Counting...The right way

Since the dawn of time, human beings have been obsessed with keeping track of things, recurring stars, seasonal changes, age count and so forth. We have done a little more than simply maintain this, we have expanded the spectrum of events and things we keep count of, so much so that sometimes we set our own traps.

Allow  me walk you through my thinking…..

There’s something about Sunday evening and introspection, well, at least for me. Today as I sat there, laptop open,  staring blankly at my emails, I started to recount the number of times, this year alone, that I’ve flirted with the big time, I mean, worked, coal face and extensively on really big transactions that would have changed mine and my family’s’ lives forever, but at the 11^th hour have had my payload slip right through the grasp of my hands.

Understand this, when I do something, anything, I attach the very fabric of my soul to it, so much so that it becomes part of me and losing almost always feels like death itself. Someone may read my last statement and think maybe I get too attached to things and should “take it easy”, but in my defense, let me share this idea of mine I feel so strongly about. Your soul is your energy, it is the beginning and the end of a life and while it is there, life carries on. When you love, its core source  is your soul, because without it, your heart is only a blood beating organ, incapable of emotion or affection. Now, when I get my hands dirty in pursuit of a thought I want to materialize, there’s no way I can fully apply the entire length and breathe of my creativity and business intuition without having loved it first in thought, in the process, linking it to my soul. At this extent, a loss is death of a bit of me in a sense.

Moving on…

Admittedly, the first emotion that came over me when I started to count my losses was a deep and overwhelming sense of despondency, I wondered  if at all I will win eventually. After allowing myself to sit on my pity pot for a good 4 seconds or so, I got up and flushed, with a realization in mind.

Mistakes and life generated mishaps are good overall because there are many lessons to take and personal growth (maturity), happens in these times, we even have a dozen adages nodding in agreement with this, one of which I quote the most being “Stormy seas make exceptional Captains”. However, how many people dwell on this negative count and pay close attention to the list as it grows longer, (which it inevitable will because there are generally more losses than wins) allowing that cloud of despondency, much like mine, or even worse, to swallow them whole and completely choke the will to succeed out of them?

Keeping track of how a loss came about is inevitable in order to do amendments and thus achieve growth, but pay attention to what exactly you’re keeping track of.

So, what have you been counting? Your age? Telling yourself you’re too old to start that weight loss diet? Or your income, convincing yourself that that brilliant idea you have in mind will never fly because you don’t have enough to get it to lift off?

The great thing is it’s never too late to assume a different mentality! You can opt to keep count of how many times you’ve gone about things in the wrong way, and rather than re-living the pain, focus that energy on how else you can apply yourself in a manner that will trigger victory. Happiness was designed for everyone, that’s why we can all smile, that’s why we can all laugh, however, happiness, much like most of life’s truest treasures, requires one’s own internal effort. You too can achieve your goals and be happy, but it’s the subtle nuances in mental character that build up to that glorious moment on the victory lap.

Don’t just count, count productively. 

Keep well and stay winning.

Lethu.

Exam Time

I’m sure we’ve all been there, just looking at those two words might be bringing back some not too fond memories of the studying (cramming for others), countless hours of paging through thick textbook volumes, nerves, sleepless nights and and and, we’ve all been there! One thing we can all agree on, the exams that really mattered back in school never hit us by surprise, we’d never get to school one morning and be told to head straight to the hall because the finals would take place, never. They would announce themselves like ships to the harbour, one can see it clearly yet it’s still quite far away. They even had names like mid-terms or end of years, meaning you knew exactly when the rain would come and if you were diligent enough, you’d have ample time to get preparations going.                         

Life on the other hand isn’t structured in the same way, unfortunately, even though this is where you write some of your toughest exams. You wake up one morning, unsuspecting that anything out of the ordinary is about to go down, not knowing that you just woke up to your exam, mind you, just one of many. We never know how to prepare for these, how do you prepare for something you know nothing about? How do you prepare how much resilience to put up? How much patience to have? How long to maintain a brave, game face? The answer is, there isn’t an answer.

Not such a smart response for a very serious topic, true, maybe not smart, but certainly practical and real. How often do folks throw in the towel because their particular exam has “gone on too long”, or “the situation has remained the same”? People don’t give up because they don’t have enough hope, or aren’t strong enough to sit through their entire exam, people give up because they live in the anticipation of when the problem or challenge will go away, fair enough a reason, you might think, but I think that’s where we get it all wrong.

Unlike those exams back in school, where the end goal would be to have your paper marked “after” the exam is out and the verdict on your performance passed thereafter, where you can then see what you got right, and also what you got wrong; mind you, most of the time you are most likely to get another chance to do things right, life’s exam requires you to do something very brave, something many fail to do, one exam after another, life’s exam requires you  to pay attention and learn something “during” the exam!!

The aim is not for us to ride the storm out, or stay strong for so long until the storm passes, the aim is for us to learn something at that particular time, something that will be necessary not only to be applied in the next sitting, but most importantly to pass on to someone else sitting through an exam you’ve already been in. In the words of Kahlil Gibran, one of the finest philosophers of the olden era “Therefore, trust the Physician and drink his remedy in silence and tranquillity. His hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by good plans yet unseen. The cup He brings, though it burns the lips, has been fashioned of the clay which the Potter has fashioned with his own sacred tears”.

