Tag Archives: Recreation

Just beyond the Mile……

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/05/health_beyond_boundaries/html/5.stm

“As soon as man does not take his existence for granted but beholds it as something unfathomably mysterious, thought begins.” – Albert Schweitzer

It is the wee hours of the last day of another year, precisely 0311 hours and I am unable to or do not want to go back to the turmoil of a restless sleep, aching spine and a catalogue of other undesirables however I can choose to and indeed have, to make the seconds count because time is one factor that we unfortunately have no control over and so the best time to do anything useful or productive is NOW. What better time than the last day of a wonderful year replete with its own shares of highs and lows, moments of sheer ecstasy and regrets, moments of such exquisite delight and almost unending agony, moments of hope, love and contentment and those of despair, isolation and despondency. For me, it has been such an eventful year that I can’t wait to let go so as to let in another because it is in giving that we receive. “Oh how blessed is he that scattereth even when there seems to be nothing to scatter for when you cast your bread upon the waters, you sure will find it after many days provided you do it right”- The Manual

Personally speaking, it has been yet another awesome journey and I can tell you that the pickings of the harvest are usually best towards the end of the harvest period and for me, 2013 is ending on a superlatively high note ; Like the tide that comes in right after the debris of the previous night’s debauchery, washing away all the debris and making it right as new or better still the ultimate sacrifice paid for us when we least deserved it, giving us yet another shot at life and not just any shot but this time from the winning team’s dugout. We can count on the fact that every hit is way out of the park, that is what our expected end is when we only but acknowledge what a choice we have to make. One that stays true regardless of what the present circumstances may otherwise be whispering in our ears or even clogging our senses that we are almost on the verge of accepting it as our lot in life. Hang in there for just a second and hear this truth “many were the steps taken in doubt, that saw their shapeless ends in no time. Those who travail in faith today will triumph in joy tomorrow. Let faith lead the way” – Israelmore Ayivor. Now the many variations of the word ‘faith’ has besieged many with exactly the opposite and so we are in a roller coaster of a ride trying desperately to blend in with the seemingly obvious excitement all around us and yet grapple with a deep-seated conviction that there is more to our existence than being part of a huge noisy crowd of ‘thrill seekers’. How many of us are bold enough to dare to be ourselves in such a convoluted world, where the norm is the wrong and doing the right makes you a pariah.

i recently regaled my wonderful host with the timeless classic of the childhood story of Sleeping beauty but permit me to just stretch our imaginations much more than we could as kids. In a bid to give her what her parents thought was best for her, they unwittingly bestowed her with such an impending doom (many of today’s parents are like that! all too caught up in wanting to give our kids what we never had as kids that we irretrievably fail to also remember to give then what we did have……as kids). However the tale goes on holding us breathless as kids, as the parents sought to stave off the impending doom but alas life is unfair – to gain is to lose, to bless is to give, to know happiness sometimes is in the house of sorrows but nonetheless we can only demand of life what we think we deserve and not just what we deserve but be assured that we deserve it, not on account of what we have put in but solely on account of who is steering our ship. Back to the classic tale, as usual despite our best efforts at trying to steer life, we are not only ill-prepared to do so but lack the wisdom to. On her 18th birthday, her ‘fate’ caught up with her and there was a complete rewriting of the script – a sleep so profound that the very kingdom was almost a myth. Enshrouded by massive thorns and bristles, cobwebs as thick as the wool spurn off the loom, the story goes on until it ends with the Knight on his shining white steed having heard of the tale, came to terms with his purpose which he had been searching for ……. We all know the story!

Now, as adults, we are not to be childish but child-like in our dealings so let’s re-examine this beautiful tale and see yet again if we can unravel some nuggets to help us on our journey through life. Questions – why was it just that knight that was able to rouse her with the kiss? Would there not have been many others before him? I dare say that these answers hold for us the very stuff that will make us extend ourselves just a teeny-weeny bit and venture beyond that milestone that has hitherto held us back all this while. We are all creatures of purpose and for as long as it takes, we got to keep searching until we not only realise our purpose but assiduously set about at achieving it. I strongly opine that there were many before that knight but what made him the hero of the tale – he heard the story, acknowledged his purpose, set about searching and taking complete cognizance of his surroundings, he made his way through the thorns and bristles, arrived at her bedchamber and gave her a kiss that was so different from all the others that it stirred up something within her and rekindled her hope and zest for life. What a tale! But it sure is more than just a childhood ‘read me to sleep dad’ kind of tale but one filled with simple truths that we have tended to overlook and have left it in the childhood story book section. Purpose, Perseverance against all odds and an everyday action yet so different that it provoked such profound results.

