On a Future Passing

I have seen much death, suffering and pain the last few weeks... the hurt in those left behind. The uncertainty, the sorrow and the bottled tears. 

When, in many moons to come, my time comes promise me this; hold nothing back. Mourn and cry, wail and keen in your grief, let the banshee fear that her voice has been stolen. But mingle such anguish with the laughter of old memories dusted out of closets long thought forgotten. Let the air echo with the fun tales of lessons learnt with hilarity. Remember fondly the lives that I have touched, for in them a difference i have made can be paid forward in an unending chain that echoes through eternity. And face each day with strength, secure in the knowledge that I will be waiting for you on the other side of the curtain to welcome you home.

Long may that day be in coming. For now let us fill each day with all the love, life, memories and goodness we can bring to bear, celebrating with each other along the way....remembering life is too short to waste on bad coffee. 

Hightened emotion in general can lead to a low clarity of thought. Emotions can cloud the decision making process leading to some really bad spur of the moment decisions, especially if you are depressed or angry. Writing in a high state of emotion can be a source of great inspiration or the pit from which you dredge up things you wish you had never written.

About to hash out an angry email, it is worth waiting a bit to calm down. Once you click the send button there is not a lot you can do to undo the damage.

Intention

Intentionality is a trait that we can all do with a little more of. You can wait for an invitation to a party or you can decide to hold one of your own. Life is not about a passive waiting for things to occur but rather an active pursuing of things you desire.

A Little Collection

I like writing-no secret there. I get a kick out of crafting sentences that inspire. I guess I have a love affair with the English language. There is a thrill when accosted by its written or spoken forms. So I collect articles-well written ones. The collection is small right now, but will grow with time. 

My collection is not purposeless though. I use it to learn from, to get ideas on how to write better articles. 

What do you collect?

Bigger Africa

Bigger Africa is a Global community that links people, and links dreams on the continent of Africa. Its vision empowers the three E’s: the entrepreneur, the employer and the employee. Bigger Africa aims to harness your potential, cultivate your competence and link you to the people or experiences you need in order to catapult you to a higher competing platform.

Check it out!

Momentum

Reading 'Think Big' by Donald Trump and Bill Zanker (Bill who you ask? Read and find out, but he knows a little about marketing-put the big name first!) What can I say, Trump can come across as an arrogant,no-nonsense, kick-ass, son-of-a-bitch (arrogance that is well deserved, he kicks rear anyway, I might have gone a little overboard on the last one though-his mother is probably not a bitch so apologies there Mrs Trump). I don't share Trump's value system, but this is still a great read. It is written in simple terms, gets your attention and gives some constructive insight into the mind of one of life's 'greats'. He is brutally honest and is probably not to concerned with your feelings; he's concerned with your success.

One of the issues he touches on is momentum. One of the reasons for a hiatus from this blog. Momentum is powerful in that the more you do, the more it builds. The converse is true. Stop and you will lose it all. I guess I lost a little momentum along the way and put regular posts on hold for a bit. Not the greatest confession but we move on...

Outliers

Finally managed to finish “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell . It’s only taken me about 2 months The reason for the length of time to get though it had little to do with reading effort, but rather the copy I was reading passed mysteriously across the ocean and I had to find another (in book starved Zimbabwe this is akin to ordering steak in a vegetarian restaurant).

In a nutshell, he takes you through stories of success and outlines some of the circumstances and events that have contributed to it (ever wondered why Asians are better at math-I now know! Of course I’m not telling you read the book yourself.). Each of us is a by-product of timing, opportunity, history and cultural bias (basically S**t happens type stuff). He points out the hand fate has had in shaping our lives (e.g. if Bill Gates were a couple of years older I wouldn’t be typing this on a Windows OS). He hints that we can change some of it. But, most of the time he leaves us blissfully ignorant of what we can do to alter our future and take full advantage of the hand we’ve been dealt. It does however tell you how to raise your kids a little better so at least the next generation gets a better shot.

Is it worth reading? Yes. But don’t expect any magic wand, just some serious thought provoking on where you have come from. Building your future based on this information in the book-well that part is pretty much up to you.

You don't need time management, you need value management.

Decide what's is important to you and focus on that.

Broadening Your Scope

Exposure enhances vision.

