The Gift of a Mother

When we are born, we come with a clean slate of mind. Everything our eyes see, the things our hearts perceive, the knowledge planted on our minds all came to us from a source we had little knowledge of. As new day approaches and add times to our little lives, we begin to see a light. Actually, this light has been with us all through. This is the light that threw its beams on us so we have life, so we can give out our first cry in the new world we find ourselves in. Mothers, the first beauty of  light we all began our journey of life with.

A mother's role in our lives is not scripted neither is it enshrined in the fabrics of womanhood. Every mother chooses the role they want to play in the lives of their little ones and surprisingly, they do it amazingly well. My mum gave me the first hint of who a great man is. She isn't a man herself but she could pick and mould a great man with her eyes closed. She said, "if someday, people will look up to you, if people will believe in the kind of person you are, don't you ever lie. Great men didn't make lies their stronger point." Well, I didn't understand then but I do now. I'm not that older but honesty has brought me farther than a lie could fly me to. 

The greatest thing I've ever felt in my soul is the power of imagination, the ability to see what is not there. That too I got it from a mum. Usually she will tell me stories of real life situations and ask me "Do you see what I'm talking about?" Well I cant see what you're saying mum, I can only hear. Then she will say "crazy boy, put yourself in that situation and feel what it is. There's no need to think all the time, feel it too.let it get to you and you'll understand it better." There and then, another episode of human enlightenment was opened to me. I began learning and judging from other people's experiences. 

How a mum gives dreams to a child is magical to say the least. It's like some sort of prestidigitation perfected from the beginning of time. Who we are, and what we will become is already moulded by the hands and kind words of mum. What is left is for us to be cast so we take the shape of Mama's mould. Sometimes I ask myself "how do they do that?" No mum is proud of a stupid child so from the onset, they take the Steers of our lives and drive us to where we will be applauded. My mum will usually say "I didn't waste my time to give birth to you so you become a handsome fool, you better buckle up and live like a man." Even the anger on her face while saying that is beautiful.

I remember one dawn, a distinct sound woke me up. It was mum talking to someone. I looked around the room but there was no one there. I kept wondering, "who's this "witch" talking to?" She kept murmuring and talking then I heard my name in her talking, I woke up and walk to her, she put her hand around my neck and kept on talking. Then after she had stopped talking she turned to me and said "Don't sneak on me while I'm praying, you get me distracted." That was my first knowledge of prayers and that was my first time of knowing there's a man hiding somewhere who will listen to us when we go to him with our worries. I took it up from there.

Today, I see a soldier when I look at my mum. That woman has fought so many battles and won. Few times she lost but she never coiled into her shells. She will always come back and win like the fighter she is.  I believe many mothers out, who have also done their part to see a new better generation of humankind. A day to celebrate a mother will never be enough, everyday, every step of the way, we should hold them in our hearts with prayers. These are the ultimate soldiers who raise little warriors for battle. 

To Be Happy, Learn These Five Lessons

Every day when I wake up from bed to start a new day, I tell myself; “I don’t want to be anything today but happy.” I want to go through the day with some sort of exuberance that will not be easy to extinguish. Very often I fail. Few times I experience happiness in patches. In the night when I’m about to sleep, I go through the day’s life all over again in my head. I usually end up saying; “I could have been happier today than I actually was.”

To be happy, there are lessons most of us have been taught never to forget. Most of this lessons we forget them because we are too busy thinking of the next step. Today, I present what most of us already know about happiness but have forgotten or refused to put in practice. Below are just five of those lessons:

1.      Forgive, don’t wait for an apology before you do.

We are yet to feel the full effect of forgiveness as individuals. There’s nothing refreshing than letting go of the grudges you hold with people in your heart. Holding grudges is like allowing unwanted people live rent free in your heart. Life becomes very light and less cumbersome when we accept all the apologies we never got in the first place.

At a lecture in school one day, the lecturer before she began lecturing warned the class to put all phones off or on silent. Because if she should hear any phone rings during the lectures, she will send the culprit out of the lecture hall. Just about thirty minutes into the lectures, a phone loudly rang! Everybody was steady waiting to hear what the lecturer would say. Then the lecturer said, “Don’t worry, let’s move on. I know the one whose phone rang is sorry and I accept his apology.” Instant forgiveness, that’s what it is.

