MOMENTS OF CLARITY

Its amazing how so many things call for our attention. We are drawn and pulled apart by many things all sharing our time and energy.

Our friends, our jobs, the nuclear family, the extended ones, internet, movies, programs, projects, church activities and other miscellaneous commitment; all which either claim urgency or importance.

Yet not all of these are actually important.

I have seen a very career-driven woman leave her family unattended to with claims of important office work. As a counselor working with young adults I have heard things most of their parents may never know about their children.

I have seen a very "busy and hardworking" contractor father go away for months and the mother is a banker that comes very late at night from the office while their poor 8 years old was been initiated into lesbianism by the neighbour she stays with from 2pm when she returns back from school.

I have seen religious leader/clerics' child turn wayward and their wives either seriously unhappy or having her satisfaction from other secret rendez-vous. I have seen children totally spoilt by their parents throwing money at them as substitute for their time and attention. They are taken around on expensive foreign and local trips plus shopping to make up for lost time. Forgetting that a child not taught is a volcano going somewhere to erupt; a menace going somewhere to happen.

WHAT THEN IS REALLY IMPORTANT? 

MOMENTS OF CLARITY

I paused to wonder and to ask myself these questions...
What really is important in life?
How do i set my priorities?
What comes first? and what comes next?

These questions seem so invincible and evasive. Always slipping through our grasp like a phantom of matter. Do we think that our lives are so much in chaos, disarray and mixed up that our priorities seem so difficult to set?
Well, think again!

Its amazing how near-death, life-threatening and close-terminal occurrences bring us to a moment of clarity. In a short time everything becomes suddenly crystal clear and we see how the order of priority of things in our lives.

Its then you see that...
your job is fickle... it can continue without you
you have lost time... to teach your child properly
you lost chances... to tell and show your spouse how much you love him/her
your amassed wealth is just a tool... someone else will own
your great many certificates.... cannot be passed even to your first child
you made so much... and shared so little
you jeopardized and traded fulfilment for satisfaction
you exchanged destiny for designation
you lost grip on posterity to serve prosperity
you gave up eternal for temporal.

Moments of clarity show you what is really important.
The true importance of things in our lives cannot be judged by what the TV says or what people say.
Moments of clarity will teach you to follow your heart and not your head.
The heart of the matter is the matter of the heart!

Q.E.D

THE MIRAGE CALLED TOMORROW

Hmmm... Tomorrow.

So many paradigms and cliches about tomorrow. Where do i start from?

Here is a funny one. "You are the leaders of tomorrow"  said the founder of my secondary school (then he was Minister of Education). So, I became hopeful as though I would soon take over. Alas, I'm in my thirties now, and the man is still in the house of assembly.
lol.

Somehow, as the years passed I subconsciously joined the processional hymn of tomorrow sang by a long line of hopeful slackers. As though wired into my outer frame by the perpetual use of the word incessantly chorused in virtually every system of my existence I also began various verses of this destructive and deceptive sonnet...
"I'll write the book tomorrow"
" I'll exercise tomorrow"
" I'll be better tomorrow"
"I'll apply for the professional course tomorrow"
"I'll take my wife out to dinner tomorrow"
"I'll start my business tomorrow"
"I'll take God seriously tomorrow"
"I'll send the proposal tomorrow"
"I'll start leaving my dreams tomorrow"...

I can go on because the list is inexhaustible. If i ask you to add yours to mine, I believe eternity would be required to finish all our "tomorrows-list".

It is a common cancerous and malign phenomenon that has eaten deep into our lifestyles. Tomorrow for some is the next day, for another next week, next month, next year and three to five years as some case may be.

Here's is the lesson i learnt and would like to share.

• The tomorrow I spoke about yesterday, is the today I am now.
• Tomorrows would never end.
• Wisdom says "do it now!" Folly says "tomorrow is another day"

Jimmy Lyons (a jazz musician) once remarked "tomorrow is only day in the year that appeals to a lazy man"

 I close with another school of thought penned down by a great poet Edgar Guest on the subject.

He was going to be all that a mortal should be

      To-morrow.

  No one should be kinder or braver than he

      To-morrow.

  A friend who was troubled and weary he knew,

  Who'd be glad of a lift and who needed it, too;

  On him he would call and see what he could do

      To-morrow.

  Each morning he stacked up the letters he'd write

      To-morrow.

  And thought of the folks he would fill with delight

      To-morrow.

  It was too bad, indeed, he was busy to-day,

  And hadn't a minute to stop on his way;

  More time he would have to give others, he'd say,

      To-morrow.

  The greatest of workers this man would have been

      To-morrow.

  The world would have known him, had he ever seen

      To-morrow.

  But the fact is he died and he faded from view,

  And all that he left here when living was through

  Was a mountain of things he intended to do

      To-morrow.

The summary of the matter is that the idea of tomorrow is very seductive, but the truth there is that the promise it holds is either false or equivalent to how well we have uses today.
Make everyday count!
Be all you can be!
Stay Motivated!

MAKING EVERYDAY SPECIAL

In the chronicles of the calendar and similitudes of time, yesterday was my birthday. So i guess, happy birthday to me in arears already. Birthdays and new years are the most come days we often make reflections on how we have lived or are living our lives. We make resolutions and decide on the new leafs to turn. Sadly, these resolutions also end with the euphoria of the day! A few try to start it the next day, some go a week long, others a month and so on.



As a little boy of about seven years, i discovered that we put too much energy on some days than others. Christmas day, christmas day, christmas day. New year day, New year day, New year day. My birthday, my birthday, my birthday. So much energy put in place in preparation towards the day. I disappointedly discovered at about 7years that these days don't last forever. They also come and go like others. So what makes them different anyway? What is the fuss about?

In my pure, innocent and childlike mindset, i got the most powerful and philosophical resolve that a day is as important as i say it is.


Reaching this conclusion, i also decided to make every day christmas, every day
my new year, every day like my birthday.
you celebrate on these days?... celebrate every day!
you dress well on these days?... dress well every day!
you give your best on these days?... give it every day!
you spend time with your family on these day?... do it every day!
we show love on these days?... do it every day!
you give gifts on these days?... give them every day!

Life's best gifts are often free...
a cheerful smile,
a wishful wave,
a loving kiss,
a sincere hug,
a healing shoulder,
a helping hand,
a willing heart
MAKE EVERYDAY SPECIAL... EVEN TODAY!