Looking forward to 2016

My wish is for you to have a Happy Monday.

Yippeeee..... We have made it to the last Monday in 2015. This is something to be thankful for because there are many persons that I personally knew that died during the course of the year 2015.

I do hope that you have been planning your New Year resolution. There are many persons that I know who does not make resolutions at the beginning of the new year because of the fear of not living up to the resolution. Not making a resolution is good but making a New Year resolution and seeing it through to the end is even better. It is true that the new year is just a continuation of the old year but it does not have to be so. That is why I encouraged to start planning for the new year early. I had a fantastic year 2015 as I stuck to my resolution.

We all are awesome creatures with unlimited potential and opportunity will certainly come our way in 2016. Some people claim they are the ones who create their own opportunity. For me this world is just too big for me to control events and circumstances but it remain for me to embrace opportunity when it come my way. Where there are needs and desires opportunity is also present.

The possibilities in 2016 will be endless but life will not hand us its benefits on a golden platter. The wise has noted that mountains are not smooth and if they were we would not be able to climb the mountains. Achieving our goals will demand that we overcome obstacles. We are the one who will determine if we face the obstacles in life with a frown or with a smile. Life become joyful for those who learn to smile.

As 2016 approaches let us remember that life comes with no guarantees. We will have fears but we are brave and courageous. Most of the challenges that we will face will not be illegal, immoral or unethical so we have no reason not to move forward.

I hear the prophets declaring that 2016 will be worse than 2015 but frankly I expect 2016 to be an even better year than 2015. Therefore I shall pursue bigger dreams and take more chance. I shall get involved in the lives of more people. At the same time I shall live with the recognition that each moment could be my last so I shall make more uses of opportunities when they present themselves.

My wish is that you will have a Happy New year and a glorious 2016 and don't forget to chase your ideas and dreams.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas.

Happy Holidays and choose to be happy.

My wish is for you to have a Happy Monday.

I would also like to wish a Merry Christmas to all Christians and all those who will celebrate  Christmas later this week.

I am aware that there are other holidays both religious and non-religious that are celebrated at this time of the year and my desire is for all to embrace to the fullest the holidays that you celebrate, so I wish for all Happy Holidays.

There are also persons who will look on all the holidays being celebrated and remain sad and cynical while others embrace the spirit of the moment and enjoy to the max the holiday spirit. However, there is an ever present danger of remaining sad and refusing to grasp the opportunity to be glad because of not believing. I do not wish to convince anyone to believe but to encourage that all the celebration do not go to waste. The idea is not to be an hypocrite but since it is a time of celebration then embrace a personal milestone or event to celebrate also. Why be sad when you can be glad.

The reality is that life is short and whether we are sad or happy our life will soon come to an end. The choices we have is to be sad or go out singing. I choose to be happy. The many celebrations that take place at this time of the year either came out of significant events or a great hoax was perpetuated in the past. Whether fact or fiction the reality is the present joy and the hope the holidays bring.

Celebrations are good because they mark significant milestones. Milestones provide reminders of past success and provide inspiration to continue pressing forward to greater achievements.Life is filled with challenges but challenges can be either a burden that bear us down or the catalyst designed to bring out the best in us.

I am reminded of the many times in the past when my problems overwhelmed me and the only solution I saw was to end my life. These problems have left their scars and I can't recall what the problems were but the problems are no more and I am still here. Problems will come and problems will go so I choose to be happy because I do not see a time while I am alive when I will be problem free.

This is part of the reason why I seek to write fun stories and encourage people to laugh, have fun and celebrate life.

Happy Holidays and choose to be happy.

Start planning your new year resolution now

"He who fails to plan, plans to fail". The first time that I encountered these words was more than thirty years ago when I entered a life insurance office. I have no idea who first coined the phrase but it is a true principle which applies in life.

There are many persons who wonder why they are unable to keep the resolution that they make at the beginning  of each year although these resolutions are made with the best of intentions. The reality is that we live in a world where every thing is done fast. We pop things in the microwave and in five minutes or less it is ready and we expect the same results in life. It has become customary also in sports for a game to last the most two hours and there must be a winner and a loser. We attend the cinema or watch television and are treated to non stop action for one and a half or two hours. We also expect our new year's resolution to give results in two hours or we quit.

It is a rare thing that the number of hours that are spent filming and editing a movie to get things just right and to ensure the desired result are told. In movies stunts are often performed by stuntmen but the stars get the credit. The movie script is written by one person but the star get the credit for the quotes. This is the world in which results are desired and in which we resolve to be better better persons at the beginning of each year. Unfortunate we hope to get results to our new year resolutions in equivalent time of a sporting event, movie or hopefully pop our new year resolution in the microwave and get results.

We often fail at keeping our new year resolution because we do not plan in advance. It is ridiculous to wait until January 1st to make resolutions for the new year. The first week of December is complete and by now we should know what we hope to change in our lives or do in the coming year. The plans should be well advanced for work to begin on January 1st. It is still not too late to begin putting plans in place for our new year resolutions but it is silly to wait until January to figure out what we would like to change during the course of the year.

Resolutions requires persistence. Athletes do not take time out and time off but know that their success rest in practicing and training at all times. They know they are required to be in top shape and always ready for competition. Our resolutions require that we constantly work at them not until we succeed but until they become a part of our lives.

One of the benefits of sticking to a new year resolution is the spin offs. It is natural for our efforts to produce fruit because of the multiplying effect. There is also the residual effect which simply is that what is done today will be of benefit tomorrow.

This week is a good time to continue planning for our new year resolution and for those who have not done so as yet to begin planning "If you wait until January to come up with a new year resolution then your are planning not to follow through on that resolution." Now is a good time to begin building up the steam to a flying start to the new year."

Too early

Some one dispensed some wrong information and its is hard to believe that the parents were the ones that were responsible for giving to their children false information.

There are many children who are looking at their parents lifestyle and desire to live the lifestyle of the accomplished as soon as they begin working. There are too many children who believe they should be on par with their parents when it took the parents many years of hard labor to be able to afford their present lifestyle.

There are also too many children who have gotten their priorities wrong.Somehow their thinking have been warped to believe that instead of hard work they should be enjoying a life of luxury. It is true that life is warped to facilitate a few young having excessive amounts of money but this is only a small minority. They majority of young people will have to struggle throughout their lifetime to make ends meet. It is unfortunate that many persons reach old age without accomplishing their dreams.

Someone should show the present generation of children that the hardship that life throws their way are not meant to hinder or break their spirit but are designed to build character. Life also throws hardship their way to bring out the hidden qualities that otherwise may remain dormant throughout the lifetime. It could be a case also of great potential and qualities are waiting for the right conditions to flourish.

It remain a great thing not to be handed gifts on silver platters but to toil and at the end of the day know you are enjoying the fruit of your labor.

Life throws our way some rather interesting situations. We can focus on ourselves and miss the opportunity to serve others. We can also focus on what others possess and  miss out on improving our own situation.

Life allows all of us to dream and the bigger our dream the more opportunity we will attract.

Bridges

My wish as always is that you will have a Happy Monday and also to wish those celebrating Thanksgiving this week a Happy Thanksgiving.

Success is a goal to be pursued and should not  be viewed as a possible option. It should be pursued with a passion that demand it is either succeed or die in the pursuit of achieving a set goal. This attitude is necessary because life will present obstacles in the path of the pursuit of success to test how committed we are to achieving our goals.

There is a popular song with the words "Don't you burn your bridges behind you, The bridge you burn today you may need it again to cross over."  The pursuit of success demands burning the bridges and eliminating any possibility of returning to a former state. Life makes no provision for returning to the past and the pursuit of success requires making no contingency plans in the event of failure. In the pursuit of success failure is not an option.

Contingency plans are preparation for failure. In fact contingency plans are worse than preparation for failure because contingency plans leaves a person suspended in mid air. The person is neither committed to moving forward or going backward. This is an ample description of doubt. There is the ever present desire to want to return to the past instead of viewing the glory of the future. This is why there is most time the desire to have a bridge to link both.

The great Almighty was well aware of the desire to return to a former lifestyle so he executed a plan which eliminated any possibility of returning to the former lifestyle. We should learn from this example because even when asleep and dreaming the images portrayed by the mind are images of the potential that resides on the inside.

The mind will always project that which it has experienced, seen or imagined. The mind cannot conceptualize things that are outside of it ability to achieve. It is for us to having grasped these thoughts and ideas that are conceived by the mind to tenaciously follow through. This is why it is necessary to break with the past in order to progress into the future.