Life will go on, and you can’t alter the length of your exam. It may last far beyond what you thought would be necessary for you to learn what you have to learn, on the other hand, it could be so short that it leaves you more confused than educated, however, when you go through a session, the time is right to evaluate oneself. What have I learned, how have I changed, what did I find different about myself during that time, was it good, was it bad and most importantly, what needs to be changed and what needs to be fortified.

You can bet your steak and knives that life will never set you through an exam simply for the fun of it, its all in accordance to a higher power for a higher purpose, and there aren’t any retakes, a lesson missed today can impact your approach on an exam one day when you’re all grow with kids and grandkids. Live through the exam, yes, endure it, shut your eyes tight in a bid to close the pain off, its fine, you’re human after all, however, regardless of the way things turn out, remember that you have to keep your attention at its sharpest, the bigger picture behind it all is a learning one.

 

All the best my fellow apprentice.

 

Keep well and stay winning.

 

Lethu Kheswa.

The way of the winner.

There are countless metaphors of human success, the analogy in most, if not all, being the subject achieving number one status in whatever they do, or getting to some dizzy height at least. I won’t stand around and dish punishment like I haven’t been also guilty of focusing on how these folks get to the last step at the top of the ladder, totally ignoring the climbing process.

I read something the other day that provoked my thinking in this regard, poor you for having to read through what I think on, this mind can be quite a maze. I understand how diverse a people we are, with the lines of not only race, gender, height and physique, to mention a few dividers, we have one of the factors that cut thick lines between us yet it’s those very lines that somehow encompass all of us at the same time, I’m driving at religion.

Now, regardless of what you believe in, you will agree with me that there’s one thing that stands out, and that’s the manner in which these teachings encourage swimming against the tide. You’ve been wronged by someone? Pray for them in positive harmony; rather than sitting back and accepting gifts, there’s more joy in giving instead, look, I could go on forever. Maybe one might say, hey, what about us that don’t believe in anything, well, I’m glad you asked, because even in the world of those who believe in nothing, yet having aspirations of being a winner, the concept of resilience is a familiar one. When you fall, you get up and try again, when your efforts are despised, you just keep going until your brilliance is noted, in essence, there’s no relenting until the goal is attained.

Now look at how the same ribbon binds us all! With all our physical and spiritual differences, there is only one way of the winner, and its swimming against the tide, going against the norm, holding on through rough seas and high waters, as opposed to taking the easy way out, giving up. In the words of one man who has certainly made his mark where winning is concerned, “I have never learned anything from success”, so profound, a reminder to me and you that the focus when dreaming of winning shouldn’t be on the victory itself because at the end of the day, the torch will always be passed to another person, but the focus should be on the journey to the top, because that’s where the wisdom, the treasure of life is buried, and get this, wisdom, unlike the title of “number one”, never dies, nor can one lose it to another; it lives on forever under the  face of advice!

We are not all fortunate enough to find a bed that’s already been made for us to snuggle up in, for those like me that have dreams and have to not only navigate our way up, but also draw the map as we go, ours is the way of the winners, the real winners.

Calm seas never made good Captains!

Keep well and stay winning.

Lethu.

What are you searching for?

There are a number of factors that bring us together as human beings and make us notice the common thread by which we are all woven. We all need love, we need attention, we share the need to be listened to but I’d like to think right at the top of the list is the undeniable fact that we are all out here searching for something.

I know somebody reading this may beg to differ, I know, id pardon you for thinking there are some human beings that seem to wander about aimlessly with no sense of direction whatsoever, pun intended, but stop to think, maybe they're actually searching for the way! Ok, back to the point. What is it that drives you? What makes you wake up in the morning with renewed focus to search again? Conversely, what is it that you didn't find that drained you of all hope? So much so that you don't want to get out of bed in the morning.

Maybe you're actually toying around with the thought of what it is that you're searching for, maybe you knew the answer to the question just as you saw the title of the post but if you ask me, I’m for all things unobserved, the inquisitive voices of the little boys and girls that drown in our busy world, unanswered. The soft words of the elderly that go about unheeded, in exchange for better sources of information, as if there's anything as bright as white hairs of wisdom on man's head. There's a line I’ll never forget, my friends and I would use it a lot when we wrote letters to girls (yes, I was fortunate enough to have been able to think of smart words to put together in hand written letters without using any of these "how to" websites), it read, "walk placidly among the tender flowers of earth's garden, because even those with no voices have something to say". I honestly have no idea how that line and courting a girl cross paths, but it appealed to the man in me anyway and reminded me at all times to listen to the ones that society has starred down on as incapable of contributing anything. 

I’m in search for that human being that could really do with a warm smile from a stranger, a good deed done for no show whatsoever. I love a verse in the bible that talks about how when we give in private, God above who sees all will reward us in public. Two things;im not about saving the world, I wouldn't manage even if i tried, and two it’s no campaign for blessings, it’s just in my DNA.

So what are you after? Love? Are you searching for peace? God? Wealth maybe? or maybe you're at this very moment searching for something to search for, either way, search for it, and search hard, there isn't any greater satisfaction beyond looking for something, a desire that stems from the innermost part of your being, and then finding that something, that, for me, is the true essence of life, finding that which the hands can’t touch, but that from which the soul can feed!

Keep well and stay winning..

Lethu.