Now, I am a romantic at heart and Myoclonus cannot take that away from me because I believe that within each and everyone if us lies a set of skills particularly honed for our purpose on earth but first of all we must search for our purpose, acknowledge it and doggedly go about attaining it. Being different is another, where many have failed before us, we can choose to succeed if we choose to be different – remember that the greatest battle we all have to fight is being ourselves in a world that consistently wants to make us someone else. The question is are you satisfied living your life as someone other than you or you are brave enough to be yourself, I dare reiterate that the choice is yours to make but whilst we grapple with this all familiar concept, let us consider the point we find ourselves.

Fact 1 – You can’t have made it this far on your own and therefore Someone is calling the shots. Who is calling the shots in your life and what is your own assessment of where you are today? Completely lost sight of hope? I dare say it is better late than never, you can get your train back online.

Fact 2 – You know the story but have allowed yourself to be overwhelmed by the bandwagon effect that you may have almost lost sight of the tale and your purpose in life. I dare say that ‘he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep just to enjoy the exquisite pleasure of obtaining that which you dare not afford to lose’. Folly in itself is not destructive but how long you allow yourself remain in it is.

Fact 3 – You have gotten to your milestone, battered and bruised, overwhelmed by the frailties of our human body and yet there remains just that simple gesture that many might have made before you with no results. That therein is summoning all that is within you cos it sure is there to venture beyond that milestone and make yours different – that is what makes the results differ for each one of us. We all have one shot at life, are we going to choose to just be statistics or be the real thing – the choice is yours to make.

I have seen seasons that threatened to overwhelm me but the choice to succumb or rise above will always be mine and I will always choose the latter because ‘in this ladder of lives we are given to climb, each life counts for only a second of time. The only one thing to do in that brief little space is to make the world glad that we ran the race’ – E.W Wilcox. I may not know how badly a hand life has dealt you, I know mine and I have chosen despite all odds to make the world glad I ran this race regardless of the inexplicable bouts of incessant pains, insomnia, tremors, huge medical bills and an unpredictable bouquet of medical oddities. I have also had reason daily to be thankful for every life that I have encountered during this journey because without you all, I wouldn’t be who I am today and for that I applaud you regardless of your roles.

My year-end message to as many as read this is, in two words – BE DIFFERENT! There’s just one of you so why make a hash of that singular honour. Love as many as you can, get hurt in the process but stay focused because life remembers not those who lay fallen and trampled in their trenches but those who have pulled themselves up and persevered in the face of adversity. My word to you is this, go for your dentals and be prepared to walk into the new year with a grin so wide that life itself will stop and recognise you. Reach out to just that one person who is suffering beside you and just do something to make him feel better and be glad he met you and above all else realise that you did not make it on your own this far and even when the clouds loomed dark above you, He still was there beside you and my advise is give Him free reign in the new year and be amazed at how puny those milestones now seem. You are a diamond in the sky, let rip your luster and brighten up the world whilst you can.

Remember that the race is not to the swift, neither is the battle to the strong but time and chance happens to us all. Choose to make that one chance count for your generation and generations to come. Have an awesome new year even as you venture beyond the mile. I sure do love you!!!

lמסתדר טוב עד שניפגש שוב בזמן שלו

Adios!

Keeping it real…..

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I hate travelling but again that is a necessary evil. A complete turn around from my pre-myoclonus era where travelling was so much fun and one of my hobbies. Anyway, life is not fair because life in itself has been tarnished and tainted and still is and so just being yourself is one of the most difficult challenges you can ever dare to undertake. I recall the tale of the tale of the simple lady who was invited for lunch at the Queen’s request on account of her widespread gestures of concern for everyone she ever came across, and when she was interviewed on what set of manners she intended to display during the courtesy lunch, her answer has always been one of my fundamental principles “I have only got one set of manners and that is who I am“…..impressively profound. In the course of my travels, I have come to acknowledge that life is much more than an endless pursuit of fame and wealth and recognition, a concept I wholeheartedly abhor but one that appeals to majority of individuals – ‘it is all about the green backs!’.