There will always be the proverbial monkey on the shoulder constantly whispering it cannot be done. That proverbial monkey can be exchanged for the little bird that whispers "There is a way but you will only find it if you persist. 

Happy Thanksgiving and happy pursuit of success.

I am the Lord

For those persons who need some hope.

November 17

I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me …….

Isaiah 45:5

    The nation of Israel had not kept her part in the covenant with the Lord God and had accommodated idols and the gods of the surrounding nations. For many centuries the Lord God had been proving to the people of Israel that the gods of the surrounding nations were as helpless as those who made the gods and that what some nations worshipped as gods were actually the things that he the Lord God had created.

     It was through the prophet Isaiah that the Lord God declared his credentials that he was God because as the Lord God he is able to tell what will happen in the future and he has the capability to tell what happened in the past. The Lord God looked two hundred years into the future and named the man that he would raise up to fulfill his purposes concerning Israel. The Lord God declared that it was he who formed the light and created the darkness also it is he who controls peace and times of evil.

    In a time when there were many gods clamoring for the devotion of the people of Israel the Lord God declared to the people of Israel that he was God and there is no God beside him. When what he has spoken happens then all the nations would know that there is no god to be compared to the Lord God and there is no other being who hold the title of being God.

    There does not exist another omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, immutable being in existence beside the Lord God.

Something to think about: The prophecies of the scriptures still remain the litmus test of the reality of the Lord God’s existence.

 (This reading is taken from my book "Crumbs under the table")

Available in print and Kindle

http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Prince-W.-Bradford/e/B00GM5OKR6

Gray haired ideas

My wish as always is that you will have a Happy Monday.

Yea whew! It is hard to believe, but the season of joy, cheer and happiness is here. It is time to begin summarizing the past year's achievements and make plans to finalize accomplishments. It is also the time to  plan and set goals for the coming year.

This time of the year is also the time to gloat without being proud because in spite of the songs and choruses that it is too difficult for you, the naysayers have been silenced. There are results from pursuing your dreams and visions which cannot be denied so you have proven to the doubters that they are wrong.

We are called to stand out but it is not easy to be outstanding because this requires standing up to the strong and putting the cowards to flight.

The effectiveness of the strong do not necessarily rest in their strength but in their unity. The courage of cowards rest in their numbers because they draw from each other. The outstanding must have the smarts to overcome both of these two groups and their mode of operation.

The strong attack from ambush and in numbers because the strong knows the risks associated with attacking a prey. Even a lion knows the risks associated with attacking a prey and often uses fear as it greatest weapon or attack from ambush or in the dark and uses numbers to their advantage.

Cowardly animals will make even lions back down if they have sufficient numbers.

In life there are not going to be many persons who want to see you succeed and are prepared to help you get to the top. There will be even less persons who regard you as the better man and want to help you get ahead in life.

These are some realities that you and I must face. The strong who will attack in large numbers and attack from ambush. The cowardly who will try intimidating by virtue of large numbers but are quick to take flight in the face of courage. The good news is that you and I can overcome both these groups because we are dreamers and visionaries. Our dreams and ideas are the ideal weapons to defend against both the strong and the cowards.

January 1st does not have to be the beginning a new year. Any day can be the beginning of  a new year. It can be the day that you begin acting on your thoughts and ideas. This is what you must do if you want to stand out and to be outstanding. The material that we need to be outstanding can be found inside of us.

Some of us have thoughts and ideas that are growing gray hairs from waiting to be given a chance to come  to live. Give some thoughts and ideas a chance of live in this season of joy and happiness.

We are tomorrow's heroes

My wish as always is that you will have a happy Monday.

Every generation and every people need their heroes because they are writing history. The heroics and achievements of the past are vital because they provide benchmarks for the present. If there is nothing to gauge the present then there will be no way to measure present progress for shortcomings or surpluses.

It is not good enough however to live in the past but rather magnanimous goals should be set for the future. The present need it heroes to demonstrate that what was achieved in the past by others can be repeated and surpassed in the present.

Those persons reading this page  that are familiar with Judaeo/Christian writings will be familiar with the story of a pair of twins. The elder twin by virtue of being the firstborn inherited certain rights and privileges. He was careless and refused to live up to the responsibilities of the firstborn and his twin wanted what he ignored. One day the elder twin came home hungry and saw his twin brother with a cooked meal. The elder twin figured that he was about to die of hunger and asked his brother for some of the food. The younger twin told him that if he died the birthrights would become his anyway and since he would be saving the older brother's life then he should turn over the rights and privileges of the firstborn. The older twin agreed. There are two things that are stark in this story.
   1. The older brother did not value what he had coming in the future.
   2. The younger brother was rapacious and ready to take advantage of his brother.
It remains debatable whether the elder twin was really hungry to the point of death and if so whether his brother would see him die of hunger.

There are lessons to learnt from this story and the underlying principle in the story is as relevant now as it was when it first occurred.
   1. Learn the true value of your possessions. There are many benefits that will only be realized in the future.         ( Every persons born on this earth are entitled to a name and other identifying features. Records are                 kept so that future accolades may be bestowed although the person may have died). There are many             persons who are signing away these presently.
   2. Be on the look out for the covetous and rapacious. There are many who recognize the value of what              you possess and will try gaining it for very little.

It is true that there are persons and organization that have the resources and means to take your ideas and inventions to heights that are outside your wildest imaginations. The question remains, should you sign away all your rights?

Here is the reality of life. History has left its heroes who have set the benchmark. The present have it heroes who are in the process of reaching the benchmarks with the aim of surpassing yesterday's heroes. It is not good enough for you and I to sit on the sideline observing what is taking place. We have the opportunity to be today's heroes. We have the opportunity to rise to the top and become the example for the present and those coming after to emulate.

Bring out the heavy equipment

My wish for you as always is for you to have a Happy Monday.

Success is comparable to victories. If there are no battles to be fought then there are no victories to be won and if there are no obstacles to overcome then there is no success to achieve.
In life it should be remembered that courage and bravery are not qualities to be exhibited with pride. Both these qualities border on being foolhardy and it is only the outcome that determines if one was courageous and brave or foolhardy and was tempting fate.

I grew up near bauxite mining operations and sometimes it was possible to hear the heavy equipment at work in the distance. The siren at the plant served as time piece for 7:50 am (get ready to begin work), 8:00 am (work begin), 12 noon (lunch time), 12:50 pm (get ready to go back to work) 1:00 pm (back to work) 4:30 pm (work day ends). The factory was located in a basin so it was easy to see the heavy equipment at work from a distance. Sometime the mining operations were taking place next door to residences. (If this sound strange I should point out that the bauxite deposit was located on or close to the earth surface.

My father was a farmer and it was a common practice for the farmers to lease/rent land from the bauxite mining company to plant crops and to rear animals.One of the things that I never fully understood was the value of the earth in which my father planted the crops. The same spot where so often we cook out in the fields or roasted sweet potatoes, green corn or yellow yam would later be mined by the bauxite company. The heavy equipment would come in remove the top soil and the bauxite transported in heavy haulage trucks to be converted to alumina then exported to be smelted into aluminium. It was hard to grasp the idea of the red earth in which I planted food crops finally being converted into aluminum and probably was on the roof of the house, or may have made the pot in which I cooked or may have been made into a part on the airplane that was flying overhead.

My home was in the mountains and there were many natural hills, gullies and basins among other natural land formations. One of the infrastructure that the government put in place and improved was the roads.
I should probably mention the railway tracks first because the engineers who were responsible for putting into place the railway tracks when a hill was encountered did not run the tracks over the hill but tunneled through the hill.
There were many small hills that I had to climb up and then down as a child. When the roads were being built then the heavy equipment simply cut through these hills. Many of these hills were small mounds of earth that were naturally formed. Where I lived was limestone and there were also solid hill made out of rock. The use of dynamite and the heavy equipment cut a road through these rocks and left towering cliffs on either sides of the road.
There was a time when halfway through a road being constructed that the engineers came to the decision that the road was too steep for cars to navigate without danger. That road was abandoned and another built in a circuitous way.
I also knew of a prominent house because it was built on the top of a small hill. The time came when the house was demolished and the heavy equipment brought in. I was surprised that the hill was a natural mound of earth and it was completely leveled and the earth taken away (maybe as bauxite).

