Our conversation with Humber's Professor Elio Varela

Interview Questions

How do you define inspiration in your own words?

Inspiration is what drives you to create the reality around you. I believe you are what you want to be, whatever goals you setup can be achievable and certainly approachable, and inspiration is that driver that helps you change that reality. What you want to do depends on your idea development, that idea helps you focus on prior goals that causes inspiration. It comes from many sources, their are things that trigger the process around you, connect a quote inside you, and that all helps you find inspiration out of an idea.

What has been the most inspiring moment for you?

Their are many goals and moments in life that occurred, sometimes it is an experience that helps you figure what you want to do by changing reality. My parents are both university professors, when I was a kid I took a trip to my parent’s university to see what it’s like. I was fascinated by the environment and teaching as a whole that I myself became a professor as well, and that moment to me is very inspiring. Through my parents you can see how rewarding the experiences are and how it can change/affect someone's life as a professor. You make that change by aiming high and concentrating on what you want to accomplish.

How do you keep inspiration alive for others?

Sometimes it’s about helping people discover the potential in them by sharing common experiences you relate to and learn from. To have an idea and know what its like to achieve it can help me effectively explain others to drive their ideas as well. The message is to put yourself in the situation and generate the possible positive outcome. Even more, the most powerful way to inspire is helping a person to fear out by dropping it and meeting your goals. Be realistic, some hurdles you go through are though, but you need to drive to get out of obstacles. Be confident that you want to do something in life.

How do you inspire yourself?

I draw a lot out from people; I see what people are doing and how they are overcoming obstacles in their daily lives. Knowing that, I get inspired by overcoming obstacles and by doing so I generate a positive outcome. Speaking of inspiration, you should check out the Maxwell commercial if you didn't already, although the commercial is about coffee it depicts how a kid communicates positively which is inspiring in a way. People go through rough times, learning about people's life, and their achievements, I figured that everyone is capable of doing incredible things by all means. You have to drive yourself to achieve what you want to do. My entire family does these daily quotes related to running that leads to inspiration. Life lessons apply to many aspects of life as a whole.

How would you describe management?

It is to effectively and efficiently complete tasks; it is a process you approach in a structured manner. That process consists of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Management is efficiently and effectively achieving business goals for an organization that requires a set of skills. You can develop those skills; you don't apply it just to business but to many aspects of life. For example, balance your check book, plan a vacation, helping your family with home work and inspiring them in a way. Just review your to-do list at the end of the day by planning out what you are going to do. You're applying management principles if it requires structural and pro approach methods.

Overall, it has been a great interview with Elio and he has inspired us!

Get Involved, Get Inspired.

One of the best ways to keep yourself inspired is to get involved in your community. Whether you volunteer at a local food bank or participate in a club at your school, interaction with your peers can provide an invaluable source of inspiration.

As a Humber College student, I am blessed with the opportunity to give back to the Humber College community by being a Peer Mentor. As a peer mentor, my main objective is to connect with students who are new to Humber College and introduce them to the school’s environment in a fun and positive manner. Most of these students are still in high school and are completing a dual credit course which allows them to simultaneously earn a high school credit and a college credit. Each semester I am paired up with a new student and we spend an hour per week exploring the campus and checking out school events.

Being a peer mentor has not only allowed me to give back to my community but it has also given me the opportunity to learn about myself. By actively engaging in my school’s community, I have a renewed sense of inspiration and motivation that pushes me when I feel I can’t go any further.

As a part of this post, we interviewed Melanie Chai, a Peer Program facilitator at Humber College. If your interested in becoming a Peer Mentor and you are a Humber College student visit  http://www.humber.ca/getinvolved/ and click on Leadership.

Our Conversation with Sylvia Ciuciura

We believe that sharing stories and narratives are the best way to foster motivation and create inspiration. When you listen to what people have to say and pay close attention to their stories, you can begin to understand how their experiences might affect your life in a positive way. Stories define who we are, they tell us about our past, and they help guide us down the right path.


During the planning process of this blog, my partner and I decided to make interviews an important aspect our blog because we believed that personal interviews provide more insight than just words alone. Seeing is believing so we pulled out our I-Phone 4 and recorded an interview.
 
For our first interview we had the opportunity to talk with Sylvia Ciuciura an accounting professor at Humber College about the importance of inspiration. During our interview Sylvia shared some of her experiences with us and explained what inspiration meant to her. She spoke about the importance of inspiration and its role in getting people to make the first step toward their goals. We think that this is an important aspect of inspiration because it pushes you to get things started.

Sylvia also touched on other topics such as traveling to gain insight and inspiration, how she inspires and challenges students to do their best and how she keeps inspiration alive for herself.

The following video is our interview with Sylvia Ciuciura, we hope you enjoy it!

