Promise me more…

“I, too, have done my damndest
to kiss and touch and bless
and now I, too, am through with it all
and am simply like the rest” – Barry Taylor I, Too

We all have big dreams. We all want to do something about it. We are all probably up to something then stumbled upon this post.

From when I can remember someone has been promising me one thing or the other with a utopian reward.

“The right one has not been born yet…” “Your business will still work after you are done with your course…” “Finish the exam then we can go for ice-cream…”

Apparently, it will all work out if you do as it pleases this guy, these people… for them it is not the perfect time. For you, you just can’t get rid of the itch. It is obvious where am getting to. You choose your path. But wait there is more…

Promises; promises.

There has not been a shortage of free thinkers (shout out Dr. Stockmann). Every day I hear how people want to change the world with this initiative, reform and leadership. They all promise me the perfect world. Where my starving brother in Turkana and uptown sister will talk about their days in paradise. As long as I vote them in or offer them my friendship.

Thomas Moore proposed the utopian idea some time back. His logic seems radical and idealistic at the moment. The ideals will be easily accepted by any person struggling to make ends meet. But what of the rich that have gotten comfortable. We all know that people don’t find it easy to change. It takes time and effort… it’s sticky and messy. So how do we expect them to change?

Well we don’t… that’s the trick.

“Serikali! Serikali!”

We shan’t beg. We shan’t cry. What is our goal? To be comfortable too… you don’t need to own the whole of Central to be happy. All you need is a happy family, with all their basic needs met. It is violent to not do that for your family.

“All the gold which is under or upon the earth is not enough to give in exchange for virtue.” Plato.

Once the goal is set. Be creative. The beauty of a capitalistic economy is that anyone can get themselves out of the mud.

So get your hands in the mud. Get dirty and build something from it. (Guess which movie that is from… 🙂 )

So if they can get to the top; so can you…

I would not wait for promises that are 50/50. I’ll get on my feet; and do it myself because this is the perfect time.

WIDEN YOUR CIRCLE

‘A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’

John 13:34-35 (NIV)

My sister read this article to me that completely made sense so I thought I would share it. It concerns something called the “Jesus project”. Basic principle of it is, not everyone in life will be ‘your kind of person’.  But, it doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be shown love and treated with respect.

A Jesus project is someone who may get on your nerves, someone who may offend you or someone whom you really wouldn’t choose to spend time with because you’re just complete opposites.

I call them Jesus projects because I believe that God has placed certain people in our lives to challenge us and to make us better people. I don’t know about you but I know that at some point in my life I’ve done something that God wouldn’t approve of; I’ve offended God and I’ve been quite an annoying person to be associated with. And yet, with that being said, he still loves me unconditionally and wants to see me do well.

Wouldn’t it be great if we had the same attitude towards people whom we just don’t get on with, whom we struggle to connect with or who just plain irritate us? It could be that person with the slightly weird sense of humor or that person in your life who always seems to push your buttons.

Why don’t you invite them for lunch, to the cinema or to church and practice being a little more like Jesus in their company?

Step out of your comfort zone and choose to see the best in people because Jesus chooses to see the best in us. In my personal experience I’ve found that the more I focus on the positive characteristics of a person, the less the negative characteristics become.

So point is, It’s great to have a core circle of friends, but it’s probably even better to open it up to include others. Who knows? You might end up with an Antigua-speaking, acrobat artist with a special fondness for rich tea biscuits in your friendship group…!

Are You Getting It On?

It’s a bit late for this; however, let me comment about this issue. This is a special request from one of our followers… your wish is my command.

Via http://www.hercampus.com/

So on 18th Feb this year, our dear president Uhuru Kenyatta initiated a global campaign that is meant to curb HIV prevalence in Kenya. The president was adamant that safe s3x education is the best tool against this dodgy virus.

In Africa, HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death. Our ladies are the ones mostly affected.

So the ALL IN initiative is meant to avail children with condoms… now this caught my eye.

Linda Wanyam, head of Austereo, was frustrated that maternity leave was affecting her business. So the solution? Deploy the condom jar in the office. She encourages people to regularly have sex with condoms.

This might seem odd but isn’t it the same as what the initiative is doing? Soon my 13 year old relatives will be asking if am packing…

NHS has been promoting condom for children as well… with the slogan: Get it on. Does it mean that we have officially thrown the towel on underage sex? I get that HIV infections are not reducing as fast as in other groups but it seems as though we are encouraging it…

I’m no economist but it seems easier to invest in wider access to HIV testing. It has been proven in UK to be a very effective tool in reducing the prevalence of HIV infection.

I also believe highly in the ABCCC prevention plan: practice abstinence, be in monogamous relationships, demand condom use, be conscious of your HIV status, or insist that male partners be circumcised.

As mentioned, the individuals highly affected are the ladies. This prevention plan mentioned may not work among women where gender roles impair their ability to negotiate especially for the first C.

In this world we live in, we find all sorts of errors that can not be justified. According to this report, and a few conversations, I was shocked to realise that some ladies opt to live for the moment. They tend to have multiple s3xual partners to make ends meet. So this means, economically we need a better support system for women and mostly single mothers.

This cuts arose all genders. There is a pressure, especially among the adolescents, to engage in this art from your peers. Now, when is the right time? That is a question only you can answer, though, such a decision should not be made under desperation.

Via imgkid.com

You have HIV.

I have HIV.

HIV is not the problem of those that have it in their blood streams. It is our problem as long as it is still looming. Create awareness, learn more about it and get tested even if you are not s3xually active yet. It is up to us the youths to come up with other solutions to this pandemic.

