Revel’s seventh installment in a series of 12 episodes of interviews on questions that often aren’t asked in public-but should be.

Filed under: Focus Soup Episodes | No comments »

“The important thing is to not stop questioning.” -Albert Einstein

We’ve asked some fairly controversial questions in the past months that we wanted to lighten it up a bit and tap into what inspires people. Some from Portland and Chicago let us know what inspires them and we also asked Facebook and Twitter followers for their input.

Normally we have people respond through all age groups – interestingly this time no one up to 25 years old or those busy bees from ages 35-45 seemed to be inspired by anything. Is this a case of the youth and those in an (presumably) age group of higher management who are just to focused to be inspired?

When asked what inspires, not surprisingly we are inspired by many different things: from famous people to weddings, to nature’s beauty, but even to the most simple of things as listening to a song or reading a book.

When asked who personally inspires you, it seems that blood is thicker than water. In every case it was either parents talking about kids or vice-versa, rather than a friend or colleague who may have been inspiring.

When asked who in history was most inspirational, the ‘usual suspects’ surfaced: Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Joan of Arc, Ghandi and Jesus. What is interesting in this case is that these are people who have either lived in extreme poverty of have suffered to great lengths. Why is this inspirational? Is this inspirational because the human spirit doesn’t believe that generally they can be that selfless – in which case, why is this inspiration? Is this simply a case of guilt that we then pedestal others as a defense mechanism?

When asked how often you are inspired, the answers ranged from once a day to once a month. So on a whole, respondents were inspired on a regular basis, which may be why they chose to complete the survey. Someone who couldn’t think of an inspirational moment off-hand, may have chosen to not answer the survey.

In any case, whatever arouses our minds and causes us to act on it is a complex matter. But perhaps we should all just take a moment each day to look around us and be inspired by the most simple of things.

Filed under: Focus Soup Results | No comments »

For our sixth installment of Focus Soup, we decided to see what inspires people.  View what people in Portland and Chicago had to say and then submit your own thoughts about your inspirations.

Filed under: Focus Soup Episodes | No comments »