It is estimated that the average person in Africa is behind their international counterparts by about 10 years in terms of exposure to what the world has to offer. That’s despite the Web, although there are many in Africa that do not have access to it.

Each time I travel out of Zimbabwe I am reminded of what is lacking here, but also exposed to new and better things. This time was no different. The one thing I will say about America is that it is huge. It is a huge landmass for starters, but it has huge cities. I was amazed by the level of organisation that exists to keep a city as large as Seattle growing, functional and operational. Be it from planning roads to collecting the trash in a manner that prevents a Wall-E type disaster.

As an aside I’ve been to large cities before (J’burg, London) but have never really appreciated that side of things before. I guess greatness and magnification is what stood out for me most on this trip.

If you have the chance to travel outside of your comfort zone, to see the world seize it with both hands it’s worth it.

Race to Witch Mountain

Finally facing the end of tour. A few more days and I'll be back in sunny Zimbabwe.

Went to see Race to Witch Mountain today. The real reason I went probably has more to do with having seen the previous Witch Mountain shows growing up rather than the incessant advertising on US TV. Impressions? Hmmm, let me see...it wasn't earth shattering, but again doesn't deserve a negative review. Some good tension in places, some good quotes ('It was the bhudda, he's not available'). Still it was a feel good flick that kids will probably enjoy. The second film I've seen young actor Alexander Ludwig in. Did a good job playing an alien kid with deliberate minimal emotional response. Probably a name to watch out for in the future.

Today is an overcast, drizzly, chilly day; perfect for movie, coffee and sleep. So far I've managed the first two; time methinks to chase up the third.

So the tour continues in a hectic fashion, I spent three days indoors without spending more than 5 minutes outdoors as we ran from venue to venue. Have to say that would not enjoy spending my life like that permanently.

I am incredibly grateful for the gym at the moment as it keeps my gut from expanding past my belt. Food is abundant, frequent and generaly fake. The level of processed gunk available is a little mindblowing-I mean literally mindblowing, that much sugar has got to rot more than just your teeth.

While on the topic of sugar here's a fun lifestyle experiment. Take a large glass and a teasppon. Now each time you add a spoon of sugar to something, place the same quantity in the glass. Now to make it more fun. Eat time you eat something with sugar, corn syrup,or sucrose on the label add an extra spoon to your glass. Watch the amount in there at the end of a day or week. Now if ou want to be really disgusting imagine eating that all in raw form! Now you can decide if you want to cut back a little.

PS you can use a similar method to try out any potential addictions. Watch TV and put a glass marble in a bowl for every 10 minutes you spend glued to the idiot box. See how much time you spend.

The Lighter Side of America

So I've been here for a week now, a rather fast and furious introduction to the 'American Dream'. It is easy to talk about the things I like about Seattle, and it is probably the same as many others; snow, the clear signs, wide roads, Starbucks. A little more interesting are the oddities that, as an outsider, fill me with mirth and amusement. Lets start with drug adverts. It is mandatory to list the side effects of drugs during a commercial. There is one for a sinus decongestant that lists effects including viral infection and nasal congestion. Then there is the rheumatoid arthritis med that promises side effects inclding disability, disfigurement and death. I can see it now; "Hey hon, I'm just popping down to the drugstore to pick up some death pills, I may not be back..."

The coffee flavour syrup that includes 'natural and artificial flavours'-seriously why bother with the eco friendly at all.

Went to a restaurant last night-rather pleasant and very busy. As with most public toilets there was the compulsory wheelchair access loo. Only one snag-I'd love to see any wheelchair user manouver their machine through all the highly tensioned sprung doors that lead to it. The fact that they all open one way means that you can get to the toilet in a wheelchair, but getting out again may be a little more fun.

Can't wait to see the parking spaces for the blind...

And we have touchdown!

What a month. Shortly before my last post I was invited to America as part of a choir/dance tour. My role is to primarily tutor a number of the kids on tour to make sure they finish school on time. So a hectic few weeks of visa applications, bill finalising, shopping and sheer panic culminated in 48 hours of travel to arrive in Seattle last Friday. It has been a mind blowing and eye opening experience. Much work and many observations-too many to write about in one sitting.

