Nib of the Oozing Quill
I remember when you were a rose;
ruffled then the feathers became;
under the weather you slowly cruised;
the sunshine faded;
and the flower withered.
Life hit hard; it lied, played games,
brought regrettable connections,
and distorted the truth.
You’ve seen and done it all,
you hurt deep and you wept.
Love her nerve, love her heart,
always be her biggest fan,
love her just the way she is:
allow her light to shine bright
because it will echo back your way;
but mutual must it be
she must reciprocate.
Dear son, always be contented regardless of how much you earn; you will always have people who earn more than you.
You see; I am now an old man who you call a junior or subordinate staff, and I am proud of it; but in my working life I have had bosses who earned many times more than me, but when they invite me to their houses, I find the same furniture that are in mine. The only difference is how we got them; they bought theirs in elegant shops, while mine were made by a carpenter at a pace, and price, I could afford
from timber obtained from a tree I felled in my rural home. And I can bet that my furniture is stronger than theirs because I know, unlike them, every single piece that went into it.
When they invite me, we eat ugali just like what my family partakes; the only difference is
Continue Reading "The Paradox Of Life – Advice From An Elder"It’s a lovely night; with the stars twinkling, the moon glowing, and complete with a cool night breeze. I thank the Lord for a wonderful day, despite the challenges that it brought. I pray for a great night. Sleep tight folks; as we drift off into the sweet dreamland, and thereafter into the dawn of…Continue Reading “Thank You God, For Today”
It is unbelievable that today, freshly-baked chapatis are everywhere on the back streets of rural and urban cities and that they get spoiled in the fridge because of lack of demand at home. The easy availability of chapati has stolen the magic.
Back in the day, eating chapati was an event; chapati was a once-only delicacy per year, mostly around Christmas.
On the day of cooking chapati, everybody in the village would know, because the Prime Minister of the house would send the kids very early in the morning to pick the chapati cooking-kit, comprising the wooden rolling board; the wooden rolling pin; and the round, durable heavy-duty, flat, very black chapati pan. There was only one chapati cooking-kit in the whole village and therefore proper planning and ordering in good time was of the essence. It would be picked from the last house which cooked chapati, which was no secret in the village.
Continue Reading "The Chapati Magic Of Yester-Times"
It is said that, on average, each one of us complains about 15 to 30 times every day. This mostly comes in the form of venting to a partner or to a friend when we are tired, afraid, overwhelmed, or have an overload of feelings and we need an outlet. It’s healthy and refreshing after we vocalize about situations or people, including our boss, our day, our loss, perpetrated injustice, imminent danger, politics, or the deep distresses of our hearts and souls when life is difficult. When looked at this way, complaining can be constructive, healing, reparative, and can cultivate relationships that have deeper connection.
However, our complaining may sometimes go overboard and become exhausting to the listeners; especially when we become people who are never satisfied, when we become unhappy people who are constantly frustrated over everything, when we become people who are discontented, who cannot see the positive side of anything, and when we get into the habit of constantly bombarding others with our issues. At such times, complaining becomes a sinister way of asserting ourselves to secure our own comfort regardless of how those around us feel, and we end up conveying defiance, disrespect, or disapproval.
Continue Reading "Complain Not, Whine Not, Just Be Grateful For What You’ve Got"
Doctors will confirm that a significant number of patients in hospitals are suffering from conditions and disorders that are not infection-related; they are suffering from conditions that are not caused by germs or bugs such as viruses, bacteria, parasites, or fungi; but the conditions they are suffering from are directly related to their perceptions and thoughts. Results of medical and laboratory tests carried out on these patients indicate that they are not sick and yet they are suffering from “physical symptoms” that include insomnia (lack of sleep), anxiety, hot flashes, night sweats, anger, frustration, impatience, emotional trauma, physical trauma, allergies, digestive issues, back pain, distress, disability and constipation.
These “physical symptoms” are caused by mental, emotional or psychological factors and they are called psychosomatic disorders. Psychosomatic means mind (psyche) and body (soma). A psychosomatic disorder is a disease which involves both mind and body. It is a disease whereby the mind causes a person to suffer physical symptoms or medical conditions which cannot be explained by medical tests or physical examination.
Continue Reading "The Healing Powers of Contentment"An unknown author once said, “It’s scary what a smile can hide”. How true!!! A smile can hide many things, including hurt, pain, shyness, secrets, life’s lessons, emotions, hate, lingering tears, feelings, fears, drama, reality, failures, lies, sorrows, heartaches, loneliness, sadness, negative people encounters, regrets, stress, betrayal, emptiness, disappointment, what we truly feel, the things that we wish we could say, and the things that we’re too afraid to admit.
The problem is that most smiles are fake. Scientists tell us that a fake smile, like when we “smile to the camera”, involves the voluntary contraction of only one muscle, the zygomatic major muscle which raises the corners of the mouth and the upper lip, hence exposing the teeth. A fake smile, also called a “social smile” or a
Continue Reading "The ‘Art’ and ‘Science’ of Smiling"
“Good” is defined as: “to be desired or approved of; having the qualities required for a particular role; possessing or displaying moral virtue; and, giving pleasure, enjoyable or satisfying”; while “Bad” is defined as: “of poor quality, of a low standard, unpleasant, unwelcome, and not to be hoped for or desired.”
So now, ‘are all humans born good and then some become bad?; or are all humans born bad and then some become good?’
This perennial question regarding human nature continues to intrigue, just like it did fascinate many famous philosophers of ancient times.
Philosophers like the Englishman Thomas Hobbes who believed that humans are by nature born bad and evil because humans are nasty, greedy, egoistic, beast-like, war-like and tend to achieve their ends through evil means, such as harming others for the limited resources. According to Hobbes, humans needed to be totally controlled by a government and as a result he supported civilization or human culture, which he credited for stepping in and rescuing humanity from immorality and wickedness.
Continue Reading "Are All Humans Born Good And Then Some Become Bad? or Vice Versa?"