This page is about acting on out thoughts and ideas. The bigger our thoughts and ideas then the more impossible they will appear. It is the reality that our thoughts and ideas originate in our minds that make them possible to achieve. It is impossible for our minds to conceive things that are outside our dreams and experiences.
The bigger the dream then the more impossible it will appear but what if there were some heavy equipment that could be brought in to mow down and demolish the things that stand in the way of making our dreams, concepts and ideas possible.
The biggest failure that we can encounter is not to pursue our ideas and dreams. It is our dreams and our ideas so we have to deal with the problems individually. How we deal with the problem however could lead to some new invention that shall benefit the whole world.
Our heavy equipment could very well be the resolution with which we tackle our ideas and dreams.
© Prince W Bradford 2015

Non-starters and blinkers

My wish for you is for you to have a Happy Monday.

It is not easy to stay focused and not get distracted by events, circumstances and a host of incidentals, occasions and things which are outside of our control.

There was a time when my father gambled on racehorses. On many Friday evenings whether he was at home or not I had to sit by the old transistor radio, listen and write down the tipsters take on which racehorse would win each race and also the racehorse that could likely cause an upset.

In those days the avenues for entertainment was very limited. The old transistor radio broadcasted on the AM band and there were only two radio stations. On Saturdays between 12:00 noon and 5:00 pm there  was live horse racing commentary from the race track. On the hour and every half hour there were live commentary from the race track. (Just in case you are wondering. The closest that I have been to a race horse is when I am walking on the streets and one passes that is being transported in a truck). There was no getting away from listening to live racehorse commentary on a Saturday afternoon.

There are two terms that comes to mind when I reflect on those days and these terms are non starters and blinkers. There were many other terms that were used but these two terms stand out and it took me some time to understand the meaning of the two terms. The two terms are non-starters and blinkers.

The non-starter is the horse that was listed to start in the race but for some reason did not run in the race. It is only now that I understand that there were a number of reasons why a horse did not start as scheduled in a race.

The other term which I remember is that the racehorse would be wearing blinkers. The dictionary describes this as a piece of horse tack that prevent the horse from seeing to the rear and sometimes to the sides. This allowed the racehorse to only see to the front.

You could easily ask me what has racehorses, blinkers and non-starters has to do with my life and my answer will be that they serve as analogies. I encounter so many persons in life that should have been far ahead in life but for some reason they failed to start. There are those persons who are waiting on the ideal conditions to begin and those persons who allowed others to hinder their ever making a start.

Recently I had two chapters to write to complete the first draft of a book and I was overcome by a feeling of wanting to throw away the manuscript and not bother. It was the first time that I was experiencing such a feeling and I wondered what was happening to me. The feeling was so intense that it took the years of discipline that I had cultivated to overcome it.

I have often come across persons who had spent many years studying at university and in the final term quit. I could not understand why. I also have come across many persons who during their course of study keep changing their area of study and are unable to decide what exactly they want to be. This I realize comes about because they lost focus along the way.

When I was in my early twenties I easily grasped a goal or idea and used passion and determination to create opportunities in order to get things done. Now I keep asking what have become of that passion and ardency. Why is it so difficult for me to get things done now?

The reality is that in my twenties I set big goals but they were also short term goals. Now I more often than not set long term goals. I am no longer free to be who I want to be but I must fit into the mold that society shapes for me.Society is empowered to use the forces of arms against me if I do not conform to its norms. I know that society's norm is not the best but it is designed to exploit me. Those who have never seen anything else swallow society's lies and take being exploited as the norm.

There is also the constant temptation to want to look around me and behind me and to lose focus on what is in front of me. This is one reason why I may need blinkers as is done to racehorses. I may need blinkers but I am certainly not a non-starter.

This page  is evidence enough for me that I am not a non-starter. I began this page with the hope of encouraging others to act on their thoughts and ideas. In so doing it provided for me the impetus to act on my own thoughts and ideas. These thoughts and ideas are spawning other thoughts and ideas but I am not losing focus but rather I am creating and acting on opportunities.

If you are a non-starter it is never too late to begin because your raw material is your thoughts and ideas. Some racehorses race without blinkers and you may be able to stay focused on the course but if you find that you may get distracted then get some blinkers.

My Thoughts Take Flight

When I issued the challenge to pursue your ideas, dreams and passions I did not sit by idle. I wrote and among what I wrote was prose and poetry. The idea came that I could put some poems that I wrote on CD and add music. I pursued this idea and now I want to present "My Thoughts take Flight"
A CD of poems and music that is ready for download on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Thoughts-Take-Flight-Prince-Bradford/dp/B01648XEE0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1444505624&sr=8-2&keywords=my+thoughts+take+flight

So little time

My wish for you is for you to have and to be enjoying a Happy Monday.

It may take years to become the best but we live in a world that demands the best from the unlearned, the untried and the immature. We are living in a world where imperfect people who are seeking to highlight, epitomize and display perfection. Perfection is presented as a quality that can be achieved with the same speed that one can walk into a fast food store and be served.

 There are persons who recruit successful persons in order to boast of their own successes but will not invest in recruiting and training. Their mandate is to have under their umbrella the best at all times and have no desire to run the risk of investing in prospects and then see the prospect recruited by someone else when trained.

There are persons  scout for those with potential then coach and train these hopefuls only do so for the benefit of those who recruit the successful and the best. These are the the persons with the eyes to spot abilities and talents while remaining unselfish but releases those that they have recruited and trained.

There is no shortcut to growth although the natural process to growing can be cheated and/or enhanced. It may take years to become the best and even more time and efforts are required to remain the best.

This is the world where the inexperienced, the untrained and the novice must enter. The world that give no quarters and initially demand the best. It is a world that demands hundred of percent on what it invests and is unwilling to enter into risky investments.

Into this world must enter the hopeful, the risk taker, the entrepreneur and those who hope to rise above  mediocrity in this life. Many persons enter with big dreams and begin crying after the first attempt when their dreams and expectations are shattered. The immediate dream of success is not realized and the expected support of friends and family is instead ridicule.

These are some of the reality that stand in the way of launching out. There are many persons who grew with the wise words 'A bird in hand is worth two in the bushes." or "Don't give up what is sure in order to pursue a dream that may never be realized." There are many who know however that if a person desire to catch big fishes then he must abandon the shore and sail into the deep sea.

You and I have approximately 22,000 days that we can regard as the most productive days of our lives. We will be asleep for approximately 1/3 of this time which will leaves us with approximately 14,700 days. If we work for five day each week that will leave us with approximately 10,500 days. If we were to work 8 hours each day then we are left with approximately 3500 days in which to achieve our dreams and aspirations..

So then if the most productive days of our lives fall between the ages of 15 and 75 years of age we have approximately 3500 days or 84,000 hours in which to make the best use of our lives working eight hours per day for five days each week .

A forty hour work week and eight hours sleep per day only accounts for half our productive work years. That leaves approximately 11,000 days (not counting sleep time) that is available to utilize and still make an impact. There is still one half of our productive years to pursue our dreams and ideas.

We can sit back and relax and allow the days to pass by or we can look at life and realize that there is so little time and there is so much that can get done. Have fun pursuing your dream and ideas this week.

© Prince Bradford 2015

Hypocrites vs geniuses

My wish for you is for you to have a Happy Monday.

It is no longer enough to be the best for the bar has been raised and the search is now on for those who qualify as being a genius. The task to search out, identify and recruit the gifted and potential geniuses have been assigned to the hypocrites.

A hypocrite is essentially a stage actor or one who play a part. A genius is defined as a person with exceptional intellectual or creative power or natural ability.The good is in effect being assigned the task of identifying the best. Actors compete to see who is the best while geniuses belong to a brotherhood.

We spend our hard earned cash to import actors and celebrities into our homes and pay to have these actors entertain us on television  screens. Social media sites forces to follow these actors when we join the sites then boast about the number of persons who follow these celebrities. In our homes while these actors (hypocrites) are on our television screens they are superheroes and are presented at their best. When we stand in the cashier lines at the supermarkets and pharmacies then the headlines on the magazines and tabloids scream at us about the faults  and failures of these actors.
 
It is a known thing that our world has a number of undiscovered brilliant raw talents and geniuses. There are many persons with these raw talents and persons who are geniuses who are not aware of that they posses these. There are many persons who know that they are brilliant, possesses talents  and are geniuses but they cannot find the means to shine. Sometimes the world refuses to acknowledge their abilities but as soon as the hypocrites discover these individuals and gives their approval  then the world jump on the band wagon and begin to cheer.