So let me put down one that is fresh in my mind. The Oscars. Now I havn't watched them for a few years, but loved the way the best actor/actress awards were handled-with 5 previous winners each affirming and encouraging one of the nomminees. Very powerful. As for Kate Winslet's speech, I think that was an example of visualising your childhood dreams and making them come true-the shampoo bottle she held up in the mirror as an eight year old is not a shampoo bottle any more.

Will try write more soon.

A little tragedy

I read Tolkein’s ‘Children of Hurin’ yesterday. Now I love Lord of the Rings and can appreciate the style of prose which some find a little weird and long winded. I cannot really stomach a tragedy though. I can appreciate the effort and style in writing one, Romeo and Juliet is amazing, but the morbid ending leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. I don’t watch movies to appreciate reality; I watch them to avoid it. There is enough crap happening in the world already, there is no need to add to it fictionally. The guy should get the girl and ‘happily ever after’ should still happen. Movies like ‘Message in a Bottle’ are just depressing. Sure you can have a little pathos in the whole thing, kill off a mentor, have the occasional minor death to help tension and focus-just don’t kill off the hero! So if you are looking for something to help lift your mood then read the book for literary brilliance, not for the tale.

A Summary of Thought

All things considered there hasn’t really been anything major keeping me from writing. No earthquakes, no close calls with death, no infectious diseases; not much really. I have been busy though. I guess the menial in life got a little better of me, and when combined with a couple of curveballs that required a little more of my attention resulted in an absence from your screens. So I’m over it, I’m sure you already are.

Let’s see what has caught my attention recently. The efficiency of the American visa system (they may not always approve your visa but they are efficient-mine came through though), the monotony of complaints in Zimbabwe (the lack of government, the monopoly money, the dollarisation rumours-same junk different day), the fact that stretch classes work, what three weeks without coffee can do to your mood (clearer mind, not necessarily less grumpy) and raisins (they were cheap what can I say).

So, what does it all mean? Complaints about things you can’t change are a waste of time, extra flexibility is always cool and useful, give up something once in a while-it will make you a better person (I didn’t say quit forever), raisins are a great healthy alternative to sugar on your cereal, and you can’t beat certain systems. Have a brilliant day.

Dancing Tall

I’m standing a little taller and straighter this week. No, I have not had surgery to have steel rods implanted in my spine, rather I have gone back to dance class. The class I go to usually involves 30 minutes of stretching, followed 30 minutes of conditioning (either barre work or core strengthening) before we even think of looking at a routine. Proper barre does wonders for a person’s posture.

Why am I even bothering to tell you all this? I stopped dancing about this time last year simply because there were not enough hours in the day to get it done. My life has been reshuffled a little and I now have a couple of those hours back. Dance also ties in with a couple of my other current goals-to be more fit and flexible and to meet new people and have more of a social outlet. It’s a pretty cool package deal on goals then. Also I really enjoy it. Now, I am not sure if I will get around to doing a show at all as that is a huge time commitment. For now I am content to have fun; I’ll face the pain of overstretched muscles another day.

PS for anyone looking for a social dance class in Zimbabwe you can contact Debbie on 492314

A New Year's Sleep

It’s the second day of 2009 (my autodate in word has just informed me that I can ‘press enter’ to fill in the whole date to save me a whopping 0.1miliseconds of my life) and already the year has been a busy one; a bit of plumbing, a bit of gaming, a fair chunk of work and a little writing.

The idea of the New Year has always fascinated me. I mean, is the second before the stroke of midnight really any different from the one after? Time is, after all, a continuum and it is only humans who divide it into nice little parcels for the sake of management. The measurement of time with its divisions of 12 and 60 is so pre-metric and makes for such dreadful calculations that you would think that someone would have decimalised the clock by now. That would throw a generation of Swiss watch makers into disarray now wouldn’t it.

New Year, and the festive season in general, does at least provide a well needed rest. Most humans (in this case personified by yours truly) need regular breaks. I don’t care what the science tells you, my science says that without routine doses of eight hours of sleep and two weeks off every six months or so I become a run-down, irritable, grouchy jerk who cannot function at full capacity. Now I know many people who survive on less, but that’s just it, they survive but do they really flourish? Most articles I’ve read, probably written by researchers who love their duvet, recommend 8 hours of sleep a night. That sort of article is wonderful for sleep addicts like me. Regardless of your personal preference for dozing habits here’s to a prosperous and fun-filled 2009.