Forgiveness doesn’t come cheap, but if we are able to, it sets our souls free like a kite in the air. When we forgive others, we give them a promise. We promise them that we are never going to hold what they did to us in the past against them. We are setting them free cos we also want a freedom of heart. On the other hand we appreciate the kind of lesson they’ve taught us.

2.      What you have or don’t have do not define who you are

Things are just things and that is where it ends. We don’t need everything that we think we need to live a fulfilled life. We should be able to create our own culture.  We shouldn’t go about copying everything we see on TV, or consume every fashion we see from the magazines, and we don’t have to take in too much of the cosmetic empowerment these media seems to be promising each day.

We should rather find the strength to fill our time with meaningful experiences that have connections to our lives.  The space and time we are occupying at this very moment is LIFE, and if we’re worrying about getting the hips of Joselyn Dumas or the skin colour of Yvonne Nelson before we can be happy, then we are dis-empowered.  We’re giving our lives away to marketing and media trickery, which is created by big companies to ultimately motivate you to want to dress a certain way, look a certain way, and be a certain way.  This is tragic, this kind of thinking.  It’s all just advertisement brainwashing.  What is real is YOU and your friends and your family, your loves, your highs, your hopes, your plans, your fears, etc.

Very often we are told we are not good enough until we get a degree, get a job, get a car, get a house, and keep on getting.  And it’s sad, because someday you’ll wake up and realize you’ve been tricked. True life is what you create for yourself because you enjoy living it.

3.      It’s not anybody’s job to love you

It’s your job to love the person that you are. Often times we give lots of love to others whiles we starve ourselves of it. Yeah, it’s good to show love to some individuals but the ultimate love should be given to yourself. No one ever accomplished anything without giving themselves the love they need.

Stop looking at yourself from the spectacles of those who have little value of you. Look into the mirror and talk to the person you see in there. Today let someone also love you for who you are, for all your weakness and for all your blemishes. Let someone see value in yourself and let that person be you. It’s your job and no one else’s to love you.

4.      Failures will come, don’t let it turn you into a quitter

At a point in our lives, failure will show itself in the things we do. However best we sometimes prepare, failure will still find a way to encroach our space. We should not let failures of today turn us into quitters. 

Whenever we fail, we are presented with two choices; either to give up totally or rise up and try all over again. We should always let the latter be our choice. Successful people usually say that success comes at the step just beyond the point where we nearly gave up.

Most mistakes happen because we had no means of avoiding them. We should learn to forgive ourselves when those mistake comes.  It’s not a problem to make them.  It’s only a problem if we never learn from them. The difference between a master and a beginner is that the master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried.  Behind every great piece of art is a thousand failed attempts to make it, but these attempts are simply never shown to us. Look beyond your failures, light comes after darkness so does success shines after our failures.

5.      Death will come when it will come, no need to be afraid

We usually make jokes with the phrase “Life is too short to…” but the fear of death rains supreme on the mind of the average man. Shakespeare made a very sincere observation in his Julius Caesar play. He said; of all the wonders that I yet have heard, It seems to me most strange that men should fear; seeing that death, a necessary end, Will come when it will come.”

We have no control over the time and space when we will meet our necessary end so why need to fear? We know deep down that life is short, and that death will happen to all of us eventually, and yet we are infinitely surprised when it happens to someone we know. Death is not the greatest loss in life.  The greatest loss is what dies inside of us while we’re still alive. While we could have done something with the life we still have. 

LIVE your life TODAY!  Don’t ignore death, but don’t be afraid of it either.  Be afraid of a life you never lived because you were too afraid to take action.  Be bold.  Be courageous.  Be scared to die, and then take the next step anyway.

All Life Could Be....

Life! A simple word that causes a lot of confusion in the minds of many. Many people have tried to define life in so many ways that are different from each other yet makes sense in their differences. Ages ago, wise people will spend hours un-end pondering on all issues of life that bring a simple meaning to our existence. Every definition of life leads to another definition which eventual leads to a maze of questions that have never been answered. So today, I put it to you; what is LIFE?

