I travel on the London Underground to work and back most days. So, I must have heard that phrase a million times. They are polite and in fact say "Please Mind the Closing Doors". There are millions of people just like me that use the underground and every one of them has heard that great phrase. So, we must be at trillions of single events where individuals have heard that unique phrase at one specific point in time. It is one of those great familiar phrases that are part of everyday life for so many of us that it almost goes unnoticed. The trip on the tube in and out of London every day actually comes to be so familiar that it is almost done on auto pilot. So, I really am sure that there are millions of people just like me!
So, when those great guys who work for London Transport speak those immortal words "Please mind the closing doors" we are defined precisely at that point in time. We are either "on the train" or "on the platform"! However, as those words are spoken sometimes there is someone that makes a leap, they either jump onto the train or off the train and onto the platform! In that moment of time they make a decision to change what happens in the next moments in their life. It may seem tiny at that point in time but nonetheless they make that decision and change forever the next few steps have in their lives.
We have all heard stories where people are saying the "if only's" of life. Sadly many of these are related to tragedy and moments of sadness. If only I hadn't stopped for a coffee, the car accident wouldn't have happened. If only I had stayed in the house on that day, the fire wouldn't have started! That fortunately is only one side of life; life is filled with so many precious moments and memories of magical events and for these to have happened we had to be there with others at that specific moment of time. In so many cases these moments have only come to pass because we have made a decision to "make a change" at some point in the past.
Sometimes when travelling through our lives the day to day events like going to and from work on the tube are comforting in their own way. We hear the same familiar sights and sounds and they are in some way reassuring that life if fine. Sometimes though we use the time to reflect of everything the "good", the "ordinary" and the "not so good". Sometimes we get to the point when we make a decision to change. We decide to change from that normal routines of life. We make one small change, it might seem tiny at the time, but the impact of this decision changes the course of our life forever. We become the one of those people that make the decision to jump off the train just as the doors are closing.
I have been fortunate that during my life I have been able to meet and know some truly courageous people. I have known people who have made decisions that have required strength and courage and for me these people have been truly inspiring. They are angels, hero's, giants, magicians and wizards. The thing about all of them is that they don't generally realise just how inspirational they really are. They think they are "just ordinary". I have to say that maybe in some ways they are ordinary; but as my father would say "ordinary can be very special at times" and he is so very right.
So, this blog is for all those people who know an angel, hero, giant, magician or a wizard and want to tell the story. They are those people who have made that decision to step on or off the train just as the doors are closing and with great courage have stepped into a new direction and changed their lives and inspired others at the same time. Just like the underground in London there must be simply trillions of them with magical inspirational stories that deserve to be told!
So, here is to the strength and courage of angels, hero's, giants, magicians and a wizards and to their inspirational stories!