The role of the hypocrites is not so much to bring the brilliance of the genius to the attention of the world but to exploit the genius for monetary gain. There is a small group of persons who are sitting at the top that controls who succeeds and who does not. The hypocrites are controlled by this group also which sits at the top.

The group that is sitting at the top and who are in control knows that there has to be many at the bottom to support their weight of those at the top but hose at the top instruct those at the bottom that the way up is opposite to where they are the upside down pyramid). The persons at the bottom are asked to give their best initially and spread as they grow. The opposite to this is to have a broad base but be more focused as growth occur.

Those persons who are brilliant, have raw talent and are geniuses but are not aware of their possession will have to wait to be discovered by the hypocrites and they run the chance of never ever getting discovered. Those persons who are brilliant, have raw talent and are geniuses it is time to come alive and force the hypocrites and those sitting at the top to give way. If this seem like an impossible task then remember that a seed anchors itself in the ground with roots and then begin to grow. When growth begins the earth gives way.

Then there are the many persons like you and I who do not consider ourselves as being brilliant, have raw talent or are we geniuses what about us. Each of us are subjected to thoughts and inspiration. It is  for us to begin with these. Should we decide to work with what we have at our disposal and adopt an attitude of don't quit, in the end we will be among the super talented and the geniuses. We do not need the hypocrites to discover us and those sitting at the top cannot stop us for our source of power and inspiration is within us.

                                         

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

My wish for you as always is that you will have a Happy Monday.

Learning comes quite often through repetition and the object of learning is to gain knowledge. One of the great things in life is that there are many persons who are self taught or have natural abilities but these persons hone themselves to become even better. There are many persons who have natural abilities who attend universities to be taught theoretical knowledge in order to become even more rounded. There are many persons also who has natural abilities but understand the necessity to sharpen their abilities by constant practicing.

There is the general principle of planting and reaping which is universal and it is this "What you sow is what you reap." This principle when extended especially as it pertain to crops planted in fertile soil is that more is reaped than was originally sown and the crop is reaped at a later time.

One of the things that I am presently learning is to take a different approach to life. My father was a farmer and therefore the first thing I learned in life was planting crops and taking care of domestic animals. These are tasks that require time and patience and perseverance. I also learned to set goals because whenever money became available it had to be spent wisely. (Crops sometimes failed or an animal may die or get stolen).

I never got involved a lot in competitive sports but the most loved game when I was growing up was a game of cricket. The ultimate game of cricket was a test match which lasted sometime five days and in the end ended in a draw with no declared winner. Soccer was a popular sport and it was customary for a game of soccer to end in a draw. Soccer was more active and exciting but last only ninety minutes and was not worth the time to travel to see the game.

Dominoes was a table game that for unknown reasons it was a more enjoyable game when played in the night. It could have been a means of  relaxing as one look forward to sleep. The most enjoyable game of dominoes was one that was played between masters of the game. A master domino player nightmare was playing against novices to the game and it was a common occurrence for novices to beat the masters at a game of domino. The great thing about a game of dominoes was that the best of players sometimes lost and it was a very unpredictable game. Sometimes a player with a very good hand lost the game. A game of dominoes was like the game of life. You have to play with the cards that you draw so sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.

Cricket, soccer, domino were all shaping my approach to life. I did not like card games and most times avoided card games because I believed others who told me card men were tricksters (I still believe this). This approach to life was being put into place even before I began to participate in the games.I was being taught that every thing in life takes time to mature and I must get accustomed to the idea of delayed enjoyment.

My life at present demands instant results and always the best at first. The idea of building up to a climax is not acceptable because I am expected to deliver instant results. This is ironic because I am enjoying my way forward and every step i take forward there is something to hinder my progress. The enjoyable thing about it all is that I know that if my life continues I shall ultimately reach my desired goal.

My life is like a game of chess

More than forty years ago when I began high school in Jamaica I learned the basic rules of playing chess. At least I think I remember the names of the chess pieces and how they moved. I can't remember if I had ever played a game of chess against an opponent until very recently I played one game of chess against an opponent.

Even before I played that game of chess against an opponent I do not know what got into my head one day about three years ago when I discovered that I could play a game of chess on the computer with the computer as the opponent. I quickly discovered that I did not know the rules of the game so the computer made some totally unconventional and unexpected moves. The next thing I discovered was that I was playing to capture the computer's king and the computer was playing to corner my king so that there was no where for my king to move.

You will not be surprised that with my style of playing and the computer's style of playing I quickly lost five games to the computer. I do not know why but in the sixth game the computer exposed it's queen and I captured it. From that point for me it did not matter how well that computer was programmed or how well it could play there was no way I would allow the computer to win that game so I went on to winning the game.

I like the game of chess because not only does it require patience and concentration but many times I see my life as somewhat similar to that of the pawn in the chess game. The pawn is the chess piece that is considered to have the least value. I am totally convinced that there are higher powers guiding and opposing me in life. Quite often I have no say in what happens to my life and there are so often and many roadblocks in my way. There is so little value that is placed on me by others and myself that it is easy to sacrifice my interest in the interest of others. The pawn if it reaches the opponents end of the board is exchange for a piece of higher value. The great thing about the pawn though is that while it is the chess piece with the least value and has the most limitations it can still capture any of the opponents pieces.

I would dearly like my life to be like that of the queen in the game of chess which is the most valuable chess piece although the aim of the game is to capture the opponent's king. My life as I have said is more like that of the pawn. The pawn only moves forward and one square each time if there is nothing blocking it's way except for the first move. If the pawn captures an opponent chess piece it must do so diagonally. Many times the opponent pieces and its own is in the way and it cannot move. If in the game a chess piece need to be sacrificed then most time the pawn is the chosen piece.

Many persons would think that at this stage of my life everything should be set and I should be considering cruising for the rest of my life. My life I see as being more like a game of chess and I am the pawn because there are the higher powers that are making the moves.

Although I see myself being comparable to a pawn in a game of chess I get to observe the moves that are made and even sometimes anticipate the moves. My life is not a game of happiness because sometime the moves hurt but it is a life of joy as I watch the moves that my life takes. Although I may see myself as a pawn in the games of life the one making the moves is the greatest of grand master of chess.

The body and the mind

My wish as always is that you will have a Happy Monday.

There are enough people on this earth who believe that man is a two fold being for that line of thinking to be pursued. This line of thinking separates man into a physical and a spiritual being. The physical being is the aspect of man that can be seen (the physical body) and the parts of man that respond to the senses. The spiritual part of man being the part of man than displays emotions and that determines how the physical responds, that is mainly the mind and the intellect. The mind can also be stimulated because it is subject to being inspired. Inspiration is the desire to be creative an bring new things into existence.

There are some instances where the best thing to do is to  make the best use of what is already in existence. You and I are alive and living on the earth through no choice of our own or at best we had no say in our coming into existence. We can choose not to continue to exist but that makes no sense because sooner or later nature will take care of that. What you and I can do instead is seek to determine why we are here on this earth and maximize on that.

It is sad that we are sometimes seen as coming into existence as the result of an accident some billions of years in the past. If we do not see our lives as having a purpose then we become the product of the careless procreation of our parents and we are now delaying someone having to fork out our funeral expense.

Here are some options to life. We can focus on entertainment, whether to be entertained or by providing entertainment or we can  focus on uplifting our fellowmen. The focus can be on satisfying the physical body and gratifying the senses or our focus can be on uplifting the mind to achieve the highest good for mankind. Our focus can be placed on the here and now while gaining immediate gratification or our focus can be placed on eternity and those things that will last for ever. There can be the focus on gratifying the senses and the body or the focus can be on stimulating the mind and intellect to accumulating wisdom and knowledge.

This week there will be many chances to stimulate and /or satisfy both the body and the mind and it will be an individual choice as to which will dominate. There will also come our way the opportunity to please the physical body through gratifying the senses and there will come the opportunity to learn something new. We will have a chance to gratify one or the other or both.

Destiny

My wish as always is for you to have a Happy Monday.

There are some persons who believe that the story of their life is already scripted and they are just living out what has already been predetermined. These persons views of life is whatever is to happen will happen and there is nothing that I can do about it.

There are some persons who view life as a gift and before them are placed endless possibilities and there is no limit  placed on who or what they can aspire to be or to achieve. These person envision life with goals to be set and each  goal achieved requiring the next to be even more difficult.

There are some persons who see the greatest power that exist as residing within their intellectual capacity and in their mind. These persons discard the idea of the existence of God or of any greater power and declare that whatever I want the power to achieve lies within me and I do not need God or anyone else.