Famous Personalities

This post deals with a few of the many great leaders that have largely inspired the nation. Among many of them a few of these "famous personalities" are popularly known as Mother Teresa, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and many more. These people were the epitome of creating history, they all took there own pathways to create the better for the society and only had one direction. You may be thinking what is that direction, well this means they all wanted to bring a change through their teachings of inspiration. Most cultures will have an inspirational hero, leader, fighter and what have you to make a difference, but the question is are these leaders made or born? Truthfully, these leaders are made for many reasons as they have a particular vision to perceive something that is agitating and keen to change it. Majority of people don't get the thought to change something unless they experience some sort of happening that one has overcame. Simply, this means that many leaders have either experienced such a pain that drives them to help others avidly regardless the outcome, while others wish to spend the rest of their life helping the poor. Basically, this is how leaders are made and become inspirational in the minds of people. One's action can portray so much of significance which can impact anyone to be motivated in contributing to a good cause. Think about it, today many charity organizations are being held and recognized all for the purpose to fulfill the necessities of those who need. This type action is being seen today widely and it is remarkable. Looking back decades ago, when certain countries fought for freedom and attained freedom after several years it only happened when the people of a particular nation unite. The objective of unifying is what makes a country inspirational such as India. Furthermore, the leaders that have inspired us developed a  noble thought, if we all can develop such a thought and think of the circumstances then probably the world will be a newly enhanced place. Moreover, this post will talk about  a leader in depth to portray what he has committed and achieved in all greatness.

Story of Malcolm X

1.) Malcolm X otherwise known as (El-Hajj Malik El Shabazz) - was a very powerful person who faced many challenges in life but eventually prevailed as he had adapted the right change.  He was born on May 19, 1925 and sadly passed on February 21st, 1965. Briefly, Malcolm X lost his dad at the age of 13 which caused his mom to die in shock. He was a burglar, gambler, involved in drug dealings and committed such crimes until he was sentenced to jail. The fact that he was sentenced is what really brought him a significant change in adapting good acts. For instance he studied so much that he devoted all of his time in education, he was basically a newly reformed guy after the jail period had ended. The inspirational acts that Malcolm X has completed is phenomenal, he volunteered and approached people on the street where he stated to communicate. He said, that "education is the empowerment", people ought to educated themselves if they want to sustain freedom. Malcolm X had such concrete and powerful communication which lead people to listen and act on his words. This lead to a growth of people that not only attended his functions but approached Malcolm X himself. He was definitely an inspiring human being as his work and words will always be recognized.

If you all have a passion that makes you happy to do something, stick to it as you never know that your enthusiasm will be an inspiration for you and others.

Giving back. On a Global Scale.

Our first post deals with giving back to the global community in which we live in creative and exciting ways. There are many ways to give back to our communities many of them we all are very familiar with, volunteering, peer tutoring, peer mentoring, etc. link to volunteering -> http://www.canadian-universities.net/Volunteer/Ontario.html.

But its only when we take a step back and analyze how blessed we are economically and socially (Those living in developed countries ie Canada, Usa, Australia)compared to the rest of the world that we realize that it’s our duty as world leaders to find ways to make a difference in the world. Now I know a lot of you readers out there are thinking, “How can I make a difference globally?” The first step is to analyze the global situation in order to get a better understanding of the world we live in. http://www.worldometers.info/is just one of the many ways we can get real time statistics about our world. These statistics provide context to our lives and forces us to think critically about how we lead our lives.

Now that we have warmed you up to thinking globally, we would like to share Jessica Jackley’s story with you. Jessica is the co-founder of a non-profit organization called Kiva http://www.kiva.org/. Jessica's inspiration came from hearing a talk that Dr. Muhammad Yunus gave and visting Kenya. Kiva is not a traditional non-profit organization in the sense that it does not collect donations in order to help those in need. Instead, Kiva acts as a bridge between you and an entrepreneur that lives in a developing or undeveloped country through loans as little as $25. What makes Kiva so interesting is that it doesn’t create an “us and them” or a “donor and beneficiary” scenario. Almost of all of the loans Kiva facilitates are paid back to the lenders or re-loaned back into the system.

Once we step back and think about how little hard working people in developing and undeveloped countries need to change the trajectory of their lives, I believe that people in developed countries can come up with creative ways to inspire others and change the world we live in. What ideas will you come up with? How will you change the world?

Here is Jessica's story. Enjoy, think, and reflect.

Inspired

Our second post deals with anyone who has been or has inspired someone. Inspiration is a very powerful word in many ways; it is a word that creates an expression for freedom, happiness, love, emotions, you name it. To inspire someone means you have been in a similar situation you overcame as a setback or you have done something that makes everyone proud. To get inspired means you appreciate one's work that is highly motivating. How does one become inspirational? What are the reasons that make us decide whether something is inspirational or not. Look at the following ways to be inspired, most of which you may pertain to in your everyday life. If so, keep up the good work because you’re in the right direction.

Inspiring ways

Change your routine
Exercise
Break a bad habit
Helping someone out because you know you can
Maintain a positive attitude
Accepting challenges
Respecting others
Creating benefits for the community (donations, charity)
Participating in volunteering activities
Speaking in the public
Play a sport you like and prevail
Clean your room
Asking questions
Speaking the truth

Many of us think how can all of the reasons stated above be inspiring? Well, for those who have never took the effort to do something may be inspired by these reasons. If one does not recognize their strength or do something they will remain lazy. These reasons indicate that we should step up our game and prove to ourselves that it is worth the challenge. Then only will your doubts be eliminated when you take action and prepare for it. Furthermore, do something inspiring every day, it may be of the activities listed above or something else you do that is an inspiring thought. Whatever it is you do always assure that it is a noble deed and makes you feel good about yourself. Please let us know if you have done or seen anything inspirational.