Sidelined for awhile with foot surgery, I’ve taken in more than my usual share (close to zero) of live TV.

It was a surprise to discover that I was inspired! Not by the programs so much but a series of testimonials ads featuring the luminaries on MSNBC – Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow and Andrea Mitchell

Like their politics or not, it’s hard not to be inspired by the fire with which they describe their passion for their work: the thrill of asking just the right question, the joy of digging for more, the thrill of detecting dissembling.

Journalism isn’t for everyone. Neither is politics. But passion can be. So I’m working on my own two-minute ad, just for me. Not done yet, but some likely components – the thrill of finding just the right word, the fun of making someone laugh…. You get the idea.

What’s YOUR sound byte?

At the risk of being trite, I’m going to join the chorus of those who’ve noticed that it’s really inconvenient (and fairly dangerous) to hobble around on crutches following surgery and salute those who manage to do this on a regular basis.

Nothing like a little foot surgery to make me appreciate my usual (though yes, ill-conceived) ability to do six things at once. Testing out the premise that it’s better to focus on one thing at a time, I’ve read two books in four days and filled six garbage bags with documents accumulated in office drawers since 2005 and happily retrieved the instructions to a previously “non-working” radio. Who knew the “on” button was in the back?

No doubt staying in one place is helping me focus. Now, if I could only keep my thoughts so well tethered….

Julia Cameron of Artist Way fame would not be surprised to know she’s inspired me. Her insistence on writing three pages every morning and taking a weekly “artist date” has inspired many a writer.

But she might be surprised to know that she has also inspired my choice this week of a bathroom rug. The design, which looks like one large single marigold, takes me back to a time ten years ago at a writers conference, when I noticed her taking an intentional detour on her way to the dining hall simply to examine a single marigold growing in the garden. I watched as she stood there for a very long time, taking it in. Art, I realized at that moment, sometimes comes to us from slowing down.

It will be nice to look at the rug and remember.

Yes, the weather was wonderfully warmer, but the real inspiration came from my fellow participants during a two-day Group Vision Day that I attended this week in Naples, Fla. Such amazing folks came from around the country to envision their dreams and map blueprints for them to come true! Led by coaches Debbie Phillips and Rob Berkley, every one of the visioners was plotting big dreams that would in some way benefit others. I am grateful to be touched by their magic!