With no single solution for preventing HIV infection, I’m glad the president is doing something.

Much Love,
Steja.

3 Ways On How To Deal With Any Conflict

We are at war! It is not the best option, but for the moment it’s the only option. Every day we wake up with goals and small victories. All these accumulate to mountains of success; however, we are at war!

With love from Jebet @ bazulibemhlaba.wordpress.com

I’m gonna share with you on how you can spread the love and move on to more successes.

Conflict is the clash of incompatible goals. The origin of the conflict arises from the differing attitudes, behaviour and value of ideals of the parties. Conflict may escalate to a war. But is it just?

So what’s a just war? This is the philosophy behind declaration of and conduct in war. So a war is only just if it is fought for altruistic causes. It is meant to set the wrongs done right.

Let’s get a bit technical. There are two concepts: right to just war and conduct during the war. The right to just war deals with the final decision to do the right thing according to you. And conduct in war involves sustaining equality and fairness in war.

So how do you use this?

1. Patch things up:

The other day, two brothers (X and Y) went to blows after they realised that they have a thing for a particular flower among men. This is a common event in life. And sometimes is hard to find the one. Unfortunately, they had to fight to decide who would become the ‘plucker’.

It was like the scene in Assassin’s Creed where Conor finally killed his opponent. He was bleeding and waiting for the welcoming voices of the beyond. In this case, the brothers we on their last breath when each exerted their final blow on the other… and just like that the flower was claimed by the village idiot/genius. Poor development of that story…

Anyway, X had these attitude that the Y always claimed the freshest fruit for themselves. And the fact that Y could not see the love he had for the flower meant he was selfish. The best thing to do was to rid the world of such selfishness.

Well, for us to deal with any conflict one has to be tolerant of others and resolute to modify ones attitudes.

2. What is the conflict about

I am a victim of this one.

I can have a whole argument about why the sun sets in the east, when the discussion was how I can’t bake.

Get to know what exactly the issue is. So that the dialogue makes sense for the both of yous! (Grammar Nazis?)

3. Get your tools ready, we have a house to rebuild…

When all is said and tears shed. The reconstruction must begin. Get you plan sorted out… between the two of yous! (Am I pissing you off yet?)

Ask for advice from a professional. Not your ex. Even if he is the only professional you know…

Keep talking to make sure that the plan made is effective and sustainable. And we can learn to love again…

Much love,

Steja.

Unlock The 7 Chakras

Those of you who have watched the series of Avatar will probably relate to this article so much better, but if you have not, it’s OK, I will explain from scratch. 🙂

via trendvee.com

Everyone has an invisible energy system called chakras. The word chakra means energy disc, vortex or wheel.

There are seven energy stations positioned from the base of your spine to the top of your head. It is therefore important to understand the nature of our energy system and how to support yourself in maintaining vital life-force energy, otherwise known as “chi” in Chinese.

This invisible energy system flows energy on pathways or meridians and the meridians have multiple pressure points that are means of working with the energy to keep it flowing which is actually the basis of acupressure, acupuncture and reflexology.
When your energy is leaking, weak, or frozen you feel depleted, heavy and even stuck! When you are energy-depleted and challenged, it is more difficult to manage your emotions, think positive thoughts, stay healthy and attract harmony into your life.

Well guys, it’s this simple:

I know this is not something Africans take particular interest to but it does help.

You could take time out and visualize. Here, you visualize a premeditated scenario and outcome, and infusing this outcome with emotions, you can program your subconscious mind to achieve otherwise impossible feats.

You could also heal your chakras by meditation. People use meditation to enter an alternate state of mind for enhanced relaxation, clarity, healing, and intuition and to unblock each of their 7 Chakras from the level of the subconscious.

You could also heal your chakras by a method that is actually becoming quite popular in Africa which is YOGA, yes; simple yoga which is not only tones of fun, but also energizes your lymph system, lowers your blood pressure, and elegantly connects your body with your energetic and spiritual nature.

There are also other ways to heal your chakras like rapid eye technology and crystal healing but I see no purpose of going further into those since let’s face it, you may never get to use them. Or probably you will… let us know…

You don’t have to spiral into depression and a feeling of self-helplessness, the power to your happiness and well-being lies with you. Work at healing a chakra a time and it will help you see how beautiful life actually is, and I speak from personal experience.

Though I do have to warn you, not all chakras are easy to open. For some, you will need to first accept you have a problem and it will require you to face your fears and take risks head-on because it’s like a battle with yourself but really, it’s not that hard to tame that mammoth in your head.

Those of you who have been sick at some point (especially with terminal illnesses), know how critical it is to stay positive because if you fill your head with negativity, you deteriorate really fast so keeping your chakras open helps in the healing. And some of you, who feel ill, may just be experiencing issues with your chakras which are closed or weak so your subconscious mind portrays it as illness.

This is a different point of view to wellness but bottom line is, stay positive and love yourself.

Love and positivity,

Steja.

Repeat After Me

Repeat after me:

My soul is liberated because I chose it so,

I grasped where I could,

But chose to not dance where I should, because such a thing, a thing of beauty, cannot be left to obligation.

Obligation.

I cannot abide to duty, lest my soul tear itself from my very psyche and choose to roam.

Lest it choose to latch itself on to another. A more daring spirit. That, I cannot suffer.

I am beauty for I am freedom. I am both because I chose to be one.

I chose the latter because the former would only have me conform to a pre-conceived form. Already existing, I could not then be liberated to choose my own form.

Now repeat after me:

I am neither free nor am I beautiful. For I chose to let the words of this passage define my own being. I am not yet liberated.

A word of caution: Master sarcasm, or sarcasm will master you. 😉