Library Disciple

Put your mentor on your fridge (next to the artwork from school!)

The books from my library offered up some great mentors this week.. . August Wilson, Laura Hillenbrand and Louis Zamperini.  Each delivered a powerful example of how to live. By the end of Louis story tears were streaming down my face - it was that beautiful and compelling. 

But that’s the problem, it ended, like all books and I moved onto another book.  Louis’s life and lessons will start to fade away and before long I’ll forget (maybe all the inspirational characters I’ve read about are lodged somewhere in my brain but I can’t remember where).


So how can I keep the feeling of clarity and inspiration fresh in my mind and alive in my life?

• Write down quotes that hit home and sum up your feelings.  Keep them in a journal, stick them on your fridge or add them to your blog. :)  Here are a few from Louis and August:
• “When anxiety knocks at your door, don’t let it in, that is what leads to stress.”  Louis Zamperini
• “Just try to improve everyday, that is how you live as a champion.”  Louis Zamperini
• “It ain’t nothing to find no starting place in the world.  You just start from where you find yourself.” August Wilson
• “If you can’t be who you are, who can you be?  How can you know what to do?”  August Wilson

• Put up a picture of your mentor in a place you see each day.  When you walk by and see them smiling at you’ll be reminded of their lessons.  Maybe I’ll make a “Fridge of Inspiration”.  

• Watch your mentor on youtube.com,  ted.com or wherever you can find them.  Videos are a quick and dirty way to get a shot of inspiration.  I got really lucky and found a boatload (no pun intended) of Zamperini videos.  A few minutes on youtube and I’m good to go.

• Share your mentor with someone else.  If necessary bribe them to see, read or hear your mentor so you have a buddy to talk to, discuss ideas with and keep the inspiration fresh.

• My books come from the library.  And then they get returned.  Maybe I’m returning my inspiration too soon?  I decided to keep a small bookshelf of books that really inspired me next to my bed.  When I open my eyes in the morning I’ll get a quick reminder of how tackle my day.

• Join the NPR book club on Facebook.  Last winter readers commented and posted questions about Unbroken for Laura Hillenbrand. Hillenbrand posted answers and explained her writing process and shared how she uncovered so many details to make her story come to life.  You can’t do much better than a book club with author of the book!  In one post she writes, “none of us is going to be a castaway on a raft, or trapped in a POW camp, but all of us are going to come to places in our lives in which we can't see a way to push through. The greatest lesson in Louie's life is that a resilient will can carry us very far, through things that seem unsurvivable.”