Life on the whole is interesting because some persons destiny and calling were ordained before their conception, some persons receive their calling as a child, some persons  in their youth, some persons in manhood, some persons during old age and some persons died without every discovering their destiny or calling.

The person whose life and calling was ordained before conception is somewhat fortunate in that he does not have the privilege of wondering what calling to pursue in life but simply has to grow in his calling and follow his destiny. Those persons who get their calling as a child or youth must pursue training, wisdom and experience in order to maximize and be the best in their calling. These persons get their calling but must grow and learn in preparation for the time when they are to be used. The persons who come into  their  calling in life  in manhood are quite often men who has displayed exceptional qualities. These qualities even if they are natural abilities would have been hone and perfected for many years  These men too will need training and experience but will be beyond the folly and inexperience  of childhood and youth and have been fully shaped and matured. A man who comes into his calling in old age is a man who has gained wisdom, experience and maturity. The entire life of the aged man would have been preparation for the task to which he had been called.

It can only be described as being sad if a man live his whole life and never discover his destiny or live his entire life to satisfy selfish desires. The person who thinks that there is no power greater than that which lies within is just as pathetic.

Life in the present is constantly changing and the truly great man change with the times while remaining unchanged. The man who sees life as placing in his way endless possibilities is the man who is ready to climb to great heights. He is the one who determines his destiny as he connects to the greater power that resides outside this universe because he envisions and strives to reach the highest possible peak.

There is a thing that happen to many person and it is ceasing to grow. These persons get to a stage which is comfortable and cease to grow and so never reach their full potential. There are no provisions made in life to take care of the past but the future hold endless possibilities.

This week forget about the past and focus on the possibilities of the future.

The god factor

There are too many people who are unaware or ignore an important aspect of man's psyche. It is an element that sometimes could be termed the god factor. This includes;
1. the desire to be superior to other men.
2.The desire to surpass the standards set by man.
3. The desire to originate something that did not previously existed.

This type of desire to be superior to other men excludes pride. Pride is thinking oneself superior to others while belittling their efforts. This element is the desire to be the best and it can be harbored in the mind or it may naturally manifest itself. It is the self recognition of a person that to be like other men is not good enough for his calling is to be different. Physically he is like other men but in his mind he wants to stand out from other men. Some men remain conscious of a higher being and desires to rise to meet the standards of this higher being. These men do not believe that they are superior to other men but rather sense a calling to live on a higher plain. It is generally accepted that there are higher beings and forces operating in the universe and these men desire to connect with their mind and unite with these higher beings and forces. The concept of these men is not to oppose these higher forces and beings but to corporate in order to be the best.

Reaching and achieving the standards set by man is being mediocre or at best being normal. There still remains the highest possible standards that is believed can be reached by man. Then there is going beyond what is deemed to be possible by man. One thing that should be remembered is that it is necessary to man's psyche that a higher being exists so that he aspire to rise and meet the standards and expectations of this  higher being. In recent times man's mind has been messed up because he has abandoned  God/the gods and instead substituted man. These substitutes has proven to be worse failures than himself. The greatest feat that is accomplished by one man will be achieved by another man so there is constant competition among men. This shows the difference among believers because those men who reach and surpass the highest expected standards conceived by man are entered into their unique hall of fame.

One of the mysteries of life is what makes some men naturally brilliant and how is it that what one man knows naturally another has to spend years studying in a university. Every man is subjected to inspiration but every man does not act on their inspiration. One proof of man's imaginative capabilities comes alive when he is asleep and dreaming. There are countless inspiration and inventions that originates here because man has no control over the mind at this time. There are countless other things that stir the desire in man to be creative. It does not matter if you believe that man has been around for millions of years or that man is a fairly recent creation because new inventions and creations continues to be the reality. Whichever is your idea of the origin of the universe there is one thing that is sure and it is that the universe did not come complete bit the universe comes with space for new things that did not previously exist to be created.

this week you and I will be inspired and the challenge remain as to what you and I will do with that inspiration.

Contentment

My wish as always is for you to have a Happy Monday.

One of the great achievements in life is contentment. Contentment however is hard to define because it does not have the same meaning for everyone. Overall contentment is reaching a state of mind that demands no change in external conditions. Contentment is being happy with the present conditions or state.

When a person reaches a state of happiness in life's circumstances then the desire for change will disappear. The basic problem with this is that there are too many persons who never maximize their potential because they became contented with too little. It is true that greediness is taking more than you really need especially if it mean that some will go without. It is just as bad, however, to settle for too little when there is an abundance of supply. There are too many people in life who are content with just enough to get by in life. There are those persons also who settle for little because their little is more than most the of other people. Striving to achieve more in life is not greediness but rather it is being progressive and ambitious.

There are some elements in life whose craving is never satisfied and yet these elements are never described as being greedy. Setting big and seeming impossible goals are good because contentment is not achieved in such cases until the goals are achieved. Once these goals are achieved then it is time to set even bigger goals. It is ridiculous to sit comfortably in a spot when there are possibilities of more comfortable spots if the effort is made to climb higher.

The higher up that you climb it is the more that you will see. The bottom is crowded because climbing take effort and too many persons are content to settle for what is easy. These persons will never be short of company.

Remember that in life everyone wants for you to conform and be like everyone else when the truly great are the ones who are different. Your destiny is not to be like everyone else but to stand out from everyone else but it takes a certain breed to be outstanding.

This week aspire not to be contented until you have reached the full potential of who you can be.

In search of excellence

My wish as always is for you to have a happy Monday.

Sometimes it is easy to get so caught  coping with the everyday stresses of life that we forget that it is possible to aspire after immortality. There are, of course, two versions of immortality. There is immortality as provided by the Judeo/Christian God and there is immortality to be gained by making a name that will be remembered going forward into the future. The earth heroes to continue rising with each new generation.

One of the known interesting things in life is that fools have fathered geniuses and geniuses have fathered fools. Brilliance does not necessarily run in the genes. In fact each individual that is born on the earth is the product of eternity and is the result of centuries of genes and traits coming together in one person. This is why our world is so amazing and does not produce identical persons. It also allows for individuals to set their sights on the stars for man is born with the potential to be greater than those before him. No man will excel in every area of life but each man can excel in at least one area of life.

Every man is born with the potential to excel but every man does not aspire to be excel.  Every man does not get his call to excellence at the same time . Some persons get the call at a tender age while still a child and some get their call in their advanced years and the call to excellence continue to rise between these two extremes.

The question remain as to what impact a person want to leave on this earth when the time comes to leave. I have been to funerals and after listening to the eulogy and remembrance it was as if the person have never existed on the face of the earth. They lived and died and it was as if they had never been here because there was not a single impact that could be identified with the person.

There are persons whose names evoke smile and inspiration and they are listed among the persons of fame. The persons are held up as exemplary and are worth following. There is also the danger of leaving the earth and the memory of the persons name is associated with contempt. 

The possibility to excel are endless and in each man is a seed waiting for the right soil and condition in which to germinate. the soil of your mind is fertile and there are a world of good that can be done for a fellowman. this week may be a good time to change the mindset.

A few pleasant words this week please

My wish as always is for you to have a Happy Monday.

There are many persons that are afraid to set goals because ever so often we are told to set realistic goals. Who really determines what a realistic goal is? I have listened to preachers who I am convinced set limits on God. This is not comparing man with God but the preacher said to be realistic when praying.

I often hear that expectations should be confined to limitations and yet all of us know that there is no confining the human mind. It is okay to stretch the imagination and the abilities. There is no machine that I know of that has been invented so far that can measure the human potential or ability. Goals that are set within the confines of the ability takes little effort to achieve. Try achieving something unrealistic this week.

Of course the human mind is averse to pain and stress and yet it is these which bring out the true quality that lies within the person. If there is no test neither will we know how much we can endure. I still insist that there is no guarantee that we will live to see tomorrow or next year but it is possible that after death we continue to live on. Life's purpose is to live it in the service of our fellowman so my challenge for this week is for you and I to experience the joy of serving our fellowman. This is a possible door to immortality.

Take a little time a do a small deed  of kindness during the course of this week, do something that will make another person happy. It does not have to be a deed but it can also be taking the time to smile or say a few kind and pleasant words.

Happiness and joy

My wish for you as always is for you to have a Happy Monday.

There is a story of a man who later turns out to be a genius and who was known to be a brilliant man. He was hiding away in a remote place doing the job that was more reserved for the unskilled. Then he got the call to take on a really big task for which he was qualified but for a time he kept responding I can"t. So he was asked the question,  "What is it that you have you got in your hand?"