Pondering Employees.

I spent Christmas on the farm with my dad. Had plenty of time to think about things, a little mental rumination. Looking at the general state of farm workers and indeed the state of the majority of employees in the ‘third world’, although many in the developed world could be included here, and pondered on the thought as to how many employers ever bothered to try coaching their underlings to a state of better things. Maybe it is a matter of not knowing how to elevate some ones self worth but it strikes me as something that is not done very much.

Take the average farm worker in Africa-they live in a hut (brick if they are lucky), may or may not have electricity, share a communal tap for running water and that’s about it. Now you can insert ‘slum’ and ‘factory worker’ instead, and some labourers are in a better situation than I have described but the situation hasn’t changed much in the last 20 or so years. I certainly don’t hear amazing stories of the farm worker who has gone and become a successful farm owner, and I hear of very few of labourers going out and building their own brick house, getting water and lights in it and getting a car. Part of it has to do with low wages, but part also has to do with the environment that they are in. When all you know is a hovel it can be a little difficult to see yourself in anything better-especially when the whole system is telling you that you are only worth a hovel and all you will ever be is a hovel dweller.

Now, at the risk of irritating a lot of people, I would say that part of the problem lies with the employer (and no I’m not the perfect boss and no I haven’t got to grips with this either yet). I am not saying that everything should be handed on a plate to the workers-I am rather opposed to the ‘gimmee’ attitude that characterises much of Africa. Rather help people see themselves in a better future. Maybe painting a vision that includes benefit to the employee, not just the self gratification and pocket lining of the boss. Creating the opportunity to do and be better may be part of the solution. One of the risks in growing people is that they may eventually see themselves out of your organisation and into their own. So what, there will always be replacements and there will always be the loyal that choose to stay and build with you-you may just have to pay them a bit more.

Now I’ve rambled for a bit let me know what you think. As I said, I havn’t got the application of this concept down perfect and it could do with a little refining. We live and learn.

A little touch of green.

Envy has to be one of the most destructive and vindictive emotions. It will eat you from the inside out and turn you into a scarred, pitiful wreck of negative energy and dislike. The simple fact is that if you live your entire life trying to be better than someone else, attempting to outlive them and basing your success on their failures you will never really amount to much. If Mr Bolt was to vanish today would it suddenly make every other sprinter a better athlete? Would every golfer the world over have their performance improve if Tiger Woods was to take up market gardening instead? The only person responsible for your success is you.

I wrote last time about Bill Bryson and how I admire some of the qualities of his writing. Now there is nothing wrong with seeking to emulate and internalise qualities that you see in another person that will aid you in your success. I am already trying to incorporate some of the lessons I’ve learnt from his writing, but for me to start trying to better Mr Bryson, to beat him at his own game, to write better than him, to copy him exactly and base my whole life on that would be foolish and self destructive. The world does not need another Bill Bryson or another Tiger Woods. The world doesn’t need another Mother Teresa or another version of your neighbour. What the world needs is you and the uniqueness that you bring into it.

There's nothing like a Dame.

It was with a great sense of trepidation that I went to see the local pantomime this week. The last one I went to a couple of years back was a total disaster, but I was with friends this time and they had a spare ticket.

I had a blast. It was by far one of the best I had seen in years. There were a significant number of senior cast members that helped carry some of the more inexperienced along-not that they were too shabby either. It had all the elements of panto-a brilliant dame, a very evil villain, and the appropriate love story. The dancers were skilled and I haven’t laughed that long in a while. It was a welcome break from all the turmoil around about. Well done Reps.

We were chatting in the car home and someone passed the comment that he had to admire the bravery of the cast coming out night after night to perform it what are less than ideal economic circumstances. Having been involved with some of the cast before, I can only say that they are passionate about what they do. They have fun doing it and despite all the hard effort involved they find it very rewarding. For some it is the self gratification of the ‘thank-you’s’ after, for others the smile on peoples faces, for others the sense of community and the vision of providing people with entertainment. Finding something worth sacrificing into, something that you enjoy doing and have a passion for it will keep you committed for many years to come.