PERMISSION FOR GREATNESS

It is interesting that the last posts I made were on Transitions. It has been quite a while since I posted something around here, and to be honest, It feels weird. I miss writing. I miss picking my own mind and reflecting on my own life and airing the outcomes right here on this blog.
I have been down with a bout of sickness, however, I am getting better now. I spoke of Ideas some time back. A major Idea hit me about a month back, and I took it and started running with it. I tell you it is awesome. I will be sharing it right here and requesting your feedback on it. It is something I am passionate about, and that is Mentoring.

Mentoring at the family level. Come to think of it....is this being done consciously these days? I have thought of commissioning a study by Synnovate to really find out if this is being done. That is another Idea that I am not letting go. However, I have a hunch that not very many people mentor their kids, specifically for greatness, success, significance and wealth. We have kind of relegated that responsibility to the traditional school system...or rather, we have abdicated that responsibility to them.
I would really like to know from you what you think about this. Do you mentor your children? Were you mentored by your parent/guardian as a child? Am not talking about being disciplined and corrected. I am talking about being 'prepared in your psyche' as a great, successful, and significant part of the human race. Did that take place? How was it? If it did not take place...what are you going to do about it? Are you going to mentor your children? How do you plan to do that?
Anyway, in a nutshell, mentoring is the legendary 'blessing' that a parent bestows to his/her child. It is like being allowed, being given the permission to be great, to be successful, to be significant and to be wealthy. Many people kill for the blessing....Esau in the Bible was cheated on it and he wanted to kill for it. He literally wept for it. Mentoring is having this attitude of not what your child is, but what your child could be. Imagine a child hearing this from his dad every other day: You are a champion son, there is greatness in the inside of you, you are here in this world to cause ripples and stir up positive change. Can you imagine the effect of this 'permission'?
Remember, the power of life and death, is in the tongue, and train up a child in the way that he should go, and when he grows up he will never depart from it!
See you soon.

RELENTLESS

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us"

I once asked my dear friend Thomas what he would do if his son was the boy depicted in the little story below. Thomas said he would be so proud of his son. I laughed so hard, but I understood why he said that.
A little boy was taken to church by his parents. They did not take him to children church as they ought to have, but for some reason, went with the boy to the main auditorium. As usual, the boy would be playful and hyperactive. (Hats off to mum who raised four guys-including me!) Anyway, the boy in his hyperactivity just could not sit down, no matter what his parents did. His actions kept distracting other people in the church service. His parents tried all the diplomacy in the world to make him sit, but they were not successful.
Finally, the dad in exasperation actually FORCED HIM PHYSICALLY to sit, and gave him a thorough warning that the repercussions would be catastrophic if he dared stand up from his forced locked co-ordinates! The dad heaved a sigh of relief seconds later knowing that he had won the war, only for the child to blurt out angrily, "Dad, I might be sitting down on the outside, but I am still standing up on the inside!" Bummer! Believe me, I would pay top dollar to have a glimpse on the look of his parents' faces, I honestly would.

Relentlessness is so key in life today. Especially for a Visionary. Dreams, visions and purposes never take shape in a day. They are hatched over time. It is a Process Issue. You must understand and respect Process. As the process keeps going, you tend to come against odds, obstacles and all the reasons in the world not quit altogether and choose the path of least resistance.
To be relentless, you must stock up enough personal power inside of you. I have just been reading a story of Mother Teresa, quite inspiring. One thing is for sure, by the time the world came to notice that little nun in Calcutta, she had been so relentless against the odds over several obstacles.
You might think that now that you have a vision to fulfil, everything else goes in alignment with you. That might very well be true. It is also true that insurmountable pressure will rise up against you. This is where your dream and vision are tested to the core. The temptation to give up is so great. Our brains don't like pressure. But you will have to stick it out to the very end. Remember this words? "write the vision down....though it delays, in THE END, it will come to pass"
The vision does not come to pass in the middle, or at the beginning, it becomes true IN THE END. The world is filled with so many starters and so few finishers. Relentlessness is a function of inner conviction that wont just go away. Yes sometimes you might be totally derailed. Sometimes you might not be living your dreams as you would intend. But I challenge you to keep the embers of your vision, the fire of your dream alive in your heart.
Do this one thing: Write your vision down, look at it every single day, whether things are bad or good. Keep it alive and burning. Choose to be relentless. Tell the world "I might be sitting on the outside, but I am very much standing on the inside"! Be relentless and strike back! Remember, "He who does not tire, tires adversity".

ANCHORED TRANSITIONS

Change is the only constant thing in life, every other thing changes. Speaking of which, it reminds me of this statement: Men marry women hoping that they wont change, and they do, women marry men hoping that they will change and they don't! Life will never ever be a constant. Life is always an adventure, and the earlier we anticipate that adventure the best prepared we will be for the seeming ups and downs that it has to offer.