One of the sad things that do happen in life is for dreams and passion to die and instead the acceptance of pickings take the place of pursuing dreams and passion. Life is about opportunity meeting desire and where there is no desire or passion there will be no opportunity. It would be  sad if opportunity should come and it is not recognized or allowed to pass.

Opposition is a big bad giant that is feared by most persons. It robs joy and happiness and instead replace them with fear and distress. The truly great men in life had to face opposition because once a goal is set then there is the test of true desire. The question then is asked how much do you really desire your dream and how much will you sacrifice to accomplish your dreams.

Life too is about joy and happiness. Happiness is fleeting and elusive but joy is easier to find because joy result from knowing that you are doing the right. Doing the right will not necessarily bring happiness but here is where the end results differ. There is no sadness to joy because joy encourages perseverance and in the end perseverance bring happiness. And even if there is no happiness in the end there  remain joy in knowing that the right thing was done.

Far too often the opportunity to do something great is sough at the expense of doing the available little things. Heavy equipment is desired when what can be used is what is in the hand.Dreams and passion do not have to die if a little is done each day using the material that are available. One day when all is added there will be a lot of surprises.

The genius mentioned earlier never seem to have accumulated any wealth in this world, He left no record of provision for his children yet he went to heights where no man has been and today he continues to influence more than half of the earths population.

You and I do not know the end results if we do the little things that opportunity presents.

Order coming out of chaos

My wish for you is for you to have a Happy Monday.

Life can be lived within the confines of a persons imagination or the barriers can be broken down and the world that lies beyond our imagination be explored. In a similar way we can confine living  to the limitations of the physical body or with the imagination take to the heights. The concepts imagined with the mind can often be made into physical and tangible realities.

There is really no need to fear stepping out into the world of the imaginative because although there may be no control in this world of thoughts and concepts and everything may appear chaotic the great teachings of the present  proposes that out of chaos comes order.

The Big Bang Theory advocates that at a point of time in the past there was a big bang that brought into existence the universe. The Big Bang Theory admits that at some point in the past there must have been a beginning. At first things must have been chaotic but now we have purpose and order in the universe and on the earth.

The Evolution Theory proposes that life began with the accidental combing of two gases and that from that original life form sprang all other forms of life. A lot of chaos must have happened in between until life arrived at the present stage where there is purpose and order.

Judaeo Christian beliefs teach that there is a great creator who brought everything into existence and sustain everything by his power. This great creator's greatest joy is for the daring to place their hands into his and step out into the unknown by faith. He will not show the way but he wants to be trusted to provide guidance.

The reality is this is our only chance to live this life and we are the ones who decide how we will live it. There will be chaos along the way but eventually out of the chaos will come order.

Half year review

My wish is for you to have a Happy Monday.

It is almost unbelievable that we are already half way through 2015 and soon we will be staring at a new year. One of the scary things that many of us face is for a year to end and when we take an audit there is basically nothing to show that we accomplished during the course of the year.

I am happy to report that some of the goals that  I set for 2015 are still on track to be achieved, some are ahead of schedule and there are those which will just not get done this year. I make mention often of the uncontrollable factors in life and that they do affect our plans. There are glimmers of things that were outside of my imagination happening this year also.

A bit of advice that I have been given is to celebrate milestones. This is not to become conceited and beat my chest, massage my ego, or pat myself on the back but it is to reaffirm that the seemingly impossible things can be achieved. A number of small achievements also when grouped can be substantial. These small achievements sometimes provide the motivation to move forward. Achievements should also be celebrated because of the uncertainty of life. It is never fair for some else to gain the benefits of your hard labor.

For the persons that have not yet begun working toward achieving your goals for this year it is never too late to begin. Start with some small ideas. It is not everyone that can envision something grand and devote the time and energy to achieving their goal. Sometimes in life the intent is for us to make effort and not to achieve goals. It is good also to remember that there are short term, medium term and long term goals.

Our greatest asset lies in our ability to think and our greatest mistake this year could eventually be that we allow all our thoughts and ideas to go to waste.

My wish is that for you it has been a Happy Monday.

One of the great things about humankind is that we are subject to inspiration and this lead to the desire to create. Our world gets even more exciting because these bright flashes of inspiration are being utilized as more and more people grasp the concept of I can do it.

The great thing about all of this is that creativity lies in every one of us and every century and every generation need its inventors and creators to leave their mark on history. Another great thing is that culture, age, sex, religion or any other factor does not affect our our ability to be creative but the tools that we need lies within us. The world is being led in technological advances by the young but it is the more mature that is really utilizing these advances.

The next great thing is that inspiration does not come as a result of our own will most times. However we have to learn to recognize when inspiration happens and make use of the creative instinct. Some persons cannot wait on inspiration to act but of necessity must continuously practice. Other persons must be careful not to let opportunity pass by or ignore those flashes of brilliance when they occur.

I am encouraging you to grasp one of those bright spark this week and work on it.

Try something new

Life does not disclose its alternatives and this gives freedom to enjoy the choices that we make in life. It is okay to do something and laugh at your own audacity.It is often the really tough times in our lives that yield the best results. Fear and uncertainty love tough times and they are always present to make life more difficult. The brave face their fears.
One of the interesting things in life is that many persons sets worthy goals and work toward achieving their goals and somewhere near the finishing point depression set in and they abandon their pursuit. This make it very important to continually review, remind and enjoy the pursuit of our goals. A goal that is achieved with little effort being put in was simply a waste of time and was not worth the pursuit of the mind. A goal the causes much failure and stretches the imagination is worthy of being pursued.
Whichever you and I take life there will be challenges. Even when the easiest paths are taken there are uncontrollable circumstances and situations. Challenges help to make us strong.
The thing to do this week then is to try something extraordinary and unexpected. try one of the crazy schemes that you have been putting off for some time. It is true that you will not know what will happen if you don't do but there could be a world of benefits if you do.

Changes

My wish as always is for you to have a  Happy Monday.
Happy Veterans  Day -US and Happy Labour Day-Jamaica

One of the realities of life is that  people change. It takes a rare breed not change as life goes on. We change because as we mature our outlook on life changes with maturity. Our lives change also because of inspiration. This is an inner desire to be creative. inspiration comes and goes but ultimately it is left up to the individual whether or not they act on these inner desires.

From time to time brilliant and articulate  persons comes on the scene and advocate that each person is self sufficient and does not need God, religion or anyone/anything to maximize their full potential.
I do not argue with such persons because their world is so small. Religion teaches that there is a supreme being that is responsible for creating and sustaining all things. Those who accept The Evolution Theory are forced to accept that there must be a force at work behind the evolution process. We live in a world of order and order does not occur naturally. The same principle can be applied to The Big Bang Theory.

Thinking that we are self sufficient is to be conceited and refusing to tap into the unlimited power that is available and instead living in our own small world.

The basic idea is this, we are not in control of our lives and changes constantly happens in our lives. Changes occur we hope for the better because we do not like to see people regress. At some point in our lives our past will catch up with our future and it will be the present.

Our lives are ours to live and there comes a time when no one can dictate to us what we are to do. We are free to do as we please. However, changes occur in life and one day our past will catch up with us. This is why we should consider what we do now so that when we meet what is done now in the future there be no cause for shame or regret.

There is always the possibility for when our past catches up with the future for us to look with satisfaction on the fantastic progress that we have made.

Sweet rewards

My wish is that you have been having a Happy Monday.

Sometimes we need to be reminded that life come with a number of uncontrollable factors and there is the need to precondition the mind. These uncontrollable factors sometimes are obvious so a parent will just have to deal with the child that get sick overnight. The highway may be known to be crowded so it requires leaving an hour early to be on time. There are the subtle uncontrollable factors such as our desire to be loving and patient. To learn to be loving requires that you have someone unloving to deal with. No one goes about broadcasting that they want to be loving but it is the desire to be loving that is going to attract the unloving into our lives. We will never learn without this.

In a similar way the desire to be patient will naturally attract  trials and trouble. These will remain with us until we learn to be calm in spite of them. The person who never experiences trials and troubles cannot rightfully  be said to be patient. The patient person is the one who remain unruffled in the most testing situation.

Everyone is not built with the same constitution and so we  all look at life differently. In life many times we hear about immediate, intermediate and long-term goals. Due to the uncontrollable factors if we are not careful we spend our lives attending to the immediate goals which is always demanding and forever delay the long-term. It takes a special breed to put in place the long-term goals  first and then attend to the immediate and intermediate goals.This may not be easily done but in the end it bring sweet rewards.