Once upon a time, there was a girl who could do anything in the world she wanted.  All she had to do was choose something and focus.  So one day she sat down in front of a blank canvas and began to paint.  Every stroke was more perfect than the next, slowly and gracefully converging to build a flawless masterpiece.  And when she eventually finished painting, she stared proudly at her work and smiled.

It was obvious to the clouds and the stars, who were always watching over her, that she had a gift.  She was an artist.  And she knew it too.  She felt it in every fibre of her being.  But a few moments after she finished painting, she got anxious and quickly stood up.  Because she realized that while she had the ability to do anything in the world she wanted to do, she was simply spending her time moving paint around on a piece of canvas.

She felt like there was so much more in the world to see and do – so many options.  And if she ultimately decided to do something else with her life, then all the time she spent painting would be a waste.  So she glanced at her masterpiece one last time, and walked out the door into the moonlight.  And as she walked, she thought, and then she walked some more.

While she was walking, she didn't notice the clouds and the stars in the sky who were trying to signal her, because she was preoccupied with an important decision she had to make.  She had to choose one thing to do out of all the possibilities in the world.  Should she practice medicine?  Or design buildings?  Or teach children?  She was utterly stumped.

Twenty-five years later, the girl began to cry.  Because she realized she had been walking for so long, and that over the years she had become so enamoured by everything that she could do – the endless array of possibilities – that she hadn't done anything meaningful at all.  And she learned, at last, that life isn't about possibility – anything is possible.  Life is about making a decision – deciding to do something that moves you.

So the girl, who was no longer a girl, purchased some canvas and paint from a local craft store, drove to a nearby park, and began to paint.  One stroke gracefully led into the next just as it had so many moons ago.  And as she smiled, she continued painting through the day and into the night.  Because she had finally made a decision.  And there was still some time left to revel in the magic that life is all about.

Don’t waste time thinking of what could be or what could have been, that isn't all life could be. Don’t waste time living in pains of what yesterday was. That isn't all life could be. Don’t waste your time in the anxiety of what tomorrow will bring. That too, isn't all life could be. As far as you live, there’s a decision to make and that decision should lead you to a better tomorrow, a better life and a fulfilled mission. Forget about other possibilities. Use the possibilities of this moment and revel in the possibility of a better tomorrow.  The sun will shine tomorrow, the moon will lit a trail in our darkest moments. The stars will overlook on us giving us signals of a better happiness. Choose to live and make it worthwhile.

We are the Jugglers of Our Own Destiny

A man was involved in an accident whiles on his way to see her newly born child for the first time. He regained his consciousness on a hospital bed, there he realised that he’d lost his sight. He screamed and punched in agony for the fact that he would not see again, especially not being able to see his newly born child again. He never slept for days. Thoughts of living in darkness for the rest of his life got him scared and restless. He couldn’t just imaging the worthiness of life without his sight. 

One morning he called the doctor and had a very passionate conversation with him. He promised heavens and earth if only the doctor could help restore his sight. The answer was no as it has always been. Then he whispered to the doctor; “Help me end it. I can’t stand the shame of being held by the hand anytime I have to take a step. This life can’t work anymore. Let’s end it and try again. I hope I get relief in the next life.” All the doctor could do was to shake his head in disbelief and leave his bedside.

The next morning, as he sat crying, a ward-mate, who had recently been crippled went to his bed side and handed him an orange. “Do you know what this is?” the ward-mate asked. “I have no eyes, how could I know?” he answered. “Smell it,” the ward-mate said. He did, realising what it is, he turned to the ward-mate and said “it’s an orange.” “Of course it’s an orange, but how did you know?” the ward-mate queried. “It SMELLS like one” came the answer. The bed-mate then said “life is designed to still work even when we’ve lost something within us. Eyes alone can’t make your whole life better, therefore, losing it doesn’t make life worthless. There’s always a way to live without eyes, let your heart illuminate your world and you can go wherever your feet can carry you. Tears won’t solve it, young soul, they just will find an escape through your eye, that’s all.” The story has it that, this man lived another forty seven years, fulfilled and accomplished.

We are wonderfully crafted to live a happy and fulfilled life however our circumstances. It is not given to a very few but each and every one of us. We have a chance at life but we usually let our chances slip. As humans, we turned to look too hard and too long at the close doors whiles many open doors remain unattended to. If there’s a door that is standing wide open for you and another that you’re trying to get through by knocking it down, sometimes it’s best to take the door that’s already open for you. 

 Buddha once said: “It is your resistance to what is that causes your suffering.” We are not made for suffering but rather give way to suffering when we try to resist how things are. However hard we try, there are some things we can’t change. It is what it is. It is when we try to go against the current that we open ourselves up for suffering. There are things we can change, yes! But there are quite a lot of few that we cannot. Where we can, let’s put in our strength and make the change we desire. If we can’t change it, we have to accept it as it is and let go of the negativity. That is when we find true value in letting go.

“This too shall pass” has been my favourite quote anytime I find myself in an uncomfortable situation. Nothing lasts forever; our sorrows, our heartbreaks, our guilt and shame can’t hover over us forever. They too shall pass. All, we need is a willing heart that can stand the test of time, be strong and be ready to make a change.

Get out of your own way. Give yourself the chance to be happy. If anyone deserves a better life and a happy ending, it is you.

My Mr. Right; Where is He?

At the tail end of the story, Cinderella found her prince charming, and they lived happily ever after. Sleeping Beauty had been lured to bite a poisonous apple, she immediately fell under a spell; until she gets the kiss from her true love, she would never wake up from her endless sleep. Guess what happened, in the end, her prince in a shining armour appeared from nowhere, plant a deep kissed on the lips of Sleeping Beauty, she immediately woke up from her sleep, and Happily Ever After, she lived with her saving prince. You and I know what happened in Rapunzel right? yeah, her prince climbed up to the tower where Rapunzel had been arrested by her wicked mum. They both ran away to a place where they lived Happily ever After....These are the stories read to us when we were kids. These fantasy stories made us believe there is always this special man who would come to the rescue, and when he does, all our problems would be solved. It is only this Prince who can sweep us from our feet and introduce us to a love so divine, to a love we have never experienced, to a love that would even make the Greek gods of love, Eros and Cupid very envious of us.

These stories have been able to shape our idea of a perfect man who we by all means have to meet before we can actually find fulfillment in love relationships. I once asked a lady friend of mine what she hopes for in a man she would like to marry in future. Here is her list; He should be tall and handsomely crafted. He should have enough muscles with visible six packs, he should be a working man with at least a car or two, he should be loving, caring and sensitive to my pains, he should be committed and God-fearing, (almost in whispers, she said) he should have a sizable penis, and some hair on his chest. To her, this is the kind of man she could really love, so when the time comes and she doesn't get such a man or even gets someone who possess at least two or thee properties out of her  endless list, she would end up being disillusioned and disappointed. This is the point where ladies begin to ask themselves questions like "Why am I so unlucky in love?" "What did I do wrong?". Well the answer to those questions is much simpler than we think; we've done no wrong but there is no such thing like Mr. Right. It is not in our stars to find someone so perfect when we are not ourselves perfect. Our looking for prince charming would end up to be a no-show not because we did something wrong but because men are people—not fictionalized characters. it's about time we learnt to wake up from our romantic fantasy so as to find what true love really means.  As Marianne puts it, “Looking for Mr. Right leads to desperation, because there is no Mr. Right. There is no Mr. Right, because there is no Mr. Wrong. There is whoever is in front of us and the perfect lessons to be learned from that person."

Men come in different shape and in different form, it is, therefore, not wrong to look for the best. In our pursuit of looking for the man who would give a different meaning to our love life, we should be guided by the fact that men are who they are. Some might look perfect today, he might tick all the boxes of perfection but the question is, would he be this perfect forever? Changes may come along the path but it is how we work things out that would determine the life span of our relationship. There is no perfect man for us if we are not ready to stay and carve a perfect relationship for ourselves. After Michelangelo has finished carving one of his greatest work of art, someone asked him, "how were you able to carve such a beautiful angel from a marble?" Michelangelo answered; I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free." There's already an angel in the marble of the man we are living with, Let's stay and carve till we set him free.

Competing Our Lives Away

A tulip doesn't strive to impress anyone. It doesn't struggle to be different than a rose. It doesn't have to. It is different. And there's room in the garden for every flower. You didn't have to struggle to make your face different than anyone else's on earth. It just is. You are unique because you were created that way. Look at little children in kindergarten. They're all different without trying to be. As long as they're unselfconsciously being themselves, they can't help but shine. It's only later, when children are taught to compete, to strive to be better than others, that their natural light becomes distorted.

 -Marianne Williamson

At my first lectures at the university, a lecturer gave a speech that troubled my conscience for a long time. He said, "You are here to compete among each other to see who comes up first. During your graduation at the end of your course, those who had first class honours would be given a huge standing ovation by all the dignitaries present, cups would be lowered as you walk to the podium for your certificate. The rest of you who don't make it to the top, your names would just be mentioned without even an applause to go with it, you would walk through the crowd like a shadow, without any grace. Therefore, if you want to be recognized, you have to fight with all that is within you. Learn like there's no tomorrow, burn the night's candle and in the end, your name would be mentioned among the greatest academia." This speech replayed over and over in my mind. I begin to ask myself questions; Is that all there is to success? Can't we all succeed together? Should there always be losers and winners in all the things we do? These questions led me on to take a reflection on how our society has become so competitive to the detriment of everybody.

We were introduced to competition very early in life. As kids, we were seen as good kids only when we become first in our grade. Party would be thrown specially for us to drum home the need for every kid to be like us. Even our idea of fun has element of competition. Do you remember the "Chair Dance"? where I was, it was called Dancing Around the Chair where the chairs are always one less than the number of kids dancing around it. When the music stops, the kids scramble to sit on the chair, the one who do not get to sit on a chair is eliminated. Each round eliminates one player and one chair until finally a single triumphant winner emerges. Everyone else has lost and been excluded from play for varying lengths of time. This is our idea of how children should have fun. In effect, we have been taught that our success requires the failures of others; our fates are negatively linked. In another words, two or more individuals cannot achieve a goal at the same time. In all cases, one has to lose.

Look at what society has turned us into; natural opponents, adversaries and rivals. All the things that is suppose to entertain us are making us turned against one another. On the field of football, the team on the other side of play is called an "Opponent". . It is, therefore, difficult to maintain positive feelings about someone who is trying to make you lose. We hardly see smiles among players on the field. They would do anything to win, even if it takes hurting one another. The common meaning of the game; to entertain spectators, is lost to us until a win is gained. After winning what happens? The euphoria of victory fades very quickly. Both winners and losers wake up the next day to find they need something more than just wining. Victory is forgotten, and the next phase of life begins.  "We were taught a very bad philosophy," says Marianne Williamson, "a way of looking at the world that contradicts who we are. We were taught to think thoughts like competition, struggle, sickness, finite resources, limitation, guilt, bad, death, scarcity, and loss. We were taught that things like grades, being good enough, money, and doing things the right way, are more important than love.  We were taught that we’re separate from other people, that we have to compete to get a head, that we’re not quite good enough the way we are. We were taught to see the world the way that others had come to see it."

Life was very simple when our eyes got opened in this arena of grace. Bliss was our innocence that we didn't care a lot about what we have or what we didn't. We were so much aware of nothing than to live and let others also live. The look of my shoes didn't bother me a lot as far as I have something to cover my feet, occasionally I would walk bear footed because I believed these feet were made for walking. Ooww life was so beautiful that ugliness was so far hidden. Then things changed, a new world was raised from ideologies and beliefs of men. Our individual ways of doing things was said to be not good enough. Gradually we obliged, and our world was lost to us, forever.

Let's begin to go back to be what we used to be, let's put love in place of competition, let's begin to think we can all win together...it is possible. That's how God made it in the beginning. Eve wasn't created to compete with Adam but to cooperate with him so together they can lord their space.  

 

We Were Born to Be...

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others"

-Marianne Williamson

The day we were born, we were ushered into a universe full of possibilities and an unending trail of greatness. We were meant to manipulate this universe to our will. We were meant to be the shining stars that blaze across the universe for all creatures to see. It was given to us not borrowed. we were meant to be the masters of this place called earth. The question is, what happened? What went wrong? what happened to the light that was placed in our hearts to lead us all the way?

Growing up, I was taught a lot of virtues by the grown ups. People who have been here so many years than me and of course knows the terrain more than I do. I was taught what I could do as human and what I could not. No body told me I am great the way I am. Mum would tell me, "Don't steal" as if I was born a thief. Occasionally, dad would bellow with a deep voice and goes like "respect your elders, don't insult. If you do, people might think you were not brought up well." Parents are so preoccupied with the way society thinks and behave that they forget the inborn talent we came to this world with. Everything kids do is measured in the microscopic lens of the society, to ascertain whether or not it is fit for society. In this way, parent forget to nurture the inborn qualities of their kids. Along the way, as we grow up, we become disoriented about ourselves and the quality we brought. Very few of us were lucky to be given the room to explore. Very few of us were given the space to commit our own mistakes and learn from them. Very few of us were given the atmosphere to feel that we are essentially divine because of what we are, not what we do. All of us have been molded to fit into the paradigm of society, we are therefore lost before we even begin to search for our path back home.

 As Marianne Williamson puts it "We were all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone." It is not the will of nature to see suffering among us. It is not the design of nature to make others prosper whiles others wallow in the pit of poverty and wants....Actually, nature sowed a seed in every heart, intended to germinate, grow and bear fruit to feed our individual souls. It is just unfortunate that some of us didn't water our seeds enough to ensure growth. Our seeds got rotten even before they got the chance to know the kind of fruit it should bear....That's the meaning of  our suffering. That's why we wobble along the path of life and fall along the way. Our death came before we were born.

All is not lost though, there's always a chance to get back to life...everything that was given us as kids are still within us waiting to be tapped into...All we need to do is to return to our beginning, where our innocence made us the bright light of the future. Let's forget about our fears, we were not born with one. Let's trample upon the things that hold us back from being who we meant to be. "Actually, who are you not to be?" Time to play small is over...Time to act to please others is far spent. Let's get unto our feet and make manifest of the things hidden in our heart. We too can be liberated, we too deserves to be who we were meant to be....We are because we were born to be.

The Mind of a Confused Soul

Life on this space called earth is whole lot confusing than I've figured out. Lately I've been thinking about things and how they affect our lives either positively or negatively. The whole thing don't make sense if you put it in line with what others want to make us believe.

Let's talk about time…is it real? Or it's just an illusion we've created just to explain the series of changes that go on around us? Who change, time or us? Do we change to signify a shift in time or times change to usher us into a new sphere of life? Which one comes first, time or change? Things change so we can appreciate the existence of time or it's rather the time that changes things so we can appreciate the power of time? It's said that "the only thing that is constant is change". Does that mean change forever exist so that all other things including time move around it?

Now LOVE…what's love. Today you're madly in love with someone, tomorrow you realise that that someone is who you should live without. At first your heart tells you it's true, you even have sleepless night over the thought of your love one but what about tomorrow? Is your heart gonna be this true when tomorrow comes? No, you wake up and love don't live in the heart no more. Where does love goes when it flies? Is it really true what they tell us about love? I was one day going through my old letters. I came across one letter a formal girlfriend wrote to me. After all the love promises in the letter, she stated very clear that she's going to love me till she dies. As long as i know, shes still alive and now she's someone's wedded wife. So is there anything like love or is just a name we give to our feelings for someone at a moment in time? Does it really make sense to waste your time today in love when you know tomorrow your effort might hit the rocks? Crazy old love.

Growing up is what I've always dreaded. I've always dreamt of living forever, possibly living to witness the return of the messiah. But, each moment, each minute and second draws us to the ultimate goal of man; growing up. Why don't we ever stop growing, isn't there a stage where we can say no to growing up and forever stay young? They say growing up makes us intelligence and more wise, I've seen a stupid old man before.

There are dreams, there are wishes too. What part do they play in our lives? So many dreams don't come true and so many desires end up in the garbage bin just as all other garbage. Why have them if they can't come true? Is it just there so we can feel good about ourselves and senses for a moment? Why can't we fly with the eagles just as we dreamt it? Why can't we have the best of life just as we desired?
The whole thing looks as blur as we look very closely. Just like prayers, you might scream it or say it from deep down the well of the heart, but not all ever get answered even those that get answered happens in pieces and makes it very difficult to realise if it's really what u prayed for.

Someday, I believe we might all wake up and realise the whole thing was a scum. Life, love, time, dreams, desires and even death.

