North Star Writers Group

One day I visited the Michelangelo Museum. I was excited to see one of the most famous statues in the world, Michelangelo’s “David”. I walked through the front door of the museum, turned, and there it was. The statue of David standing high on a pedestal at the end of the main hallway. I walked right to the statue and just stood there in awe of Michelangelo’s creation.

After a few minutes, I stepped back to give others a chance to get a good look at David. I walked around the rest of the museum to see the other sculptures on display. Everything in the museum was great. But I kept looking back at David. I was so amazed that something so beautiful could be carved out of such a hard stone.

So as I was leaving the museum, I stopped a tour guide and I asked, “Do we know anything about what inspired Michelangelo when he carved David?” And he looked right at me and said in English with a heavy Italian accent, “Yeah, yeah we do. Michelangelo said what inspired him.” The guide then turned in the direction of David and quietly told me what Michelangelo had said.

“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”

This is the moment I decided I wanted to be like Michelangelo.

I think about this every night when I check on my little daughters. Every night since the day they were born, I go into their rooms just before I go to bed. I pull up their blankets and I kiss them on the cheek. I look at them sleeping peacefully and I think of Michelangelo. I see the angel inside each of them.

We should all look for the angel inside ourselves and our loved ones. We should ask the question, “What is that special place within all of us?” We all have knowledge, skills, experiences and expectations that are part of the person we think we are. Yet at our core, we know there’s something unique about us. Our best self is in there and we know it.

Every day I try to ask myself, “How can I help my daughters stay connected to their real strengths, to what they love, to do and what matters most to them in their lives?”

The science of Positive Psychology has found that this question is an important one to ask. Co-founder of Positive Psychology Martin Seligman, along with University of Michigan Psychologist Christopher Peterson, discovered that people become happier the more they engage their signature strengths. The late Don Clifton and Jim Harter, both of The Gallup Organization, found in their research: “The more a strength is exercised, the more integrated it becomes . . . teachers, mentors and parents may accelerate the development of individuals by basing their expectations for a person on his or her talents.”

Michelangelo had it right. He focused on the good and he brought it to life. His statue of David is a reminder to us all to look for the best in others.

Some day I will no longer be here to kiss my girls good night. When that day comes, I hope Eliana and Ariela will each say, “My Dad saw the angel inside me. My Dad was my Michelangelo.”

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