"If only"

Two of the saddest words in the English language are "IF only". They are often the words of regret when life is looked at in retrospect and are often associated with missed opportunities.
 My wish as always is that you will make this a Happy Monday.

Our life is of such that it is foolhardy to take unnecessary chances but at the same time in order to gain and achieve big results then we also need to take big risks. Risks and chances taken can be looked on similarly to seeds being sown. A backyard garden will not produce the same amount as acres of fields that are under cultivation. Most people know the principle of sowing and reaping which simply put is that what is sown is also what is reaped.The crop sown however multiplies and is reaped later.

The basic idea is this that the result of our efforts are unpredictable There are many thing in life that require the same amount of effort and energy so why play safe and go for the small things in life when the opportunity is there to go for the big ones especially when it take the same amount of time effort and energy.

It is a proven thing in life that if you go for the really big dreams then you will find some one to give a helping hand. If you play safe then you can manage on you own. People like to be associated with greatness

This life is crazy and there are challenges  to be faced. Cringing and hiding will take us nowhere. We will be condemned if we do nothing with our lives so why not try something great. This week is a great time to face the things that we fear and move forward in life.

Let the word "If only" be the words of regrets of those who see your accomplishments and not your for lack of trying.

Celebrating

My wish as always is that you will have a Happy Monday.

We are in the merry month of May and there are number of special celebrations that occur during the month of May. I hope that you will enjoy the specific one that is applicable to you.

Many persons refuse to celebrate and commemorate anniversaries for various reasons. I personally like celebrations because celebrations bring reminders of achievements and mark the hopes for future prosperity. Celebrations also brings reminders of the brevity of live and the short time in which we have to leave our mark in history. It also heralds the past and provide the inspiration for a better tomorrow.

One of the big events this month and this coming weekend will be Mother's Day. There are more than six billion of us on the face of the earth and every one of us went through the same process to get here and the champion of it all are the mothers.

I wish for all mothers a Happy Mothers Day when that special day comes.

Blank pages

My wish as always is that you will have a Happy Monday.

Your life and my life is like a journal and each day we are given a blank page and at the end of the day we make entries into that journal. The entries are made in fact as the hours pass each day. Each of us day has the same twenty four hours and one day we will look back at the entries that we make in our journal. No one want to know that theirs was a wasted life.

Some persons insists that what will be have already been determined and there is nothing they can do to change their destiny while others look with joy at the prospect that they can actually make the entry for the day. It is okay not to do anything and make no entry at the end of the day because time was allowed to just carry you along and so for the day have a blank page. There will be those taking notes however and noting all the opportunities you allowed to pass by and missed. There will be no opportunity to compare your life to another persons or for you to see what could have been had you but tried.

The page for the day at the beginning of the day is blank and yours is the opportunity is to make the entry, to grasp or create opportunity. You are even permitted to see the choices you make as having effects lasting into eternity. No one put any restraint on the visions that you may have as you consciously know that at the end of the day you will be making any entry into the journal of your life. It is okay to keep busy so that at the end of the day no space on the page is left blank.

Today you are given a blank page and tonight an entry must be made as to how you spent you day. Maybe it is you or someone else that will at a later time be assessing how you spent your life but know for sure that an entry will be made in the journal of your life.

Who wants to fail?

My wish for you as always is that you have a Happy Monday.

I am reminded of a quote that I read not very long ago that is attributed to one of our present great basket ball players. The quote is that not trying guarantees 100% failure. It is believed that some persons set their expectations too high and some peoples set their expectation too low. If the expectations are set too high and an attempt is made who can tell the result that may happen. A clock may not working but it gives the right time twice each day. Fortune may just smile on you for trying.

You and I do not know the extent of all the great potential that is locked inside of us. The most often response is that i cannot do it when in reality we should respond I will try. We may look like other men but each of us is a unique individual with unimagined potential locked up inside of us. When released this potential can impact the whole world. What you and I need to succeed already lies inside of us and only need to be released. Too often we wait on others to see what lies inside of us when  we should be  making use of what we already have.

This week plant a seed by utilizing some ability that already is residing inside you. Make use of those characteristics that can neither be learned or taught but are characteristics that developed as through life experiences.

If you can beleieve

My wish is that today will be for you a Happy Monday.
The greatest of teachers Jesus Christ taught the principle of believing. There is not limit that
he has set to this principle because he said to one man "If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believe." This is a principle that can be applied in all areas of life.

Jesus Christ in one of his parables spoke of a seed being planted in the ground and while the process of growth is difficult to explain the seed grows, blossoms, bears fruit that matures and is harvested. The principle of the growth of the seed can be applied in believing because we act on our beliefs. The smallest step that is taken as a result of believing triggers a chain reaction that no one can predicts the end results.

This is the life that you and I have to live at present. Some of us believe that when we die we will go to heaven to live with Jesus Christ. This is noble and grand but we do not know how long we will be living this life. It does not make sense to stay idle while we await heaven so in the mean time let us do something grand. No one has set a limit on how grand the dreams we can aspire after. All that is required is for us to believe.

The big principle is this that if our dreams are not to defy God then he may even send divine assistance to us. The principle is to believe and we will be seeing great things happening.

Time flies

 

My wish as always is that you are having a Happy Monday.It is unbelievable but already we are in the second quarter of 2015 and the third week of spring and before this week ends we would have gone more than 100 days in this year. Time passes swiftly and we cannot go backward in time and if we remain stationary then time just move us along. There is no catching up with time or making up for lost opportunity.

This is why it is necessary to make plans and set goals. Yes there are many persons that go through life without goals or plans. There are also many persons that I have heard with regret say the day that they die will be the day that they will be forgotten. None of us know for sure the legacy that we shall leave behind but there are qualities in all of us that can impact humanity.

You and I will live this life only once so why not dream big and try something grand. Life comes with no guarantee and we have no certainty of tomorrow. The sure thing are the qualities that lies in us.

This week let courage and the great qualities that have lain dormant in you erupt to life. Add fuel to your passion and pursue something that you have long desired. Don't let anyone say of you he never achieved because he never tried

Holy Week

My wish is for you to have a Happy Monday and a blessed Holy Week.

I am told that religion is a private matter and therefore it is a topic that is off limits for open discussion.I will not debate the issue but life is so brief (365x80=29,200 days or lets round the figure to 30,00 days) in an age when scientists are confidently telling of what happened millions of years in the past. In light of the extensiveness of the past and the brevity of the present religion gives hope for the future because science address the past while religion addresses the future.

This week most Christians around the world will celebrate Holy Week to commemorate the most significant event in history, that is,. the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Many people have a problem with the teachings of Christianity but the reality is that western civilization cannot look at its history without coming to grips with the impact and contribution of the church, Christians and the Jewish people.

A person that is  living in a western country then that decides to have nothing to do with religion is behaving like the proverbial ostrich. It is said  that when danger is near the ostrich hides it head in the sand with the hope that the danger will disappear. The issue of religion that is being ignored may however become like the ostrich in that an ostrich can outrun a horse and has a kick that is powerful enough to kill a lion. Religion is woven into our history so why ignore it?

Many persons are quick to point out the faults of the church in an effort to escape dealing with the issue of whether a man called Jesus Christ at one time walked this earth. This man Jesus Christ gives an answer to the future. It is still to be explained how genuinely believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God changes a person. This however is one of the reality that happens and Jesus Christ gives the answer for the future.

My challenge for this week is for you to seriously look at the historical Jesus Christ whose death and resurrection will be commemorated this week by christians. Science look at what exist and try to explain how it came about but Jesus Christ gives answers to the future. When our 30,000 or so days are over there still remain eternity in the future and this is what religion answers
Have a blessed Holy Week..

The weak and the strong

My wish is for you to have a Happy Monday.

Nature has equipped the strong to survive and from among the strong nature continually weed out the weak and that is part of the success of the natural order for millennia. There always has remained in place the Greater Power that originally ordered the order of nature.

It is fascinating to look at a tree that have withstood everything that nature has thrown at it for millennia and this tree is still standing and producing fruit. These trees stand in stark comparison to crops that must be replanted every four months and cannot withstand any change in the weather pattern. Each serves a desired purpose and the great philosophers at times compares man to the trees. You and I then must asses our lives and determine how we want to be seen whether as a crop that must be replanted every four months or whether as a tree that after millennia have passed we are still producing fruits.