Sometimes we are squeezed into a corner to make a transition. Other times we take calculated risks as we take life by the horns seeking to move from our comfort zones.  Amazingly, our brains were created to keep us safe. That is why whenever something outside of the norm happens, the brain reacts by sending resistance. It desires to keep you safe within the confines of the known, understood comfort zones.

Transition and change is so real to every human being. Everyone falls into the following categories: there are those who have just come OUT of a transition, there are those going THROUGH a transition, and there are those going straight on INTO a transition. This covers all and sundry and leaves no one behind.
Whether forced into a transition or taking calculated risks, managing transitions is one of the most important skills that a visionary should muster. The following points will be of great help:

• One of my affirmations goes something like this, "I am successful in all that my hands find to do in the interim of living my dreams". The fall back position is Purpose. Like a mighty ship anchored ashore, ones life purpose will help you keep steady as you undergo a transition. You see, the Life Purpose you have at the moment is the anchor for your life. That is why even if for some reason you might find yourself doing what you do not like, you will always have the knowledge at the back of your mind that 'this is temporary, am waiting on my Life's Purpose'. So keep waiting on it, though it tarries, it shall come to pass. Wait on it. Les Brown says it best: "To persevere in hard times, you will have to call on your deepest purpose"
• Realize that a transition is seldom the place to make long-time life assumptions. Just because it is not raining right now does not mean that there will be a drought the whole year. You can never make a life-time decision that has permanent long time far reaching effects in your life at a temporary valley of transition. Remember, it is not as bad as it seems. On the same token, you cannot judge yourself and heap loads of regret upon your life for what you did or did not do. That will not help you in transitioning at all.
• At the time of transition, tune into a Higher Power that knows more than what your finite mind fathoms, that sees further beyond the horizons of your finite mind. It is tragic to listen to your mind, or brain whose sole purpose at the time of transition is to fight it and make you safe. Someone said, "A ship docked at the shore is very safe, but that is not what ships were meant for."
• Ride the waves. The biggest mistake people do in a transition is to try fighting what is happening. Some times all one needs is to stand still...and let the transition take place. Let your focus be on what you want, and not on the uncomfortable transition that you do not want. Someone said that whatever you resist, persists. Again, Les Brown admonishes us thus: "In the prosperous times, build your pockets. In the tough times, you strengthen what is in your heart".
• Open your inner heart to learn. There have been poems that have been written so precious when the human soul has been crushed to such an extend that nothing impure emanates from it. A transition is normally a great learning curve. Instead of rebuking it and fighting a transition, take pen and paper and be very attentive to learn. By all means make sure you learn. If you do not, chances are that you will not graduate. You will drop out prematurely. The problem with that set up is that you will still be required to face the transition until what needs to be learnt is learnt fully.

The attitudes above when adopted will make a transition palatable. Learn to PLAN your life because a transition is always inevitable. Learn to PLAN your finances to purchase you TIME whenever a transition season comes unexpectedly. Be strong and resilient, hold your head up high, soon enough, there will be light at the end of the tunnel.
Have a great week wont you?

THE ILLUSION OF NOW, THE MIRAGE OF THEN

Being in a position to help someone in a predicament they are in can offer lots of insight. Especially when they have no Idea that you have the wherewithal to help them. There is no human being living that has never come to a rocky patch in their walk of life. In fact, this happens very often to those great souls who dream big. In a previous post we talked about the finite mind and the infinite mind. The infinite mind is definitely not limited with any empirical force we know.

This mind is not human to say the least. I have heard from the good book "...for as far as the heavens are above the earth, so great is the difference between may ways and yours...." That is a paraphrase. Today's post goes out to all those visionaries (and non visionaries) who are caught up between a rock and a hard place. Great, you have been told to dream and dream big. You have been motivated to suspend reality and THINK BIG. You have been encouraged to have a BHAG (Big, Hairy and Audacious Goal)...and you have been obedient on all counts. However, you find yourself wondering 'whether this stuff works after all'. The things, events and people surrounding your immediate environment depict a picture that is totally far from what you want your reality to be. In fact you feel like the opposite of what you want is taking place.

Mind games. It is a mind battle. If you choose to focus on the negatives of the now, you are not being wise. You are only accessing the finite mind, limited only to see as far as the horizon. The finite mind has no control over situations that seem to overrun you, and that is why you need not trust your limited mind, ESPECIALLY when things are tough. Reach for a higher vision, dream on and hold on.

However, more often, the other 'reach' that people grasp in valley moments is to relegate life to the future. We wrote sometime back that about 'happily never after'. This is where the problem lies. Granted, hope will take you through today, but by all means, never suspend the LIFE of the NOW...in the hope of LIVING some time later on. It is always a mirage. You keep reaching for a sizzling life then, at the expense of living right now.

My advice is for us to acknowledge all that is going through now, and tune in to a higher Mindset that sees far greater and wider than we ever could. Yes, we need to have dreams and visions for tomorrow, but by all means there is something you can do today.

I leave you with what Helen Keller said:

"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker".