Watching a documentary several years ago about a tsunami that hit the northern islands of Japan and those who survived finding comfort from a local temple leader and his wife. Learning about the survivor’s guilt so many had when their family members were swept away by the sea, the pastor’s wife said her job was to simply advocate for more joy. In a two-hour documentary, that single line was a crumb. Today, that is the mission statement I have adopted for the Tribe of Up. A crumb became a phrase I could not get out of my head. That phrase became an idea. That idea became an anthem and that anthem became a mission statement to guide me for the rest of my life. All from a crumb.

Find the crumbs, my friends. Sometimes, they are the best inspiration of all!

Steve is a Dexter Resident and the Owner, Chief Crumb Officer, and Vice President of Joy Advocacy at Better Place Consulting, a coaching organization based on all things people. Reach out at [email protected].