Presently in life the strong are the originators and they are sitting at the top and encouraging the weak to become imitators. These originators demands are that these weak imitators initially give their best because they do not want the weak to build a solid foundation just in case they too become strong. These originators flatter the weak into believing that they can successful by imitating the successful and forgo the required effort. Imitators may reap a measure of success but they never gain the same degree of respect as the originators.

This week it would be good to learn a lesson from Christopher Columbus. It was believed that the world was flat and if you come to it's edge you would fall off into space. Columbus did not believe this, he thought that the world was round and if he sailed long enough he would end up where he began. Columbus did not just believe this but he was willing to set out and prove that he was right. He finally found a royal couple that was willing to finance the venture and sailors that were willing to take the risk. Thanks to Columbus a whole new world was opened up to the Europeans.

This week do not let anyone quash what you really believe and remember it is not enough to believe but be willing to act upon what you believe.

The uncontrollable and the supernatural

My wish is that you are having a Happy Monday.

An observance that I have been finding fascinating is that more and more persons are arguing that there is no need for the gods or God and people should get up off their posterior and go and get things done because what ever you want to do you can do it without the help of gods or God.. This argument is compelling and at times it is even tempting to believe what these people are saying however there are many factors which ridicule these self help prophets. Two of these factors are the uncontrollable and the supernatural.

The uncontrollable are those  things and events over which we cannot exercise any control. None of us knows what the future holds or hold control over what another person does although unknowing to us it will affect us.We cannot control events or the weather but we are told to plan and do it by ourselves. We were not allowed to select who  were our fore parents or parents and we had no say in what character traits we inherited. We cannot control whether we get sick or whether we live or whether we die. These are just miniscule examples of things that we cannot control.

I have heard enough stories that can be authenticated of persons being unconscious in a sick room and yet later testifying and telling all that was said and done to believe. Maybe I partly believe because of dreams.This is a phenomena that science is yet to understand. Many persons will confess that they had a need and later discovered that the answer to that need was on it way a long time before the need arose in their life. Anyone whether they chose to believe or  choose not to believe will find countless persons who will tell of events and things happening that are outside of the natural order of things.

The big question now is that since anyone who dares will find that there are the uncontrollable and there are the supernatural then there must also be someone controlling these. In ancient times this were believed to be the gods and for some the only one true God.

My challenge this week to you is to seek the one who control the uncontrollable and the supernatural.

In spite of opposition

 My wish as always is for you to have a happy Monday.
 
   History has produced and continue to produce great men and women that are so outstanding that their names and memory are immortalized. History  has also produced the ignorant and unworthy and their desire is to tear down and destroy what is considered to be worthy and noble. Some men and women names are remembered with contempt disgust and ignominy.

     Today many men and women are saying I do not want fame and glory when I am being eulogized but I want it now while I am still alive. This has lead to many men and women searching and endeavoring to achieve fame and glory. These men and women failures lie  in their not realizing that those who history considered to be worthy did not set out to achieve fame and glory but that they simply surpassed the expectations of men. These were the men and women who did not accept the given but were willing to act on their convictions.

   One of the ironies of life today is that we are programmed to oppose or to being opposed. This results in the good being opposed and even what is noble coming under attack and things less noble being presented as being of a better value. There are less and less consensus to accept good ideas and working toward a goal. It is in light of this that you and I must pursue our convictions and chase our ideas and dreams. There is hardly the likelihood of us receiving any accolades but history will vindicates our beliefs.

Here are some of the choices that we have;
  1. To be lost in the crowd and at no time be seen upfront
  2. To blow our own trumpet while trying to achieve fame and glory
  3. To rise far above the bar and let history be out judge

There is no neutrality in this game and if we fail to make a choice life and circumstances will choose for us.

Growing

My wish is that you will have a happy Monday.

Many people will confess that the most fruitful times in their lives were when they were down and experiencing extreme hardship. This is one of the ironies of life that hardship should build in us characteristics that shape and mold us.

Am I suggesting that we should desire hardship in our lives? No way. When we set new goals and desire to reach new and higher heights then accomplishing these goal will provide the necessary challenges. A man who set a goals that provides no perceivable challenge is little better than a lazy man. A man who set a goal that is seemingly impossible is a courageous man because he initially begins by facing his fears and he is willing to take on the impossible.

The solutions we seek are not often as difficult as we believe because it is only when we begin that door begin to open and opportunities become present. Many time the door are open and waiting but even had we entered we would have no use for the opportunities.

This week I challenge you to continue working on one of your impossible dreams and if you have none why not start doing something that you fantasize you doing.

Keep pressing on

My wish is for you to have a super great Monday.

If you have been trying to find a way to fulfill you dreams and visions and the way is difficult then you are traveling a marvelous road. All you now need to do is learn to enjoy the journey and not get angry, frustrated, discouraged or despair. If success comes too quickly then you will stop making an effort too soon.

Did you make adequate preparation before you begin chasing your dream or your vision? Maybe you are the person who take life one day at a time. Still a failure to plan means that life will just ,
move you along and sooner or later you will end up nowhere. Make sure that you have the right equipment to see you to the end of the road.

Life has many persons who dream of glory and that means attempting to climb the highest mountain peaks. There are those persons in life that has been to the mountain top so many times that now they have become  guides to those desiring to reach the highest peaks. There is nothing wrong with having a guide as you progress up the mountain.

Still if you decide to make it on your own or blaze new paths be conscious of the danger involved. However facing danger may be the path to glory.

Go out this week and make great things happen.

Sowing our thoughts and ideas

My wish as always is that you will have a Happy Monday.

One of the eternal principles known to man is that where there is no sowing there will be no reaping. My father was a farmer and one of the things he taught me was to know when to plant the various crops. He also selected the best seeds to plant because for him farming was the means by which he earned his livelihood and supported his family.

One of the interesting things  I learned about farming was that it came with many unpredictable and uncontrollable circumstances. Sometimes although everything was done right the crops failed. At other times for no explainable reason there is a super harvest. Farming is risky investment but it certainly bring joy.

All of us do not consider ourselves as farmers but all of us have thoughts and ideas and for those of us that envision wealth and prosperity our ideas will have to serve as the seeds that we plant toward these goals. One of the things I learned in farming is that many plants that  I thought did not have seeds did have seeds and those seeds remain in the ground for years waiting for the right conditions to grow.

There are such circumstance which necessitated continuous sowing irrespective of whether the conditions are ideal or not and so too are our ideas. Some ideas serving as seeds immediately die because the soil is not right, other lay dormant in the ground waiting for the right conditions to grow while other grow and flourish immediately.

If we are to create our own wealth then you and I have to begin sowing our thoughts and ideas. The fascinating thing is this we do not know which idea will immediately grow and begin to bear fruit. We should also bear in mind that sowing and harvesting does not occur at the same time.

Begin sowing those thoughts and ideas today.

Forward march

My wish for you is that this will be a Happy monday.

Mondays are exciting because it brings with it a chance for a new beginning. Changes can occur anytime and anyplace but Mondays allows for the plotting the path for the coming week. This is somewhat based on the calendar that is presently in use.
One of the elements that should be avoided as we look at new beginnings is that of covetousness. Covetousness is essentially thinking that the other persons is too good for him but in our possession it would enhance our prestige. All we need is to set our standards of expectation higher and look at our own source of motivation.
One of the biggest hindrance that many persons face presently is being told to be content in their present state. This is especially tough when many persons see no end to the possibilities that  exists within their scope. It is a rare few that really want to see you surpassing their achievement.
This week be not content to fit into the mold that others have cast for you but look at the endless possibilities that is before and begin a forward  march.

Moving forward

My wish is that this will be for you a super great and Happy Monday.

Quite often you may have listened to a motivational speaker telling you that if you want to develop speed then you have got to learn to run with the horses. The thing is however that some of us  are not built for speed but our strengths lies somewhere else. This will not affect our ability however to become great and successful. The thing to do then is to know where your strength lies and develop that strength so that you become the best.
 As humans all of us carry multiple generations of genes from both parents and no one know what genes will become dominant in our live. This allows us to be different from our parents while at the same time being like our parents because we learn from them.
In life we all have to determine  who we are and work on our strengths. History continue to produce great men and women without there being a real formula for being great. Motivators try to move you toward being great but you have to know where your true calling lies.
I like the advice to pursue what comes to you naturally but at the same time not  to ignore those that see potential and possibility in you. If you are going to follow a formula for success make sure that formula is one for your calling. There are countless formulas for success floating out there.
This week pursue what comes to you naturally but do not ignore the advice of others.