Being cast into the physically challenged category has been an eye opener in many regards and a completely new field of learning for me. I have come to appreciate that being able to do anything at all is something worth being proud of, so pause today, take stock of your abilities (regardless of how little they may seem) and say a word of thanks to Him that has blessed you. I recollect the many times I have been forced to take a large dose of patience pills just because insensitivity abounds and is largely becoming a second skin to many individuals, waiting on board many an aircraft whilst all passengers disembark just because I have special needs and being subjected to hurtful and derisive looks and remarks because we have largely refused to be human in our everyday living. And now, I know that wherever I meet any individual striving with some form of physical challenge, I choose to pause and salute their bravery because being yourself without any form of inhibitions is difficult enough without adding on some form of physical challenge.

Each new day is filled with its own share of troubles but remember that even when life throws the kitchen sink at you and knocks you out, wake up with the courage to still be yourself but duck next time where you can. “Sometimes it is just easier to tell a stranger than to tell the people you are close to. The freedom of speech is my liberation from solitude and if you should take that negatively or with annoyance then that’s on you to look the other way” – Nicole Hill. I have come to realize that so many of us are absolutely terrified of even attempting to discover who we really are and so my question is if you are scared to define or know who you are then what business do you have at attempting every other thing because life consists of not just knowing who you are but being bold enough to stay true to who you are. I may not have been born a quadriplegic but even if I were, that is not who I am. People ask me a lot if I was born this way, and amidst my answer lies this truth – I was born for a purpose and I dare anything to make me believe otherwise. Behind my smile, lies a whole lot of pain and an unappealing  bouquet of other discomforts but I choose to still be myself irrespective of how unfair life may seem presently.

Today marks a new beginning, and I walk in that knowledge knowing that even in chaos, God can work out order and harmony. Vacillating between many personas just goes to show how shallow your understanding of life is because as long as you fail to accept yourself for who you were made to be then yours will just be a charade for people with understanding to learn from. Each time the dime drops, I dare to bend over and pick it up even if it means exposing my backside for life to kick me over but guess what, you still have the dime in your hands so pick yourself up and do something with what you have got in your hand. Desire to dream but do something with what you have now and stay true to who you are. Many extraordinary individuals have opted to jettison their right to choose to be themselves for the sake of a life of pretense and despair in order to maintain a facade that hides sheer cowardice and stagnancy. Always realize that ‘No matter what you do in life, your words, your actions, your looks, your thoughts, you are never going to please everyone’ – Nishan P. so what is the point in embarking on a fruitless venture when you have a unique life ahead of you?

I am constantly stunned by the sheer audacity of individuals who are hell-bent on trying to be what the world wants them to be – by choice of career, relationship etc, many are actually skilled at blaming others for daring them to be themselves, hurling and trading insults every time you scratch their fake veneer. – because if only they could channel just a mite of that energy into discovering who they are then maybe, just maybe we will find ourselves being more loving, more accommodating and more sensitive to the lives all around us. For every time, we choose to make our lives more meaningful by doing those little ‘grand’ gestures to those around us, what a doorway of anticipation and self-development opens up for us. I will never know what it means to be perfect just yet but what I know is that I can be myself despite my aspiration for perfection someday and choose to make my own life an example for as many as I come across. That is my watchword even when the days seem so lonely and my journey unending, I will stay true to who I am.

I have to live with myself and so 
I want to be fit for myself to know.
I want to be able as days go by,
always to look myself straight in the eye;
I don’t want to stand with the setting sun 
and hate myself for the things I have done.
I don’t want to keep on a closet shelf 
a lot of secrets about myself 
and fool myself as I come and go 
into thinking no one else will ever know 
the kind of person I really am, 
I don’t want to dress up myself in sham.
I want to go out with my head erect 
I want to deserve all men’s respect;
but here in the struggle for fame and wealth 
I want to be able to like myself. 
I don’t want to look at myself and know that 
I am bluster and bluff and empty show.
I never can hide myself from me;
I see what others may never see;
I know what others may never know, 
I never can fool myself and so, 
whatever happens I want to be 
self-respecting and conscience free.

These beautiful words from Edgar Albert Guest, painstakingly learnt and memorized in High school are forever etched in my memory. Make today count because that is all we each have got, and be mindful that when you do, you can cherish them tomorrow.

lמסתדר טוב עד שניפגש שוב בזמן שלו

Adios!