The Beauty of Hope

"And in the twilight of our live we look to find the way
To tell us if the path we chose was the best and finest paved.
And when the darkness comes we see the twinkling of the stars.
We know that our journey here was short, and yet still very far.
But life is full of puzzles, enigmas, and mazes of human thought,
Yet the beauty of the life we've led was paid for with the tears of hope we brought."
-Pasty Dunbar

Somewhere in June last year, I was standing by the road side waiting for traffic to subside so I could cross the road to the other side. From no where, all I could hear was this loud boooom! The next scene I saw was a gentle man in his mid thirties lying lifeless on the ground in a pool of blood; he's been knocked down by a car! As the horror of the scenes keep flashing my busy imagination, a question triggered; "who's waiting for this man? Who's this heart that's going to bear the disappointment of a love who never came back? I quietly left the scene with those questions ringing loud on my mind.

We all know someday this life would be knackered but we've never stopped dreaming with hopes in our hearts. We leave home and promise our kids and spouse that we would return when the sun sets. We make it look like a guarantee. So when the sun starts tracing its root back to its coil, lovers and friends gather and look yonder for the approach of lovers gone.

Life can end anywhere and anyway. Everything we say or do here on earth is as evanescence as a baby's breath. Hope has always tricked us to take our lives for granted. We know when we sleep we'll wake up, we know when leave out we'll come back. We know when we travel we'll come back. It's almost as certain as the sun would appear tomorrow but hey, it's not always like that.

 Let's take time and treasure each moment as if it were the end. Assure your family and friends with your love. Let them know today how much you treasure them so you won't leave with words unspoken. Each day must be lived so we may live all the days of our lives.

Yes! We Too Can Fly

Back in the years when I was just a little boy living with my grandmum, I once observed a bird hovering so up in the sky. I thought to myself "what makes these creatures fly up so high?" with this question lingering on my mind, I ran to grandmum and asked "can humans ever learn to fly this (pointing to the bird in the sky) high?" With a mixture of amazement and humour in her eyes, she answered "no, humans are not made for flight. Birds can cos nature made them to fly, humans can't ever fly cos nature gave us no wings to sustain us up there."

This is the greatest lie my grandmum ever told me. Yes! we too can fly. Even without wings, we too can fly up to the heavens and touch the very sole of the almighty. What happens often is that, we place limitations on everything we can do as humans thereby ignoring the magic placed in our heart to move mountains and to order the oceans to calmly settle on it's track. Unconsciously, we've placed our will and zeal to achieve greater life in a cage and conforming to the confinement of our psychological cage. No bird can ever soar beyond the ceiling of its cage, unless it can struggle and break free from its shackles. What do we see when we close our eyes, the stars or the mud?

Our problems and challenges as humans are endless. We had problems yesterday so we'll have them today too. All we can do is to believe in the power of our minds. "our problems" said president J.F.Kennedy, "are man-made, therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond the reach of human beings. Man's reason and spirit have often resolved the seemingly unsolvable." We don't have to rest on our limitations, we have to believe in the power of self and strife to become whatever our mind could imaging.

Once a bird's egg got mixed up with the eggs of a chicken. Somedays later, the eggs got hatched. The bird mingled with the chickens as if it was also a chicken. One day, the mother chick called the bird and said; "look up there, that's where u belong. You don't belong with us, you're a bird so learn to be one." you can imaging the amazement in the eyes of the young bird when it heard that. Days later, it started to learn how to fly. Several days later, all it could do is to fly some inches up and fall flat on the ground. It turn to the mother chick with a failed heart and said "is it possible?" the mum replied; "yes it is, those who reach for the skies might not land on the moon but their feet at least gets off the ground." the desire of the young bird was spurred on with this speech. Season after season it practiced to fly. One day, all it took was just a flap of its wings and the young bird was up there in the sky. You could imaging it's joy that very moment.

So are our lives too. We too can fly and compete with the eagles if only we can give it a go. If only risk will mean an opportunity to us, we will make the heavens our domain and the earth, our playing grounds. "our life" said Lord Morley, "is a great and noble calling, not a mean and grovelling thing to be shuffled through anyhow; it is lofty and exalted destiny." Come on dear friend, just spread your wings and fly away, for up there in the heavens is suppose to be our abode. We belong right there...

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