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.